In a cleaner , birds and fish return, as the challenges of climate change

loom By Robert Miller

Nesting terns gather on Cockenoe Island, part of the , last spring. Photo: A.J. Hand

here were common terns Hand’s skiff approached, the plumage “Especially in Fairfield County.’’ clustered on a sandbar – a spot of the big white birds – great and snowy too small to qualify as one of egrets alike – shone as they perched in There are 25 rocky outcroppings in the Tthe Norwalk Islands. But cluster the the summer trees or waded at the back that make up the Norwalk terns did. of a green grass-filled inlet. Islands chain. Some are privately owned, some public property, some part of the The trick, said A.J. Hand, who was Nearby was an American oystercatcher McKinney refuge. In the summer, birds piloting his skiff around the islands with – black-headed, bright-eyed, orange nest there. In the winter, harbor seals Tina Green, was to settle in the prime beaked. A decade or so ago, they were haul out on the outcroppings. real estate above the high-tide mark – the rare birds in the . Now they’ve come back. That the waters of Norwalk Harbor – and wrack line. Then they could nest safely, the western end of Sound in without worry about being flooded out. At nearby Goose Island, the double- general – are supporting this much life A Westport resident, Hand is an avid crested cormorants ruled, gathering on is a testament to things getting better. In birder and bird photographer. the rocky beach, standing proudly on waters surrounded by millions of people – “The first to get here always take the the sign that marks the island as part not even counting the 8.5 million in New top,’’ he said. of the Stewart B. McKinney National York City – and their cars and boats and Wildlife Refuge. parking lots and over-fertilized lawns – Nearby was Cockenoe Island, owned there are surprising amounts of life in its by the town of Westport. It’s the best “There’s so little habitat for these birds,’’ still-polluted waters. rookery in for wading said Green, former president of the 4 birds like egrets and night herons. As Ornithological Society. Fall/Winter 2018–19 • 1 In recent years, there have been thick hypoxic, when the oxygen levels story,’’ said Patrick Comins, president of schools of menhaden (also called drop so low that fish can’t live. the Connecticut Audubon Society, about bunker) in the Sound – baitfish the return of bird life in the Sound. for birds and bigger fish alike. “It’s been close,’’ said Dick Harris, who has been studying water quality in But there is this: Persistent water quality “There are seals here in the winter,’’ Norwalk Harbor and its tributaries for problems plague places like Norwalk said David Hudson, research scientist more than 30 years and now works for Harbor, and they are not going away. at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Bloom & Son. “But it hasn’t happened.’’ which draws about 500,000 visitors Earthplace, which runs the Harbor a year. “We’ve had humpback whales Tessa Getchis, aquaculture extension Watch program that studies the water three years running. There was a educator for Connecticut Sea Grant, has quality of the harbor and its tributaries pod of 50 dolphins here. We’ve had worked with Bloom and other commer- in 17 towns, recently published a tiger sharks near Bridgeport.’’ cial shellfishermen across the state for study in the journal and the past two decades. She also under- . It looked at water quality and The harbor is the center of the state’s stands the importance of the water fish-netting data it had collected in oyster industry. Norm Bloom & Son quality monitoring efforts that are essen- Norwalk Harbor from 1987 to 2016. harvest oysters tial to keeping both from large beds commercial and The study found that water temperatures in Norwalk recreational shell- and salinity in the harbor’s waters have Harbor and fish beds healthy. increased over those 30 years, while beyond, along oxygen levels have declined. It also the length of the “Safe seafood found that over those years, Harbor state’s shoreline. harvest is depen- Watch researchers collected fewer But all his boats dent upon clean demersal fish – fish that live near the bring what water,” she said. bottom of the Sound. That decline they’ve raked up “Monitoring is included important commercial back to Norwalk necessary to ensure species such as winter flounder. clean water and for sorting, Sarah Crosby, who directs the Harbor bagging and sale. identify areas that may be impaired Watch program, said she agrees Oysters don’t by land-based that there are reasons for optimism grow in one pollution, and is when animals like oystercatchers and spot. Bloom’s carried out by a whales show up in the Sound. crews are collaboration of “But we’re scientists,’’ she said. “We constantly industry and local have to look at the data.’’ moving them and state environ- from one site mental managers.” And that data point in at least one to another to direction. ensure their Now, there are even plans to growth from “We’re losing the cold-water species,’’ seed oyster to establish a kelp farm off Sheffield Crosby said. harvestable Norm Bloom, owner of Norm Bloom & Son and Copps bivalve. The Island Oysters, stands on one of his docks in Norwalk Island, the largest beside one of the company’s boats. Photo: John Pirro of the Norwalk Ammerman of the Long Island Sound water quality Study said climate change, with its rising in the Sound chain. So there are many reasons to be happy. ocean levels, higher water temperatures determines where the crews work and and higher levels of salinity, could what they can do. Sometimes, after heavy “There seems to be a trend where alter Norwalk Harbor and the Sound rains fill rivers and stormwater-laden things are getting better,’’ said James in ways no one is prepared for. rivers pour into Norwalk Harbor, some Ammerman, science coordinator areas have to shut down completely for for the Long Island Sound Study, “It’s sort of the 800-pound gorilla that’s a few days until the pollution clears. which combines the work of sitting in the living room,’’ he said. “Water quality is everything,’’ Connecticut, New York and the federal One of the many rocky inlets on the Bloom said. “The quality of Environmental Protection Agency on Connecticut coastline, Norwalk Harbor the oysters depends on it.’’ research in the Sound. Connecticut has no sweeping beaches, thanks to the Sea Grant is part of the consortium great collisions of ancient continents For the last two years, there of participating organizations. and the push and retreat of glaciers. haven’t been fish kills in Norwalk Harbor. Its waters haven’t become “It’s a remarkable, remarkable success

2 • Wrack Lines: A Connecticut Sea Grant Publication Kayakers paddle past the Island power plant in Norwalk harbor last spring. The coal-fired A worker at Norm Bloom & Son sorts oysters. plant closed in 2013. Photo: Judy Benson Photo: John Pirro

Long Island Sound was itself a glacial lake until its of our other rivers,’’ said Hudson, the aquarium’s research ends broke open and let the Atlantic Ocean in. scientist.

“People don’t always connect us with being part of the Combatting all the ways people can pollute the harbor Atlantic Ocean,’’ said Dave Sigworth, associate director has taken years of persistent work. The city of Norwalk of communications for the Maritime Aquarium. cleaned up its act, and the effluent from its sewage treat- That is especially true at the western end where the ment plant. There’s less nitrogen – which feeds algal blooms Sound’s tidal flow – its coming and going – has to pass and leads to hypoxia – coming into the harbor’s water. through a narrow run by Throg’s Neck, into the East Harris, who ran the water testing program for Harbor River and New York Harbor to reach the Atlantic. Watch for 30 years, said the staff there has been dedicated That means that it can take a while for the Atlantic to to finding smaller spills – from broken sewer lines to leak- recharge the waters at the western end of the Sound. ing septic systems, and reporting them to Norwalk officials and the state Department of Energy and Environmental “It’s sort of like Las Vegas,’’ Sigworth said. “What goes Protection, which then acts to stop the pollution. Harbor into the Sound tends to stay in the Sound for a while.’’ Watch now tests water quality in 20 rivers and 17 towns. And, what comes into the Sound comes via the rivers “You have to check on it, if you see it, if you smell it,’’ flowing north to south. Harris said.

The is Norwalk Harbor’s largest It takes vigilance, in part because the urban infrastructure is tributary. It runs 21 miles from Ridgefield, Redding and very old, too often neglected and therefore prone to leaking. Wilton before it reaches Norwalk and the Sound. “The city of Norwalk is going to need an enormous By and large, it’s an urban river. For several miles, Route investment to replace it,’’ said Crosby of Harbor Watch. 7 – the busiest transportation corridor from Danbury to Norwalk – runs alongside it. Three sewage treatment To further reduce pollution, the nonprofit plants release their effluent into the river. Stormwater – Blue Inc. has a fleet of boats that go out and meet other carrying fertilizer from lawns and oil boats in the harbor to collect their sewage. and antifreeze from the roads – drains Less freely pumped sewage, less pollution. into it and then, into the Sound. Started two and a half years ago, the organization operates four boats in Norwalk “It’s our Number One problem,’’ Louise Climate change is Harbor and one in . Washer, president of the Norwalk River altering ecosystems Watershed Association, said of all the storm Starting in 2017, a new program run by runoff the river carries. — in Norwalk, in Long Save the Sound called the Unified Water Study has organized 20 groups to take That’s repeated along the intensely popu- Island Sound, in our water quality samples in 33 bays and lated Connecticut shoreline. inlets along the length of the Sound in world — as we live and both Connecticut and New York. By “The Norwalk River isn’t different than any breathe. 4 Fall/Winter 2018–19 • 3 using the same testing protocols at each site, the study’s “We’ve done all this work to reduce nitrogen levels and now leaders hope to provide the Sound’s communities with climate change is trying to undo it,’’ he said. the most comprehensive water quality data available. Climate change will also mean changes in the harbor’s “We’ve had some exceptional groups studying water quality in ecology, as salt water moves further onshore. different bays,’’ said Peter Linderoth, water quality program “The marshes are moving inland,’’ said Hudson of the manager for Save the Sound. “Now we have standard testing Maritime Aquarium. procedures, and we can have comparable data that will allow us to make studies from to bay.’’ And that will mean changes in the fish populations and the lives of the people who harvest those fish and shellfish. But all this work – and all the improvements in water quality Winter flounder may be leaving, Hudson said, but southern in Norwalk Harbor and the Sound in general – will be put to species like black sea bass are arriving. Lobsters have all but the test by climate change. disappeared in the Sound. Blue crabs may take their place. Ammerman of the Long Island Sound Study said that as And none of this is hypothetical. Climate change is altering Connecticut’s summers get hotter, so will the Sound’s waters. ecosystems – in Norwalk Harbor, in Long Island Sound, in That will mean more stratification of the water column, less our world – as we live and breathe. mixing of water within the column, less oxygen in the overall mix and potentially more fish kills. “It’s happening right before our eyes,’’ Hudson said.

Oysters shells are piled near the Norm Bloom & Son docks in Norwalk. Photo: John Pirro

4 • Wrack Lines: A Connecticut Sea Grant Publication