Vol. 4, No. 3

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

An auspicious mix

That TBHA should spearhead such a large undertaking is not surprising. Founded 27 years ago by the League of Women Voters and the Boston Shipping Association, the association has fought long and hard to clean up Boston's historic harbor. Vivien Li, who has served as the executive director since 1991, called the founders an unlikely but auspicious mix.

"Back in the early 70s the League organized a study group and decided it was time to clean up the harbor," she said. "But as a group of homemakers they thought no one would listen to them. And they were right--except for the shipping association, which obviously had a vested interest in the harbor. So here you had these housewives meeting with the shippers and longshoremen, and the group eventually becomes this emblem of public stewardship with the goal of cleaning up this beleaguered harbor and making it accessible to the public." 

Over the years TBHA's board has grown to include community activists, environmentalists, boat operators and developers. Though they may not always agree, Li said, they all have the same goal: to keep the harbor clean.

In the past 10 years, a program called Back to the Beaches has helped to improve and upgrade a dozen or more beaches that line the harbor by resanding eroded areas, repairing seawalls and walkways, landscaping, building shelters and adding parking spaces. TBHA runs the program with the Metropolitan District Commission, and the communities of Boston, Quincy and Winthrop.

Harbor Bound, an education program started in 1993, exposes about 1,000 inner city high school students annually to marine environmental issues through boat tours of the harbor and the Deer Island sewage treatment plant, lectures and demonstrations on water quality monitoring.

"We don't pretend to do everything," Li said. "We do a few projects, but we do them well and we try to be a resource for everyone." Striking a healthy balance between economic interests and long-term stewardship goals is critical, she added, particularly in light of the city's current construction boom.

The association plans to issue a full report on the marine debris project by the end of the year. Preliminary recommendations include more coastal clean-up projects, an educational plan for boaters, tourists and visitors to the harbor, additional trash barrels in popular waterfront locations, and the restoration of dilapidated waterfront structures. TBHA also suggests that local conservation commissions add regulations to the permitting process making the removal of marine and shoreline debris the responsibility of property owners. Li said she envisions TBHA managing the program temporarily, but for the long term, it should fall under the wing of a government agency, similar to a marine debris clean up program for the City of Baltimore.

One of the biggest advocates of a permanent marine debris program is Eric Hahn, Boston's Harbormaster. In his 20 years at the helm, Hahn has retrieved everything from gum wrappers to cars. Before the TBHA started their program, he said, the responsibility of who cleaned up the rubbish came down to "the last guy to answer the telephone."

"I'm ecstatic that someone is actually cleaning things up," he added. "It's nice to see the trash go. There's nothing that makes the harbor look dirtier."

A barrel full of marine debris collected from Boston Harbor.

The Harbormaster is not the project's only fan. Throughout their travels along the inner harbor, the Captain and Wickenden received standing ovations and countless rounds of thank yous from onlookers on land and on water. 

In the weeks before the program ended for this year, Wickenden stood on deck while the Captain navigated the First Responder nearby Griffin's Wharf, the setting for the harbor's most chronicled event, the Boston Tea Party in 1773. As Wickenden retrieved a carton of Styrofoam he told how, as a volunteer last year on the schooner Ernestina, tourists often commented about the harbor's unsightly debris. "It was really embarrassing," he said. 

But all that is in the past, he continued. A new era for Boston Harbor has dawned and he is glad to be a part of the action.

"We're spreading the gospel out here," he said. "And it feels really good."