if you can sighn the petition and help out our shellfish farmers and bioligists.

 

http://www.petitiononline.com/nj07074/petition.html

 

 

To: NJ DEP Commissioner Bob Martin

On June 7th, 2010, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued the a press release announcing a new policy which bans all shellfish restoration and educational activities in less-than-approved coastal waters.

 

This policy essentially shuts down all of NY/NJ Baykeeper's oyster restoration and gardening activities completely. The water bodies in the Raritan Bay complex--including Sandy Hook Bay, the Navesink & Shrewsbury Rivers as well as the Hudson River, Newark Bay and Lower New York Harbor--are now completely off-limits for our work.

 

We are deeply saddened by this policy because we feel--especially based on the wording of the press release--that the DEP is demonizing our work in urban restoration / research / education in this estuary in order to rationalize and justify their lack of ability to protect and improve the water quality of our coastal waterways.

 

We ask that you support and help circulate this petition to allow shellfish restoration projects to continue in our endangered waterways. We will ensure that this petition is delivered to Bob Martin, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

 

For further information, please see the Action Alerts page at the NY/NJ Baykeeper web site:

 

http://www.nynjbaykeeper.org

 

If you are so inclined, please write letters to the Commissioner expressing

your disappointment in this irresponsible and short-sighted policy.

 

Additionally, please watch your local newspapers for stories about this

issue and write letters to the editor on behalf of our restoration work.

 

Bob Martin, Commissioner

401 E. State St.

7th Floor, East Wing

P.O. Box 402

Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

 

Thank you for your continued support,

Debbie Mans, Baykeeper

 

Sincerely,

 

Sincerely,

 

The Undersigned

Why is it being banned? Dirty water?

Need more backstory.

 

Sorry, I don't sign petitions simply because somebody that has something to gain wants me to.

 

What were the baykeepers doing in terms of education and production? Why did the EPA shut them down? What are the consequences of the shut-down?

Need more backstory.

 

Sorry, I don't sign petitions simply because somebody that has something to gain wants me to.

 

What were the baykeepers doing in terms of education and production? Why did the EPA shut them down? What are the consequences of the shut-down?

 

Then why should someone sighn anything pertaining to gun rights ?

 

 

 

A friend who does alot of biology work with water quality and oyster bed replanting sent this to me and i wanted to help him out.. some of those waters closed have been open to clammers for transplant for about 15 years or so and have dedicated alot of resources to what they were doing..

I think the waters are dirty. I remember reading something about it in the Asbury Park Press. Don't quote me on that though.

Environmental groups say they fear New Jersey

I don't think I would want to eat any shellfish from "contaminated waters"

 

This whole thing seems pretty complicated.

HAHAHA, IT IS TOO CLEAN CONTAMINATED WATERS NOT FOR EATING..

HAHAHA, IT IS TOO CLEAN CONTAMINATED WATERS NOT FOR EATING..

 

I just read the whole thing. I read quickly so sometimes I miss some details. Point out where it says that the purpose of the shellfish is to clean the contaminated waters. It's late and maybe I am missing it.

 

I don't see how restoring shelfish beds will clean the water though. The water is constantly circulating throughout the ocean. It's not like th water is in an enclosed space and will eventually be cleaned due to the filtration. More dirty water keeps passing over the shelfish every day. Ideas?

hey bang a doosh, you keep pissing in the river and we will all look the other way. hows that sound..

Signed Tony, I understand what is and has been going on.

I majored in Environmental Science, so let my try to explain. Shellfish, like muscles, clams and oysters feed by filtering the particulate matter out of water. They do an amazing job of removing this type of matter and have been known to turn a cloudy lake crystal clear in a couple of decades.

 

By restoring the shellfish to these areas, they will aid in the cleaning of the contaminated waters. They won't solve the entire problem, but over time, they can make a measurable difference.

 

The FDA is worried that the shellfish will make it into the food supply because of poaching and make somebody sick and subsequently damage the shellfish industry.

 

Whether or not this is a realistic fear, I have no idea.

 

The thing I don't understand is that I have never known the EPA to listen to anybody but themselves, and I have never known them to care very much about people. This decision is very puzzling.

 

One thing seems obvious in my mind though. The potential economic impact if the waters are cleaned is far greater than $792 million, so that should not be the deciding factor.

hey bang a doosh, you keep pissing in the river and we will all look the other way. hows that sound..

 

 

I prefer pissing in the shower. Anyway. It doesn't say that they put them their to clean the water soooooo how was I supposed to know that was the reason for putting the shelfish there?

Smity,

 

Unfortunatly I think we are polluting at a much faster rate then can be cleaned.

Tony,

 

Sorry about that, I didn't mean to come off sounding like a jerk. I just couldn't find any additional information. But, after your explanation, I signed the petition. Yeah, it's absolutely stupid (but, sadly, not surprising) that the DEP would halt a clean-up effort over an imagined scenario of someone poaching contaminated oysters.

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/spotlight/project-ports.asp