Vol. 1, No. 4
Headline Back Issues Fall 1997
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NH kindles kids' coastal awareness Portsmouth, New Hampshire -- An innovative partnership designed by the New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) and supported by Northeast Petroleum, a division of Cargill, Inc., recently finished its second year promoting awareness about coastal issues and developing stewardship among New Hampshire school children.
CEI provides financial assistance to schools in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts to enable them to visit the Seacoast Science Center, Sandy Point Discovery Center, and New Hampshire SeaGrant programs. CEI organizers say the fund has introduced thousands of children to the cultural and natural history of the New Hampshire seacoast. The three curricula funded through the Cargill grant are The Rocky Shore Teachers Guide, available at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, NH; It's All Connected, available through the Sandy Point Discovery Center at the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve; and DEPTHS (Discovering Ecology: Pathways To Science), available through the New Hampshire Coastal Program. MA grants address stormwater pollution Boston, Massachusetts -- In November, Governor Paul Cellucci announced $627,308 in grant awards for 10 communities under the Coastal Pollutant Remediation (CPR) Program, a stormwater funding initiative designed to reduce transportation-related coastal water pollution problems and to protect natural resources. The recent awards mark the program's third year of funding successful local projects working to identify and clean up sources of road runoff and other stormwater pollution affecting important coastal areas such as shellfish beds. Administered by Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM), the CPR Program will distribute up to $4 million over five years. During the grant program's first two years, $700,000 was awarded to 12 communities. The program compliments the state's new stormwater policy, which addresses the pollution that occurs when rainwater and melted snow run off roadways, roofs, and other impervious surfaces, picking up and carrying sediments, bacteria, salts, and other substances to nearby water bodies. "Stormwater pollution causes some of the most serious water quality problems in the state," said Cellucci. "The CPR Program allows us to get money to cities and towns so they can prevent contaminated stormwater from polluting our rivers and bays and harming the fish and wildlife that live there." MCZM will solicit applications for round four in April, 1998. Interested municipalities should call Steve Barrett at (617) 727-9530, extension 413. Chatham, Massachusetts -- Following US Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Bruce Babbitt's decision to halt lethal gull population control on Monomoy Island late last summer, the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) was scheduled to discuss its proposed 1998 plan for managing the island at a December 10 forum. The plan will propose methods for limiting gull populations to allow migratory seabirds to nest on the National Wildlife Refuge off Cape Cod. In developing the plan, USFWS has incorporated the results of its 1997 work on Monomoy. The final version may reflect comments made during the forum, which was to convene representatives of animal rights, scientific, environmental, and government organizations. USFWS is charged under the Endangered Species Act with protecting migratory birds such as roseate terns and piping plovers. New federal legislation also requires the agency to promote diversity of species in a refuge, even if some, such as common and least terns, which also nest on Monomoy, are not protected by federal legislation. "The main reason some form of gull control is needed is because gulls come in and usurp the nesting habitat of other species," said Ron Howey, acting geographic regional assistant director for USFWS' Region 5-North. He noted that the gulls arrive to nest slightly earlier than the other birds. Gulls are also known to prey on the eggs and chicks of migratory seabirds, Howey said. In 1996 USFWS poisoned black back and herring gulls nesting on the island, angering Chatham area residents who, with support from animal rights groups, pressed their legislators to urge federal officials to end the policy. USFWS has also posted wildlife stewards on the island during nesting season to harass the gulls to keep them away from other birds' nesting areas, but some wildlife scientists maintain that this method is not effective enough alone. "Lethal controls should be a last resort, and must be carefully justified," said Dr. John Grandy, senior vice president of the Washington, DC-based Humane Society of the United States. Gull poisoning on Monomoy "didn't meet that standard," he asserted. Babbitt stated in August that no more gulls would be killed until the practice could be re-evaluated. Babbitt's spokeswoman, Stephanie Hanna, later said that he would review the 1998 management plan, but is unlikely to override it, as he feels the agency is "doing things in a sound, scientific, and rational way." The 1998 nesting season begins in April. 1998 is the International Year of the Ocean In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1998 the International Year of the Ocean. The Year of the Ocean will promote awareness of oceans, seas, and coastal waters. Visit the Year of the Ocean web site: http://www.ocean98.org for more information. And look for special features on this global celebration and recognition of the marine environment in the Gulf of Maine Times. |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine
Launched in 1996, the Coastal Education Initiative (CEI) combines the efforts of business, government agencies, educational institutions, science and nature centers, and the nonprofit community in advocating the adoption of coastal ecology curricula and promoting affordable hands-on programming at local science and nature centers.