Beach, surf, swim, boat, fish. All good things.
Little Rhody isn't the "Ocean State" for nothing. Of course- years of people stacked along the shores dumping semi-treated waste, power plants belching superheated water , dredging and commercial fishing has placed a bit of a strain on the underwater environment.
I am a big fan of marine life and try to volunteer time for Save the Bay here in RI. This year will be my 5th year participating in the Save the Bay swim across the East channel of the bay. Here is a shot from the year before:
And no- I never wear a wetsuit. I am plenty bouyant. Trust me. I'll of course shoot out an email later on- but if anyone wants to support my swim, you can Donate!
Anyway... Another endeavor I try and allocate time for is the Eeelgrass Transplant Project. The aforementioned problems combined with other events has reduced the native eelgrass population in the bay to low levels. Why would we want this plant stuff covering the sea floor when sandy beaches are what everyone craves? Because nearly every species in the bay uses eelgrass at some point in it's life cycle. Flounder, crabs, shellfish- you name it. Some years back I was harvesting female seed plants (for URI's aquaculture effort to produce seeds and reduce the need to pull plants from healthy beds) off Ocean Drive in Newport and a homeowner was so happy that we were 'destroying' (he obviously did not pay attention to our description of the project) the eelgrass as he related a story of how difficult it was for him to remove around his coastline... I guess when one pays mid-seven figures for one's beach house one is entitled to ignorance? Well- I guess I would not want it in between my toes, but that is besides the point...
A typical cycle of eelgrass transplant involves:
1) Harvest
2) Sorting (not pictured- done on shore by other volunteers)
3) Playing with little sea creatures
(I call him Pinchy)
(There is a flounder here somewhere- honest)
4)Transplanting.
Hopefully due to the efforts of the Save the Bay staff we can have more areas of the bay that are marine nurseries again. Eelgrass is Rhizomic, so grow on, little guys...
If I had a better underwater camera and if we were not unsettling the sea floor these would have undoubtedly come out a little better...
Fokker..... OUT!
5 comments:
Great work, Crayons. I try to do my part by specifying septic systems with denitrification technology. It's not quite as remarkable as transplanting eelgrass (although I didn't get an invite, and have had my scuba certification since 1997 - hint), but it's something to do my part.
The eutrophication (yeah, I used that word) of the coast has become increasing important as septic leach waters (and the over-fertilizing of the rich beach house bastards that need to have the "greenest yard in town").
Anyways, certainly great work, Crayons - I'd be interested in helping in the future.
Word.
Nice! My parents neighbors are pretty active with the Salt Pond Coalition down on Ninigret Pond in Charlestown.. they're always out there in their canoe testing the water quality, and a couple times a year they seed parts of the pond with quahogs!
(http://www.saltpondscoalition.org)
I once read a book that listed the environmental impact of everything we did. Pretty sobering stuff. The big three? Not the Paper or Plastic dilemma.. but... 1)How you heat your house... or more important, how much heat you need. The bigger the house, the worse insulated, the more Btus it takes. 2) Your driving, and 3) Your Yard. The third surprised me until I realized the damage all those fertilizers do in the runoff( I didn't know there was a such a fancy word for it ... eutrophication.. yes I had to look it up ) and all that fresh water that gets wasted every year.
Another good book, not so dreary, is "The Secret Lives of Everyday Things". It's short and well worth the read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1886093040/102-7964845-2986509?v=glance&n=283155
This posting has been WAY too intellectual....I reflect on my first comment, and think, "I need to redeem myself as a normal beer drinking guy". So:
BOOBIES!
I agree with GUDG...and by "eutrophication," he does mean 6, I mean, what?
Eutrophication is actually a medical term to describe the problems older dudes can have unrinating. It has nothing to do with septic leach waters!
40 and GUDG are right- I have heard a lot about how having a green, perfect lawn can be a major environmental concern- but the billions of dollars a year in lawn maintenance costs mean that there is a ton of money allocated to stiffling that fact. Lawn mowers, trimmers, etc are major polluters (yes- I am well aware that I have a large lawn and oooohhh, I love to have it trimmed to a consistent level...), fertilizers are amazingly bad and constant watering drains supply. All in all- kids should have a reason to revolt against the 'lawn chores'.
Funny how a post on the ocean turned out to be intricately linked to poop and grass, huh?
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