The students from Tom Tokar’s marine science class moved down the path to the beach as if on safari. But these juniors and seniors from Bayonne High School had not come to pursue big game. Rather, they came to measure the growth of marine life in the once extremely polluted Newark Bay. They came with nets, waders, measuring devices, and equipment to help collect and evaluate the growth of mussels, clams, and other marine life and to study the biodiversity of the bay.
The return of these animals to this historic waterway was evidence that the pollution that had fouled the bay for decades was on the decline. Their mission was to measure how much change had occurred since their last visit in the fall.
Since the enactment of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, Newark Bay has seen a rebirth of various types of marine life. Eastern oysters, which were a mainstay of the Bayonne economy in the 1880s, are reappearing.
“The fact that they are back indicates that the water quality has improved because they can only grow in that type of condition,” Tovar said.
Wearing waders, the students ventured into the water with a large net designed to snare fish, mussels, and other creatures near the bottom.
Mussels are particularly sensitive to changes in the ecosystem and help to build a food chain that strengthens the ecosystem.
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Like oysters, mussels are filter feeders that eat plankton and other microscopic organisms floating in the water. Mussels collect food by drawing in water, and then releasing it. The process benefits the environment by filtering out pollutants and expelling cleaner water. A mussel can filter 15 gallons of water a day.
Mussels start life as larvae, with hairy cilia that allow them to swim. They might float for months looking for a place to settle. Shortly, they develop shells and, using strong ropelike strands called byssus, attach to roots and other things, preventing erosion.
Senior Anne Besante, who intends to pursue a career in marine biology and will attend Rutgers University in September, and junior Stephanie Bock, measured the mussels and compared their findings to those of last fall.
“We strain the bags and take samples,” Besante said. “The fact that they are here shows improvement of the water.”
Bock points to the silver sided minnow as a good sign. These small fish with semi-transparent bodies have been caught by the students in such numbers as to suggest that they are regulars in the local waters.
“This again proves that the bay has increased its biodiversity over the years,” Tokar said.
The students netted seaweed, along with soft-shell crabs, eastern oysters, and stones to which other marine life clings. Sea life that until recently had been seen only in New York Harbor have made their way back into Newark Bay.
Blue crabs, which have been a staple in these waters for decades, provide other sea life with food, although they should not be consumed by humans.
For most of the 20th century, waterways leading into Newark Bay, such as the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, were a dumping ground for industry upstream. Everything from heavy-metal waste to Agent Orange (the defoliant used during the Vietnam War) made it dangerous for people to eat anything they caught. Such waste came close to destroying all marine life in the river. But activists such as the Hackensack Riverkeeper and the Passaic River Conservancy fought to restore the watershed. These groups, along with stricter state and federal laws, have helped bring back many of the species that were once lost.
“Even though any fish caught may not be safe to eat because of past mistakes of heavy-metal dumping,” Tokar said, “the fact that more and more species are appearing indicates a positive sign for the future.”—BLP