A member of the team at Save the Sound, an organization dedicated to protecting and improving the land, air and water of the Long Island Sound region, Associate Soundkeeper Allison Rugila is working to make the Sound a better place to sail, boat, fish and swim, and encouraging others to join the fight.
“I grew up in what once was a rural part of southern Maryland,” says Allison, who lives in Westchester County, New York near the Soundkeeper boat stationed in Mamaroneck Harbor. “Despite living very close to Potomac River, I had very little exposure to the Chesapeake. As a child I spent summers visiting grandparents in Florida, and spent many hours swimming in the ocean and combing the beach for shells. I wasn’t introduced to boating and sailing until I attended St. Mary’s College of Maryland for a degree in Biology.
“As a freshman I volunteered at a St. Mary’s River Watershed Association (SMRWA) oyster restoration event, and was captivated by the idea that we can reverse hundreds of years of environmental damage by restoring oysters to our estuaries. I joined SMRWA as a summer intern in 2011, receiving a crash course in nautical knots, boating, and shellfish aquaculture. The next year we scaled up our restoration capacity by growing our own spat-on-shell: recycling shells from local restaurants, hand-filling hundreds of ½ bushel bags, and setting oyster larvae in a conical nursery tank.
“By 2016 I’d served as Program Director and Director of Communications & Outreach, and we had grown over 20 million oysters and produced over 500 reef balls for our 5-acre restoration site in the St. Mary’s River state-designated oyster sanctuary. Most impactfully, we engaged thousands of volunteers and mentored over a dozen Future Bay leaders (environmental stewards), including many who’d never seen a live oyster or been on the water. This was transformative, turning once barren bottom into a thriving 3-dimensional habitat. This August, I was honored by having the new SMWRA work vessel named after me. This 22’ C-Hawk is used for water quality monitoring, oyster restoration, and other scientific studies.
“As part of my Masters in Applied Ecology, I worked on a collaborative NOAA Sea Grant-funded project studying the effects of ocean acidification on early life stages (larval and juvenile) of blue mussel. This was an opportunity to be trained by scientists at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (Milford, Connecticut) in conducting ocean acidification research.
“I pursued a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University, focusing on the physiological effects of multiple, co-occurring climate change stressors (acidification, hypoxia, and high temperatures) on quahog clams. Looking at the most vulnerable (larval and early juvenile) life stages, I found that experiencing both acidification and hypoxia early in life has long-term effects on shellfish growth, survival and their microbiome (susceptibility to pathogens).
“I became Associate Soundkeeper in April, acting as an on-the-water pollution watchdog and one of Save the Sound’s scientific experts/science communicators. My role is to shine a light on our region’s environmental issues and advocate for change at the local and state level to preserve, protect, and restore the Sound.
“We’re creating a Sound-wide inventory of stormwater and combined sewer outfalls (CSOs) to improve our pollution monitoring and reporting efforts. Major cities across the Sound, like NYC’s five boroughs, New Haven and Bridgeport, have antiquated (~100-year-old) combined sewer systems that transport stormwater and wastewater together to wastewater treatment plants. To reduce the burden on these plants during heavy rainfall events, CSOs discharge untreated sewage with pollution-laden stormwater directly into the Sound. This inventory will enable the public to serve as citizen watchdogs, identifying “hot spot” outfalls illicitly discharging polluted water during dry weather.
“Another major project I’m contributing to is the decade-long effort to restore seagrass beds, a vital fish nursery habitat and natural storm buffer, to the eastern Sound. Over the past month, we’ve been collecting seagrass seeds from wild beds to use in our restoration plantings this fall. We hope to plant 500,000 seeds in combination with 30,000 hard clams at our Duck Island restoration site in Connecticut.
“Save the Sound and our partners are also addressing non-point nitrogen pollution from stormwater runoff through green infrastructure projects (rain gardens, living shorelines, bioswale installations), litigation (requiring Westchester County sewers be compliant with the Clean Water Act), policy (advocating for funding through Clean Water Infrastructure Act; NY septic system replacement fund), and monitoring (routine patrols for pollution).”
These efforts are yielding results. “In the late 1990s, menhaden, a major foraging fish, were scarce in the Sound,” Allison explains. “As fisheries management and water quality have improved, we’ve seen their populations rebound. Following the recovery of these foraging fish, we’ve also seen increasing abundance (or more frequently reported sightings) of their predators – dolphins, seals and sharks. A pod of dolphins was reported near New Rochelle in August.
“WindCheck readers can get involved when out on the water by reporting discolored or smelly water and pipes that are discharging during dry weather. You can participate in beach cleanups, become community scientists to help monitor water quality, and serve as clean water advocates lobbying for state and local policy that protect our lands and waters. Visit savethesound.org to learn more. Apart from boating, I really enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving. Being out on the water is truly cathartic.” ■
