Cape & Islands News

Cape's Soundkeeper falls short

While the Sound is a sewer, Buzzards Bay has been “no discharge”
Comparing Soundkeeper & Baykeeper Organizations

By Sam Pearsall

As the first state in the country to designate all of its waters as “no discharge,” our tiny neighbor, Rhode Island, has made monumental strides in the water quality restoration of Narragansett Bay. Massachusetts sure has a lot to live up to.

According to the Executive Director of the Waterkeeper Alliance, Steve Fleischli, there are several main concepts of a soundkeeper or a baykeeper organization, but the three most important include having a full-time paid advocate for the waterways, having a clearly marked vessel, and being able to bring litigation to pollution of the waterways if need be. The Waterkeeper Alliance is an international organization focused on protecting waterways and currently has more than 130 members, including Save the Bay of Providence, RI; The Coalition for Buzzards Bay; and Save Our Sound of Hyannis.

Save the Bay is Rhode Island’s largest environmental organization and has been around since 1970 and in 1993, the group founded the Narragansett Baykeeper. According to longtime Baykeeper, John Torgan, the Narragansett Baykeeper was “designed to give full-time advocates and voice to the bay.”

“Since its inception, the Baykeepers has evolved into its own program with 35 full-time staff, five boats and two offices—one in Providence and the Satellite Education Center in Newport,” Torgan said.

The organization protects the bay in a number of different ways: immediate pollution response, lobbying in the statehouse and congress for new laws or regulations, regular water quality monitoring in the bay, and answering simple questions for boaters, such as where to pump-out. Torgan mentioned, “We do file lawsuits, but it is done as a last resort.” The Baykeepers would much rather work out the problems and have them fixed before getting anyone involved in a legal battle.

Torgan explained, as a baykeeper, his primary concern is “water quality restoration, preventing pollution and cleaning up the bay and tributary rivers surrounding it.”

Buzzards Baykeepers sets the standard

10 staff, 120 volunteers make Buzzards Bay “no discharge” for seven years The Coalition for Buzzards Bay and the Buzzards Bay Baykeeper has a very similar focus. “Through our Buzzards Baykeeper Advocacy Program, [The Coalition] pursues the restoration and protection of the Bay ecosystem through direct citizen advocacy as well as through the regulatory and legal processes,” the website states.

The Coalition and Baykeeper’s vision for Buzzards Bay is shoreline that is defined by beautiful beaches that are safe for swimming, healthy waters filled with shellfish, fish, and other marine life, and “a bay safe from the threats of oil spills, industrial and sewer discharges, and ocean dumping.”

With more than 10 paid full and part-time staff, about 120 volunteers, and “The Baykeeper” vessel, The Coalition has paralleled Save the Bay in Rhode Island in its efforts to protect its waterways. All of Buzzards Bay has been “no discharge” for about seven years now. The Coalition and its Baykeeper organization are involved in pollution prevention, watershed protection, and ocean management and protection.

The Coalition’s Baywatchers program, which is now in its 16th season, is the state’s largest volunteer-based monitoring effort with about 120 volunteers this summer according to Director of Monitoring Programs, Tony Williams. The Coalition’s Marine Policy Specialist, Captain Ben Bryant, explained that during the summer months, every five days the waters in the Bay are tested for dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, chlorophyll, water clarity, and salinity. “Data is most important in the summer months because the bay is stressed by the warm waters,” Bryant said.

Nantucket Sound left unprotected by Soundkeepers

As a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance "Save Our Sound"  is required to have full-time paid advocates for the waterways, advocates for legal issues that may come up, and a clearly marked vesselAccording to the Environmental Protection Agency, Nantucket Sound is the last major body of water in the state to be considered for “no discharge” status. Nantucket Soundkeeper Executive Director, Susan Nickerson, had a meeting about one year ago with the EPA to discuss more possible “no discharge” areas in the Sound’s state waters. But nothing more has come of this.

Nickerson would not comment on the number of staffers or vessels—if any—that Save Our Sound has. An unnamed staff person at Save Our Sound mentioned that they did not have their own patrol boat; they simply borrow a boat if needed. As a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, though, the organization is required to have full-time paid advocates for the waterways, advocates for legal issues that may come up, and a clearly marked vessel.

Fleischli said that if members of the Waterkeepers Alliance does not have a vessel of their own, they do need a waiver. And if they are borrowing a boat from a board member, it needs to be clearly marked. He explained that the Soundkeepers “should be flying the Soundkeeper banner from whichever boat they borrow or use.”

Nickerson has refused to “participate” any longer in this series of articles, calls reporter "biased and unprofessional"It would seem that Nantucket Sound, as pristine and flourishing with fish as it is, would be one of the first areas in Massachusetts to be entirely designated as “no discharge.” Unfortunately, it will be the last—if at all. Both Save the Bay in Rhode Island and The Coalition for Buzzards Bay have plenty of resources to aid their collection of staff and volunteers in scientific studies, advocacy, education, and regular water quality monitoring in the waterways they represent. Save Our Sound & the Nantucket Soundkeeper do not seem to be equipped with the same abundant resources and staff, nor the dedication to pollution prevention and restoration.

After a series of calls and emails to the Soundkeeper herself, I received an antagonistic voicemail today accusing me of being "biased and unprofessional", and in short, Nickerson has refused to “participate” any longer in this series of articles so I am uncertain of the responsibilities carried out by Save Our Sound and the Soundkeeper. The other two baykeeper organizations were more than willing to discuss their organization’s missions, visions, activities, and accomplishments with me; however, as of recently, the Soundkeeper has been less than helpful in doing so. Why wouldn’t they want to promote all of their organization’s efforts in protecting and restoring the pristine Sound and boast about all of their successes?