Sound Environment

By Monica Pepe, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Policy Manager, Conservation and Education In my many years of whale watching, one of the most consistent reactions I’ve seen from passengers is total excitement from seeing a pod of dolphins. Maybe it’s that they don’t expect to see dolphins on a whale watch so it’s a nice surprise. Maybe it’s because dolphins are more relatable for people – visitors to coastal towns may have seen dolphins swimming in the…

New York City is home to some 520 miles of shoreline, but the Harbor is unlikely to be the first thing that comes to mind when you talk to New Yorkers about their city. At Billion Oyster Project, a nonprofit headquartered on Governors Island, a small crew is working to elevate New York Harbor in the minds of New Yorkers by restoring oyster reefs with the help of students, volunteers, and community scientists. When European settlers arrived…

By Emma Janson, Sailors for the Sea Skipper The actions and voices of young people across the globe are providing hope for the future of our oceans and waterways. Through Sailors for the Sea’s Clean Regattas program, youth sailors have stepped up to become leaders for environmental stewardship in their local communities. Emma Janson, a volunteer Skipper for Sailors for the Sea, shares her take on why every youth regatta should become a Clean Regatta. As a youth…

By Emily Conklin, Clean Ocean Access Everyone has the right to enjoy the coastline. In Rhode Island, this right is enshrined in our Constitution. Clean Ocean Access (COA) started out when a parking issue along the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI threatened this right to ocean recreation. A group of wave riders came together to protect their ability to access the water, and from this community effort, COA was born. Over the past fifteen years, COA has…

By Shelley Brown, Director of Sailors for the Sea Powered by Oceana   Beneath your hull is an underwater world full of beautiful, crucial ecosystems, including seagrass meadows. Generally growing in shallow coastal waterways, seagrasses are found across the globe from the tropics to the Arctic. Healthy seagrass beds have a wide range of positive impacts for our waterways. The dense underwater meadows provide spawning and nursery habitats, areas of refuge, and feeding grounds for many fish and invertebrates. Marine animals, including green sea turtles and manatees, rely on seagrass for food and sustenance….

By Rachael Zoe Miller, Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean Last year, Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean passed the ten-year mark! I’m tempted to add another nine exclamation points to celebrate, but that is a bit much. When I started Rozalia Project, I had a lot to learn. I had spent the previous twenty years as a sailing instructor, Executive Director of a community sailing school, and owner/instructor of a kite/windsurf/snowkite/SUP school. I focused on connecting…

RACE Coastal Engineering’s award-winning South Benson Marina Dredging & Beach Nourishment Project In May 2020, the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) announced Jennings Beach in Fairfield, CT as a winner of the America’s 2020 Best Restored Beaches Award. The award comes following the more than 27,000 cubic yards of sand that was hydraulically pumped onto the beach this past winter as part of a maintenance dredging project for the adjacent South Benson Marina. The national…

By Holly Paterson Executive Director, All Hands Alliance   Headquartered at 11 Waites Wharf in Newport RI, All Hands Alliance is a grassroots, nonprofit organization with the goal of engaging and inspiring the boating community to clean up our oceans and waterways. We hope to make a difference in attitudes about marine pollution and also preserve boating as we know it for future generations. At All Hands Alliance, we’re not driven by a single ideology. The problem is…

By Connor Jones, FISM Project Manager   Seagrasses are under intense pressures globally, and these pressures are particularly acute in Long Island Sound. Historically, eelgrass (Zostera marina) – the predominant species of seagrass found in the Sound – was so abundant, it was harvested for insulation and fertilizer; but today, fewer than 1,500 acres remain. A number of threats have caused this decline in the extent of eelgrass beds. The meadows that persist are threatened by eutrophication…

By Monica Pepe, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Policy Manager, Conservation and Education   As the tides have continued turning during this bizarre year we’re having, so too have the whales continued swimming. Whale and Dolphin Conservation has also persevered in our efforts to be a reliable source of news and resources, albeit in some very different avenues than we had planned. If you visited us at the Connecticut Spring Boat Show last year at Safe Harbor Essex…