Patricia Sener set off on July 22 to become the first person to attempt and complete a 17-mile swim from Sandy Hook to Long Island. SANDY HOOK — A lone swimmer took on an historic long-distance ocean marathon, dodging through shipping channels and swimming past humpback whales and other marine life whose habitat she is trying to protect.
Patricia Sener, executive director of the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers (CIBBOWS), set off on July 22 to become the first person to attempt and complete a 17-mile swim from North Beach on Sandy Hook to Atlantic Beach in Long Island.
The route for Sener’s 11-hour swim – the Ambrose Channel — traverses the locale for a proposed liquefied natural gas facility off the coast of Long Branch.
And that was the point.
Sener, who is from Brooklyn, took on the long-distance open ocean swim to call attention to the Western New York Bight, an area that is home to more than 20 species of marine life, which Sener and the nonprofit Clean Ocean Action (COA) want to see protected by legislation to bar industrial uses and dumping in the area.
The swim was planned to promote the creation of the “Clean Ocean Zone” through legislation, an initiative spearheaded by COA over the past decade.
“About 10 years ago, I realized there were organizations like Clean Ocean Action that were instrumental in getting dumping [in this area] stopped,” Sener said in an interview the morning after her groundbreaking swim. “I thought that it was amazing, and decided I wanted to support them.
“We’re all just completely on the same page. My community is very much about keeping the water clean and swimmable, so it’s a great coming together of nonprofits in terms of our missions.”
Sener swam past former dumpsites during her aquatic trek, noting how quickly the ecology of the area has rebounded since those practices have been halted.
“The Clean Ocean Zone (COZ) is an effort on the part of our coalition – fishermen, divers, surfers – to permanently protect the ocean from harm,” COA Executive Director Cindy Zipf said.
“So, we came up with this idea, this piece of legislation, … to prohibit any of the bad, harmful activities that have been done over many years.”
The zone would seek to build on COA’s successful efforts to curtail dumping off the coast of Sandy Hook.
The Clean Ocean Zone legislation, which was first introduced in Congress in 2006 but never adopted, would permanently protect that recovering ecosystem.
If reintroduced and adopted as COA is seeking, a Clean Ocean Zone would ban ocean dumping for good and provide for the clean up of former dumpsites, as well as prohibit industrial and non-renewable energy facilities while supporting the establishment of artificial reefs to host underwater wildlife.
Sener also swam past the proposed site for Port Ambrose, a proposed liquefied natural gas facility that would be located 28 miles off the coast of Long Branch.
That facility’s third iteration is before the U.S. Maritime Administration, winding its way through the procedural steps to gain approval. Consideration of the application was suspended earlier this year, which is a normal part of the process, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The “stop clock,” as it is called, remains in effect.
“With these new threats, we hope people see the need for [a Clean Ocean Zone,]” Zipf said.”
According to Sener, the swim was tiring but rewarding, and she is proud she was able to raise awareness for the cause of preserving a healthy ocean environment.
Sener’s historic swim also raised funds for Gotham Whale, a nonprofit organization that tracks the movements of humpback whales in the region. By mid-swim, Sener had already beaten her goal of raising $2,000 for COA and Gotham Whale. As of July 23, Sener raised $3,000.
In the future, Sener said she would like to organize a swim open to members of organizations like COA, which they could use to raise money for their cause of protecting the environment.
“We have a large community of swimmers who would really love to get involved with something like that,” Sener said. “I mean, all our swimmers are stoked on the idea of a Clean Ocean Zone, so [a fundraising swim] would be a long-term goal.”