SWIM Meeting Monday, May 12, 2008
Safer Waters in Massachusetts (SWIM) will met on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 7 pm, at Northeastern University Marine Science Center, 430 Nahant Road, Nahant.
On the agenda: No Discharge Area for boats and ships; SWIM for SWIM; alternative and renewable energy; endangered species, especially whales; fisheries; pesticide use. All are invited. For more information: 781-581-0075 or nahantswim@verizon.net (NEW)
SWIM ISSUES AND PRIORITIES
The following “wish list” is alphabetical, not in order of priority.
* Algae - The nuisance algae on Nahant and Lynn beaches is unpleasant to beachgoers and lowers real estate values. Many thanks to the Nahant Department of Public Works and to Friends of Lynn & Nahant Beach for their work on algae cleanup.
* Alternative and renewable energy - Including solar, tidal power, energy conservation, wind, etc. SWIM supports reactivation of the Nahant Alternative Energy Committee.
* Climate Change/Global Warming - A map of Nahant showing areas under water if global warming triggers sea level rise would be most revealing. HealthLink has a map like this of the Preston Beach area on the Swampscott /Marblehead line. SWIM would like to develop a map for Nahant.
* Coal-fired power plants & air pollution - Not SWIM’s major emphasis, but SWIM strongly supports HealthLink’s efforts. Air pollution affects the ecology of the ocean as well as human health.
* Earth Day - SWIM hopes to distribute compost bins and rain barrels at cost for Earth Day on Nahant Town Meeting day. Watch for news of a compost bin-rain barrel raffle! SWIM will work on Beach CleanUps planned by other Nahant groups and by Friends of Lynn & Nahant Beach.
* Eelgrass study - Nahant’s eelgrass is a major contributor to species diversity and food for migratory birds. SWIM will support Northeastern University Marine Science Center efforts to pursue funding.
* Endangered species - Six species of endangered whales and four species of sea turtles frequent Massachusetts Bay. What can SWIM do to help save endangered marine mammals?
* Fisheries - SWIM needs to keep in touch with fisheries issues, regulations and legislation that affect the environment, so neither fish nor fishermen become endangered species.
* Interpretive signs on Nahant Beach - SWIM supports Friends of Lynn & Nahant Beach in its signage program, but does not have an active role.
* Invasive species - “Pepperweed" in Lynn Harbor (Information from Salem Sound Coastwatch). SWIM needs to explore further.
* Legislation - Including Massachusetts Ocean Act. The act would create a plan for ocean management, but would override of protection of Ocean Sanctuaries. SWIM should be on the alert watching proposed projects when/if bill passes.
* Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) - SWIM unsuccessfully fought offshore LNG terminal adjacent to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and above an old radioactive dump site. In February, a fully-loaded LNG tanker became disabled and went adrift off Cape Cod. It was towed to the future site of the offshore LNG terminal south of Gloucester, east of Nahant. Fortunately there was not a major Nor’easter at the time.
* No Discharge Area - Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan and Joan LeBlanc, Director of the Saugus River Watershed Council, are collecting information from communities to make a No Discharge Area for boaters, to include Revere, Saugus, Lynn, Nahant, and Swampscott. This is necessary to protect our shores from pollution.
* Open Space. SWIM’s focus is on the sea, but we support the work of the Nahant Open Space Committee. Migratory shore birds in particular need both water and land.
* Pesticides/Greenscapes - Need to minimize use of pesticides and other chemicals by citizens and town in order to minimize toxic runoff into Nahant waters. How can SWIM help?
* Recycling - Need comprehensive list of where, how, and when to dispose of and recycle various waste products, including hazardous and toxic items in Nahant cellars.
* “SWIM for SWIM” - A “Swim for SWIM” is planned for next summer! Those in good shape will SWIM (literally) along Long Beach (the Nahant causeway) to further environmental awareness and ocean protection Others will relax on the beach and watch the SWIMmers admiringly. More details later!
* Toxics in Toys and Safer Alternatives - SWIM supports Clean Water Action and Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow in their efforts to make consumer products safe, especially for children.
SWIM can work on an issue only if someone volunteers to spearhead action.
SWIM cannot spend more than a small fraction of its time or funds lobbying.
SWIM’s focus is on the North Shore ocean and shore, but we are part of one blue globe.
Please come to the SWIM meeting if you want to help with one of SWIM’s projects or spearhead a project of your own to help the environment.
2007 Meeting Updates
Click Here To Read More About Our September 10th 2007 Meeting
Banned in Boston, But Not in Nahant
The new Boston "No Discharge Area" would encourage boats to pollute Nahant.
Map adapted by Emily Potts. |
Boston’s new "No Discharge Area" could have the effect of encouraging ships and boats to pump out their sewage in Nahant waters, increasing pollution on the south side of Nahant, including Bass Point, Tudor Beach, Jo Beach and the Nahant wharf area.
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to approve a dumping ban in Boston that would extend three miles out from Boston Harbor. As the adjacent map, adapted by Emily Potts, indicates, the ban on pumpouts would extend around Winthrop, cutting back towards Revere. Hull would be included, but not Nahant. The article "EPA to approve dumping ban," in the August 7 Boston Globe, included a front-page map that cut off the Town of Nahant as if it did not exist.
|
Nahant needs to act quickly to protect its shores and beaches from this threat. Perhaps the best solution would be for Massachusetts to declare all the coastal waters out to the three-mile limit a No Discharge Area. This has already been done by New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Another solution would be for Nahant to join with Lynn, Swampscott, Marblehead and communities up the coast to declare a No Discharge Area for the North Shore. Nahant could also declare a No Discharge Area in its own waters.
Linda Pivacek, chair of Nahant's Open Space Committee points out, "When Mass Fish & Wildlife and the MWRA became involved in the Boston Harbor cleanup and secondary sewage treatment, they began monitoring the Harbor. The Boston Harbor area was defined by its logical geographic borders including Hull as the southern border and Nahant as the northern border. I have personally participated in waterfowl surveys including Revere to East Point, Nahant, for this monitoring project for several years. The current proposal limiting dumping from boats should continue to include Nahant as the northern border. Then a scientific evaluation of the impact of this proposal on the health of Boston Harbor can be made using invaluable historical data and continued monitoring."
Most boat owners thought it was already illegal to dump sewage of any kind within the three-mile limit separating state from federal waters, but apparently not. Boats and ships with minimally treated sewage can dump into Boston Harbor now, polluting the harbor and creating an excellent reason for the new No Discharge Area. The ban just needs to be extended to protect Nahant and other communities. The ban as currently proposed would send polluters out of Boston Harbor and into Broad Sound and the coastal waters and beaches of Nahant.
Below is the definition of No Discharge Area, from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.
No Discharge Areas
Definition
A No Discharge Area, or NDA, is a designated body of water in which the discharge of ALL boat sewage, even if it is treated, is prohibited. A body of water can become an NDA if a community or state believes that the waters are ecologically and recreationally important enough to deserve further protection than that provided by current Federal and State laws.
Federal Law prohibits the discharge of untreated sewage from vessels within all navigable waters of the U.S., including coastal waters (within three miles of shore). Boats with functioning Type I and Type II Marine Sanitation Devices (MSDs) may discharge treated effluent in coastal waters UNLESS they are in an NDA. A Type III MSD or "holding tank" is the only type that can be used legally within an NDA. |
