 outfall. The water is so clean you can eat the clams at the end of pipe.
Just last year, Wareham bit a big bullet and spent more than 20 million dollars to upgrade its sewer treatment plant to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus levels entering the watershed, the prime drivers behind algal blooms. Though sewer bills almost doubled, the town now has the cleanest wastewater treatment facility in the state.
"We're picking away at it," Gifford says. "We couldn't have done it without state and federal grants, or the help of guys like Greg."
It's a never-ending process, especially as the population grows. Last year New England suffered its worst red tide outbreak in decades, prompting the closure of nearly 80 percent of the Massachusetts coast to shellfishing. It was the first ever occurrence of red tide in Buzzards Bay. Though a natural phenomenon, the algal bloom was exacerbated by last year's heavy spring runoff. But Sawyer believes that there is a growing public awareness in the area about the importance of protecting aquatic resources. Recently a Boston multimillionaire bought a "McMansion" in a nearby town and filled in a small marsh so his manicured lawn could run down to his tennis court. He wanted to donate $400,000 to the town as mitigation money to go build another salt marsh elsewhere. "The town said no, you will put back that marsh exactly where it was," Sawyer says with a chuckle.
And perhaps that's the ultimate lesson of the U.S. and Pew oceans commissions. Aside from a slew of ocean policy reforms recommended by the two commissions, ultimately if we want safe beaches, abundant wildlife, stable fisheries, healthy seafood, and vibrant coastal communities, says Oregon State's Jane Lubchenco, we're going to need a new ocean ethic.
"There's no single silver bullet that's going to fix the problem," Lubchenco says. "The problems are complex and come from things we've been doing on land for a long time that are coming back to haunt us. But we need to understand that oceans are both valuable and vulnerable, and they are finite. It's important that we restore them not just because it helps us, but because it's the right thing to do."
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