Vol. 4, No. 3

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From cigarettes to cellophane (con't...)

A cleaner harbor

As a native of nearby Lynn, Mass., LeBlanc has watched Boston Harbor, once called "the filthiest harbor in America," by President George Bush, transform into one of the cleaner waterways in the United States (lawsuits filed in the 1980s by the Conservation Law Foundation and an independent lawyer led to a decree in 1985, which found the state in violation of the federal Clean Water Act).

Joan LeBlanc and Captain Thomas Hosker aboard the First Responder.

Today the once murky waters of the harbor, a signature since before the Industrial Revolution, have become noticeably clearer. Boston marked the climax of its ambitious $3.5 billion (CDN $5.2 billion) harbor clean up program this past September by diverting vast amounts of treated waste water into the world's largest sewage tunnel, stretching 9.5 miles (15 kilometers) out into Massachusetts Bay. Harbor seals, porpoises, shorebirds and fish have returned in greater numbers. There are fewer beach closings. 

Even so, LeBlanc said, the trash floating on the water's surface continued to threaten marine animals, pose a danger to boaters and blot the seascape. Apart from spot programs run by the Massachusetts Port Authority and the U.S. Coast Guard, she added, "It was clear no one was responsible for cleaning up the debris. People kept telling us, Ôlook at all the billions of dollars going into cleaning up the harbor, and it still looks dirty.'" 

Late last fall, a working group formed by TBHA and the New England Aquarium came up with a plan to create the Marine Debris Pilot Program. The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment donated $10,000 (CDN $15,000) to launch the project. The City of Boston, the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, the Massachusetts Port Authority and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority pitched in another $90,000 (CDN $135,000) to carry it through for three months. TBHA took charge of managing the project and hired Boston Line & Service Co. to handle on-water operations. The company, which specializes in oil spill clean ups, provided a crew and boats to collect and haul the debris back to Black Falcon Terminal. From there it was lifted by crane from the water and carted to a nearby waste-to-energy facility.

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