I was searching flickr today and stumbled across a Jamaica Bay bird photographer. Hes tired of all of the no wake zone offenders and put up photos of people breaking the “unenforceable” law. All of the pictures are from the Salt Marsh Hall of Shame (Set) and were taken on August 25, 2007
PhotoJeff Comment:
This area of Gerritsen Creek is a no wake zone. This is to protect the wildlife (and plant life) here including the migratory and local birds, terrapins and fish. There are lots of places for folks to water and jet ski, etc. Some however feel it is their cultural right (no joke this is what they say) to use this part of the U.S. and N.Y.C. parks area for what ever purpose they feel. Now to be fair, for many many years this area was just an overgrown swamp. Recently however, some very wise people realized it is important to the quality of life and economy of NYC to preserve and revitalize our green spaces and waterways. This was quite a shock to some of the local residents who were accustomed to dumping in this area, blasting their motor boats around the creek, etc. Some took to this transition easily and some still resist. There are limited resources to police these areas and folks like these get to do as they wish with no consequence. Hence, my Hall of Shame. Though I doubt there will be a direct impact on these individuals I hope by putting this out there I will have some small, more general, positive effect.
Thanks for putting this out there. I got an interesting Flame on one of my photos in this set. I can’t tell if it was a Jet Ski enthusiast trying to rationalize their bad behavior or an uber environmentalist putting down my puny gripe.
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No there aren’t many places to waterski in NYC 2 at the most. Although there are hundreds of miles of shore line for your picture taking, We have been enjoying these waters since we were infants, long before you bulit your “nature center”.You should be more concerned about the city dumping all sorts of “crap” in the ocean instead of bothering a selected few people watersking here!
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Bob I didn’t build the Nature Center nor did I write the environmental studies that deemed this area to be a nature preserve hence the no wake zone. But thanks for the credit.
The “you’ve been doing for generations thing” doesn’t change the reality of the no wake zone. That argument didn’t work when I got a ticket for blowing that new stop sign. The fact that my great grandfather use to take his horse down that street without a stop sign in sight didn’t change a thing.
Bob, I worry about both the industrial polluters and the individual polluter. I’m not claiming folks water skiing are polluting the area. It is that they are in violation of the no wake zone which is there to help protect our environment.
I bothered nobody … the only way I could get this photo was because these folks were so close to Avenue U I could have tossed them a bagel. Maybe it was their coming so close to the nature center that afforded me the opportunity to get such a clear shot of them. It is not like I was out there seeking them out. You could say they came to me.
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the Wake from recreational water skiing causes less damage than a constant wind of 5 MPH or more , normal tide changes cause more erosion than skiers too. there is no enforceable wake zone because there is no problem. the pollution plants and air ports have single handedly wiped out shellfish frogs and salt marshes in our NYC waterways. there was a rime when I was a child we were not allowed to swim or ski in the bay because JFK was leeching MILLIONS of gallons of jet fuel in our waters. last year me and several other boat owners spoke out about the port authority’s NEW plan to dump dredged up toxic waste from Arthur kill inlet and dump it in our bay, It was the recreational boaters that were the huge voice of reason at that meeting .We do need more support . Quality of life in our bay are issues very important to us all. we must all pull together to recognize the REAL threats. Gerritsen beach belongs to us all. skiers do not hurt Gerritsen beach, pollution, over development, acid rain, storms and hurricanes do.
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Thank you Lowell … I can’t agree more that we all have a common interest in protecting our waterways. I also think there should be room for all the various uses of our bays and beaches.
I don’t agree that the No Wake zone is arbitrary or over kill but until I can share some hard data we’ll agree to disagree.
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Glad you understand my fustration as well. I am currently going over several elected officals plans on the current ,very real crisis in our waters . Councilman Gennaro and US Rep. Weiner are looking at the DEP overload of nitrogen (Human ,corporate waste via our sewers and storm drains ) that is overwelming the marine life and shrinking the salt marsh at a rate that by 2012 the marshes could dissapear completely . unfortunatly they label it as “a plan for a plan’ and admit it does not do enough.but at least these leaders a recognizing it as the true emergency it is. they outline that nitrogen levels need to be reduced by 60% in ten years,with 20% need in two years. We all need to support this “starter plan” to build better pollution plants at the four locations in jamacia bay and gerritsen beach. my support is there and the United Inter Yacht Clubs support it as well. My own vocal and voter issue support leans toward the compounding problems that ultimatly lead to the failure of our DEP facilities is as follows. 1; overcrowding by illegal residents in illegally converted housing overwelming the DEP Plants. 2; the Federal dollars neccessary to upgrade our pollution plants ,clean up our bay restore our marshes mediate the dumping grounds, and encorage Green building is currently locked in and held hostage by oil drilling in alaska bills and billions spent monthly protecting our nation from weapons of mass destuction that Never exsisted. 3; Building pemits to create out of character cramped housing conditions near or shores in our waterfront communities. these are very real threats to our future in our bay, perhaps if we all are heard louder than the corporate dollar we could one day watch our grandchildren enjoy nature AND have a healthy day waterskiing in our bay.
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Well said! I’ve had some very recent angst with building Green. Many of our Green building idea are so much more expensive … so expensive we can’t afford it.
Personally I’ve been much more active in beach cleanups, bird counts, etc. I totally see the value of going after big pollution and must be more active in this area. Not that I haven’t written letters but there is always more to do. NY Audubon and N. America Littoral Society are more my speed but we all have common goals. Thank you Lowell for enaging in this debate.
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oops I don’t know how your name got there Lowell but this 8:26 comment is all me!
Jeff
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I constantly fish that area on a once or twice a week basis, and the garbage along the shorelines makes me depressed sometimes. To think that humans can destroy a perfect environment for wildlife and not even clean it after so many years! There are hundreds of sunken cars on the bottom and I’m not sure how they even got there. Sometimes when I wade through there I find patches of soft mud I even kick up the oil and it is disgusting. If there can be more unification on cleaning up this area between fisherman, boaters, birdwatchers, then we can talk about who can use each area for what.
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There have been comments here which, it seems to me, obfuscate the original issue, which is that there IS and SHOULD BE a no-wake zone in the creek. All the stuff about other sources of problems and pollution is irrelevant. It’s irrelevant because we’re not dealing with noise pollution, where it doesn’t matter if someone makes a ninety decibel noise if there’s already a hundred and twenty decibel noise since the lower noise can’t be heard over it. Pollution, erosion, and disruption of wildlife, are cumulative phenomena. There are multiple sources of all three in the creek; but they ADD UP. The cumulative stress on individual organisms and the ecosystem is greater than the sum of its parts, and every little extra bit hurts.
Elias is right, we need to work on all aspects of the problem. Being human, we can’t each do everything, but the as yet unstopped causes of pollution, erosion and stress on the wildlife are no excuse for making the problems worse, which violating the no-wake zone does. And the harsh reality is that supporting better water pollution control plants is good, but doesn’t justify degrading the situation by speeding through the no-wake zone.
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I have family living on the water and when boats speed past their house the waves come and are slowly deteriorating the foundation of their house, the usual perpetrators are not from the beach nor they even know there are boat speed limits! its ridiculous
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I need 10 facts about Salt Marshes but these are freaken not 10 facts about Salt Marshes!!
Holla
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Nice and usefull post, thanks, this is one for my bookmarks!
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One bad apple ruins it for the bunch.
It truly is sad to say but if the boaters cant control themselves they should post the 5 MPH mark at the GB/ Belt Pky bridge and be doen with it.
It is dangerous they way some boaters fly thru the creek damaging our properties and beaches.
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