Margo Pellegrino (r) paddles to shore alongside Kathleen Gasienica, of the American Littoral Society, at the Keansburg waterfront on Aug. 15. PHOTOS BY NICOLE ANTONUCCI Only a few miles remain before two environmental advocates finish an approximately 300-mile trek by bicycle and outrigger canoe along the New Jersey and New York coastline to promote a bill designed to protect the ocean from pollution.
Sean Dixon, coastal policy attorney for Clean Ocean Action, is riding his bicycle from Cape May to Montauk, Long Island, while Margo Pellegrino, a member of the Surfrider Foundation South Jersey Chapter, is making the trek on water in an outrigger canoe.
As they make their way up the coast, the two are being joined by local supporters in the Tour for the Shore campaign, which began Aug. 10 in Cape May and will end Aug. 24 in Montauk.
“This is the most direct way to reach every beach town, every beachgoer, and every beach business on the shore. It is also how we are building bridges between the fishermen, the tourists and the businesses and everyone that cares about [the ocean],” Dixon said in an interview last week.
Sean Dixon, of Clean Ocean Action (r), finishes day six of the Tour for the Shore campaign on Aug. 15 along with Ron Calhoun and John Knodel. “At the very least, this tour is leading to a tsunami of citizen action of people that just care for the ocean.”
Dixon and Pellegrino made a stop on the Keansburg waterfront Aug. 15 as part of the campaign to raise awareness and rally public support for Clean Ocean Zone (COZ) legislation to prohibit ocean dumping, oil and gas development, liquefied natural gas facilities, and other activities that could pollute coastal waters.
Pellegrino explained the tour is also educating people about the ocean.
“The biggest benefit is meeting people and reaching out to people, getting people excited about the ocean. It is educating them that they need to be proactive and people learn that it is totally within the realm of their possibilities,” Pellegrino said in an interview.
Margo Pellegrino (c) finishes day six of Tour for the Shore at the Keansburg waterfront on Aug. 15 along with Paul Carluccio (l) and Kathleen Gasienica (r). NICOLE ANTONUCCI “We can make a difference and it’s not just that we can, but we have to if we care about our future generations.”
The rally at the Keansburg waterfront marked the end of the New Jersey portion of the tour, which began on Aug. 10 with stops in Avalon, Atlantic City, Barnegat Light Point Pleasant Beach, and Sandy Hook.
Day six of the Tour for the Shore also included the Monmouth County Bayshore Environmental Summit that evening in Keansburg.
Focusing on the need for a Clean Ocean Zone, the panel discussion included representatives of Clean Ocean Action, the American Littoral Society, Food and Water Watch, New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th District).
“It would block all the bad stuff and would allow our economic engines, the clean ocean economies, to be driven forward,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, at the rally. The COZ has been in the works for more than 10 years and Zipf said the hope is the bill will have bipartisan, multi-state support when introduced this fall. According to Zipf, the state of the ocean is better now than in the past. “We were the ocean dumping capital of the world; we had dead, dying dolphins washing up on our beaches, medical waste, and we were the nation’s laughingstock in terms of water quality,” Zipf said, adding that due to a “massive” effort by citizens and environmental groups, the ocean off the coast is now dump-site free.
“We have gone from one of the worst coasts in the country to one of the best … this unprecedented public awareness campaign is all about locking in that success, locking in that progress, by locking up that pollution.”
Jim Walsh, New Jersey regional director of Food and Water Watch, said that allowing activities such as offshore drilling or liquefied natural gas pipelines would threaten the shore’s environment.
“Allowing those projects to go forward will jeopardize the health and well-being of the Bayshore and the ocean that we worked so hard to protect.” Walsh said.
“We stand here today for the Clean Ocean Zone.”
For more information on the COZ or Tour for the Shore, visit http://cleanocean.wordpress.com/tourdetails/.