As summer fades, oceans still need pollution solution

RELEASE: Oct. 12, 2007 – Volume XXXIX, No. 41

As our seemingly endless summer winds down, our thoughts bring us from the Jersey Shore back to school and work. The ocean we leave behind, however, needs our care all year round.

One New Jersey woman is raising ocean awareness in a unique way. Margo Pellegrino of Medford Lakes paddled a 20-foot outrigger canoe from Miami to Maine this past summer! Her 2,000-plus mile trip took over two months, and called attention to the state of our oceans.

The link to land conservation may not be obvious, but as Pellegrino points out, even those who don’t live on the coast “still live in a watershed that goes to a stream somewhere, that goes to a river somewhere, that goes out to the ocean." Conservationists talk of the need to preserve land in watershed regions so that our water supplies are protected, but sometimes we forget that most lakes, rivers, and streams ultimately empty into the ocean.

Thanks to humankind, there are an almost infinite number of water pollution sources – everything from garbage to lawn chemicals, air pollution to industrial dumping … even pet waste can contribute.

Pollution is just one of problems facing our oceans. Overfishing, overdevelopment of our coasts and unsustainable aquaculture practices add to the destruction of vital marine habitats, degrading our oceans’ sustainability and the benefits on which we depend.

Recognizing how critical New Jersey’s 127 miles of beach and coastal waters are to environment, tourism, recreation and commercial fishing, this state we’re in was the first to mandate beach closures when bacteria standards are exceeded.

Even though testing indicates that New Jersey’s coastal water quality is generally good, beach closures and sewage spills have been increasing. The Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) annual "Testing the Waters" report recorded 134 ocean and bay beach closures or advisories in New Jersey in 2006, up 70 percent from 2005. This year, there were 143 ocean and bay beach closings or advisories.

Vividly illustrating the problem on Labor Day weekend, four Ocean County beaches were closed by what New Jersey officials declared the worst case of beach pollution since the 1980s. Despite the dire proclamation, however, authorities gave up their hunt for the source of the sewage, syringes and other trash after only two weeks.

Our beaches deserve better. We may have other things to think about as autumn blows in, but the ocean remains, waiting patiently for us to return next summer. While you might not take off on a 2,000-mile boat trip as Margo Pellegrino did, you can still make a conscious choice to do as much for our oceans as they do for us! After all, she reminds us "It's really possible to do anything that you set your mind to do, with the [right] amount of planning and determination."

For information about how you can care for the ocean (whether you live near it or not), as well as a comprehensive look at New Jersey beaches, visit www.surfrider.org or www.cleanoceanaction.org. Margo Pellegrino’s website also has a great deal of interesting facts and links – www.miami2maine.com. And I hope you’ll contact me at info@njconservation.org, or visit NJCF’s website at www.njconservation.org if you have questions about conserving New Jersey’s precious land and natural resources.

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