Estuary Reserve as an Ecosystem
14 May 2013 By Abiodun Giwa
Robert Weltner and his deputy
Robert Weltner, president of Operation Splash spoke to Abiodun Giwa about the usefulness of an estuary to the human human community, the health of an estuary and what constitutes danger to it, using the South Shore Estuary in Long Island as an example.
Q: What is an estuary reserve?
A: I call it a nautical nursery. (Nautical means Sea, or belonging to the sea). It is where all the sea creatures that live in the sea come for safety away from the danger in the ocean, mate and reproduce.
Q: What is the importance of an estuary reserve to the human community?
A: An estuary reserve is a part of human community’s economy. People make a living out of it. They feed their families from it. People sell different types of fish and no one can claim not to love eating fish and other sea food. It is why the Sea needs to be kept healthy.
Q: How wide is the estuary in Long Island?
A: The South Shore Estuary in Long Island is 62 miles wide. It stretches from New York City to the Hamptons. (He brings out a map of the South Shore estuary). The South Shore estuary is a swamp between the human community and the ocean. It is the only estuary in Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island.
Q: What are the characteristics of an estuary?
A: An estuary naturally lies between the human community and the ocean. It is inhabited by sea creatures who avoid the ocean to be safe. The estuary has inlets for water from the ocean to dilute with the water in the estuary. When the water from the ocean dilutes with the water in the estuary, it cleans up the water in the estuary. There are about five inlets in the South Shore Estuary. The inlets are at Shinnicock, Moniches, Jones, Rockaway and Fire Island. The inlets ensure water in the estuary is not stagnant.
Q: What would you say constitutes unhealthiness to an estuary?
A: Historically, at a time when things were productive and healthy before the settlers set their feet on this shore, all shell fishes, oysters and clams, were here in large numbers. There were plenty of fishes to catch for food. But pollution and commercialization have changed everything. When we set out to build these houses and roads diminishing the shorelines, they cause closure of inlets and leads to limited ocean water to the estuary. There is a fish called ‘Fluke’. All the flukes come to the estuary to mate and reproduce, but the commercial fishermen don’t allow them to settle down before they are caught. This diminishes the population of fishes in the water.
Q: Do you have any reason why people like to live close to the sea?
A: People like to live close to the Sea because they wish to be close to Nature, which the natural trend of the ecology of the estuary affords them. In the bid to enjoy the nature and develop access to it, humans have infringed on the right of sea creatures. It is what civilization has caused us. It is part of what is causing global warming and its repercussions. Currently, people who live close to the sea know the effect of the repercussions of this infringement on Nature in the name of modernism. But those who live far away from it would not easily understand what happened during Hurricane Sandy. What we are witnessing is an attempt by Nature to reclaim what belongs to it that civilization has deprived it.
Q: Apart from human infringement on nature that constitutes threat to the lives of sea creatures, what would you say determines suitable water for these creatures?
A: Water that is not high in salt. The water must be brackish for the safety of the sea creatures for them to be able to spurn. They cannot spurn in high sea water. They need less salt to spurn. The water in the estuary has less salt because of the fresh water diluting with it from the land when rain falls and through snow melting.
Q: What bad effect does debris on the wetlands have on the water and the habitats?
A: To ensure there is no debris on the wetlands across the South Shore is why I am here with the Splash cleaning up the wetlands in Long Island the debris do not danger to marine lives. They endanger the lives of sea creatures and the birds that fly in the air. Just like the fish that come to the estuary to spurn, different types of birds come to the wetlands to reproduce. Birds like to go to certain areas like the estuary for reproduction purposes and if they eat garbage containing dangerous materials, their lives will be endangered with high mortality and reduces their population.
Q: How does the debris get into the water?
A: Water from the rain goes into the storm drains with garbage. All the drains you see on the streets across the city lead into the bay. When the wind blows, the tide carries the garbage in the water into the marches on the wetland and the garbage can also be forced back into the water by the wind.
.
Q: What is an estuary reserve?
A: I call it a nautical nursery. (Nautical means Sea, or belonging to the sea). It is where all the sea creatures that live in the sea come for safety away from the danger in the ocean, mate and reproduce.
Q: What is the importance of an estuary reserve to the human community?
A: An estuary reserve is a part of human community’s economy. People make a living out of it. They feed their families from it. People sell different types of fish and no one can claim not to love eating fish and other sea food. It is why the Sea needs to be kept healthy.
Q: How wide is the estuary in Long Island?
A: The South Shore Estuary in Long Island is 62 miles wide. It stretches from New York City to the Hamptons. (He brings out a map of the South Shore estuary). The South Shore estuary is a swamp between the human community and the ocean. It is the only estuary in Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island.
Q: What are the characteristics of an estuary?
A: An estuary naturally lies between the human community and the ocean. It is inhabited by sea creatures who avoid the ocean to be safe. The estuary has inlets for water from the ocean to dilute with the water in the estuary. When the water from the ocean dilutes with the water in the estuary, it cleans up the water in the estuary. There are about five inlets in the South Shore Estuary. The inlets are at Shinnicock, Moniches, Jones, Rockaway and Fire Island. The inlets ensure water in the estuary is not stagnant.
Q: What would you say constitutes unhealthiness to an estuary?
A: Historically, at a time when things were productive and healthy before the settlers set their feet on this shore, all shell fishes, oysters and clams, were here in large numbers. There were plenty of fishes to catch for food. But pollution and commercialization have changed everything. When we set out to build these houses and roads diminishing the shorelines, they cause closure of inlets and leads to limited ocean water to the estuary. There is a fish called ‘Fluke’. All the flukes come to the estuary to mate and reproduce, but the commercial fishermen don’t allow them to settle down before they are caught. This diminishes the population of fishes in the water.
Q: Do you have any reason why people like to live close to the sea?
A: People like to live close to the Sea because they wish to be close to Nature, which the natural trend of the ecology of the estuary affords them. In the bid to enjoy the nature and develop access to it, humans have infringed on the right of sea creatures. It is what civilization has caused us. It is part of what is causing global warming and its repercussions. Currently, people who live close to the sea know the effect of the repercussions of this infringement on Nature in the name of modernism. But those who live far away from it would not easily understand what happened during Hurricane Sandy. What we are witnessing is an attempt by Nature to reclaim what belongs to it that civilization has deprived it.
Q: Apart from human infringement on nature that constitutes threat to the lives of sea creatures, what would you say determines suitable water for these creatures?
A: Water that is not high in salt. The water must be brackish for the safety of the sea creatures for them to be able to spurn. They cannot spurn in high sea water. They need less salt to spurn. The water in the estuary has less salt because of the fresh water diluting with it from the land when rain falls and through snow melting.
Q: What bad effect does debris on the wetlands have on the water and the habitats?
A: To ensure there is no debris on the wetlands across the South Shore is why I am here with the Splash cleaning up the wetlands in Long Island the debris do not danger to marine lives. They endanger the lives of sea creatures and the birds that fly in the air. Just like the fish that come to the estuary to spurn, different types of birds come to the wetlands to reproduce. Birds like to go to certain areas like the estuary for reproduction purposes and if they eat garbage containing dangerous materials, their lives will be endangered with high mortality and reduces their population.
Q: How does the debris get into the water?
A: Water from the rain goes into the storm drains with garbage. All the drains you see on the streets across the city lead into the bay. When the wind blows, the tide carries the garbage in the water into the marches on the wetland and the garbage can also be forced back into the water by the wind.
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