With the help of students, teachers and school staff, the Littoral Society recently wrapped up our Water Champions program with Anthony Rossi Elementary School.

The program has been ongoing since 2017 and has has involved teaching students at five South Jersey Schools about the importance of water conservation.

Saving water is critical for maintaining aquifers in coastal areas and surface water flows. So, as part of the Water Champions program we taught students how to conduct water audits at home, school, and local businesses to identify areas for improvement.

Using grant money provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, we installed high efficiency fixtures in the two restrooms at Rossi Elementary that student audits indicated had the greatest potential for water savings. Those audits calculated that these upgrades could save nearly 65,000 gallons of water per year!

“What a wonderful job done by all involved, especially the students who conducted the hands-on audits and calculated the numbers needed to get this grant going!” said Amber Egorov, the teacher we worked with at Rossi Elementary.

We — like many other ocean advocates — are following the news around the recent whale deaths in our region. We deeply cherish the marine life found along our coast, and the deaths of these whales is disturbing and of great concern to us.
 
At this moment, we don’t know conclusively what combination of natural or human causes may be responsible for the deaths. Many experts believe that the growing number of whales in this area – which has some of the busiest ports and shipping lanes in the world – has contributed to an increase in vessel strikes. Notably, the Port of NY and NJ increased its trade volume substantially in the last several years, increasing shipping traffic and the potential for increased vessel strikes. According to the marine mammal experts responding to the strandings, a large number of the whales have been killed by ship strikes.
 
The American Littoral Society’s work includes protecting the coast from a changing climate. We support investment in clean, renewable energy to reduce fossil fuel use which is harming the ocean in many ways. To meet the need for green energy and the protection of wildlife, the Littoral Society continues to call for meaningful and robust stakeholder engagement and responsible siting around offshore wind projects.
 
It's clear that the whales off our coast are in harm’s way, and we must act to protect them to the extent that they are endangered by human activities.
 
Vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are well established as the two predominant sources of whale mortality due to human impacts. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has proposed new rules to expand slow speed zones and to increase the number of vessels subject to these reduced speed requirements. Similarly, rules to reduce fishing gear entanglement have been developed. Both are pending adoption.
 
While at this time there is no readily available evidence linking wind-power development activities to the death of these whales, understanding the interactions among all offshore human activities and coastal resources is critical to their protection.
 
We recommend that decision-makers at the state and federal level:

• Evaluate vessel traffic patterns in the near shore for interactions with whales and institute changes in approaches, vessel speed and traffic that would decrease the likelihood of vessel strikes;
• Review and share with the public the possibility of conflict from current activities so that they can be assured that all appropriate measures are in place to protect marine life and habitats, including the whales off our coast. The sustainability of offshore wind depends on appropriate siting and development.

Ten eighth-grade students from Ocean Township Intermediate School got into the holiday spirit last year by raising money to help restore oyster reefs in New Jersey.

The students, from teacher Meghan Edson's Environmental Engineering course, raised money by making clam shell decorations that were sold during school lunches and given to some school staff as holiday presents. According to Ms. Edson, students taking the course learn about human-related environmental issues, then devise ways to make them better. 

"We did [the decoration sale] for the first time last year and the students loved it, so we decided to continue again this year." Ms. Edson said. "It was a big hit for the students in school to buy ornaments for their families for Christmas and the students that made the shells learned a lot about the importance of being a good environmental steward." 

The American Littoral Society was honored to be the recipient of an $800 donation from the students.

"We are very grateful for the donation which will help our efforts to restore oysters and improve the quality of coastal waters," said Tim Dillingham, Executive Director of the American Littoral Society. "We owe these students even greater thanks for their interest in coastal conservation and their leadership in raising awareness and empowering conservation efforts." 

Just before the turn of the season, Don Riepe, the Littoral Society's Jamaica Bay Guardian, found himself involved in some Spring cleaning, as well as a late winter rescue.

​The cleaning effort revolved around preparations for the return of Barn Owls and Osprey to the Jamaica Bay area, which typically occurs around the middle of March each year.

A number of nesting platforms and owl boxes have been set up support natural roosting and nesting behaviors of these important raptors. Don and staff from the Littoral Society, with additional support from the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, took some time in early March to clean and repair one of the favorite boxes in the neighborhood.

More than 30 pounds of pellets, containing the remains of countless rodents, were removed and the box was restored to prime summer-residence condition.

On Sunday, March 5, Don received a call from a birder friend, Michele Truong, regarding a duck tangled in fishing line in Sheepshead Bay. 

Black History Month is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the Black community. It’s also an opportunity to learn about people whose contributions are often left out of the history books. With that, we’d like to “dive in” to the story of how Black Americans have shaped the coastal economy through one of the most lucrative commodities on the east coast: the oyster.

In the 1800s, many Black Americans traveled north from the Chesapeake bay, where it was illegal for Black people to own or operate their own fishing vessels without a white man on board. They had gained vast ecological knowledge on how to raise and harvest oysters because the bivalves were used by plantation owners as fertilizer and as a staple in the diets of enslaved people along the coast. During this time, oysters were not nearly as popular to eat as they were, according to historian Anna Marie Gillis, considered “only suitable for a poor man’s pot.”
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It wasn’t until 1825 that Thomas Downing, an abolitionist and the son of slaves, opened an oyster saloon in the Financial District of New York City. This helped to elevate the status of the oyster and created a massive demand for the slippery bivalve. More importantly, it helped to create a path to freedom through the oyster industry for those enslaved and oppressed along the coast.

The history of oystering in New Jersey also intersects with another path to freedom through the Underground Railroad and the Vreeland Jackson brothers. Thomas and John Vreeland Jackson became oystermen on the Hudson in 1830 after gaining their freedom from the family that had held them in slavery. Their oyster business funded the purchase of land and a home through which they bravely helped numerous enslaved people escape to the north.