I suggest a traditional Makah Indian ship-worm hunt using 50 caliber machine guns. The same issues you mention have destroyed many of the supports for the older drawbridges that cross the Intracoastal Waterway here is South Florida. My local bridge over the intracoastal was condemned and is in the process of being rebuilt in concrete. The pillars get munched both from the sides, insides AND bottom which is the worst aspect because it's the least apparent. Cya Bob Denton Delray Beach, FL -----Original Message----- From: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com [mailto:rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com] Sent: Friday, February 26, 1999 1:11 PM To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net; nyckayaker_at_envirolink.org Subject: new york waterfront There is an interesting interview with Adam Brown in the Metro section of today's (Friday, 2/26) New York Times. Adam is a commercial diver who has been seeing the underside of our boats for years as he assesses and works on the underpinning of New York's piers. For those who are unaware, the pollution levels of the water here has dropped so drastically that many forms of marine life, once unable to survive here because of the condition of the water, have returned. Included are crustaceans and mollusks that are eating away at the piers. I took an eye-opening and highly informative trip with Adam last year for a few hours looking at the condition of the piers. The article covers some of what he has observed and he gives in a clear form what exactly is happening. The crustacean, known as a gribble, eats away at the outside of the piers giving them the look of having been attacked by beavers, i.e. an hour glass silohuette. The other is a mollusk know as a shipworm, a marine borer. It bores holes into the pier leaving its offspring to eat away at the core of the wood inside. Adam's interview doesn't get into the solution for killing off the shipworm borer. The pier is wrapped in plastic and that effectively cuts off the oxygen supply for the baby shipworms and they suffocate to death. I think the New York Times has shyed away from the murder of these innocents for political purposes and so I'm planning a campaign to Save The Baby Shipworm. Now that those dastardly Canadians no longer are killing baby seals, I think this is a good cause for us to take up. My movement plans to print up T-shirts with pictures of baby shipworms. They are not as appealing-looking as baby seals...no lovely eyelashes and sweet faces. In fact, they are downright ugly. But who is to say that we should only save what we find cute or romantic such as baby seals and whales. They are babies suffering an insufferable death. As part of the protest, I am organizing a group of kayakers to tie ourselves around the piers to prevent any further wrapping with plastics. Those who have shown disdain for folding kayaks and SOTs will get less choice spots below the high water line. :-) Seriously, it is an interesting development many of us have been following in New York Harbor. The waters are so much cleaner. Just stay away from the piers. One might collapse on you!! And please don't pass on my feeble attempt at humor regarding saving the baby shipworm. Some tree hugger may just take it up as a cause!! ralph diaz ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Feb 26 1999 - 14:04:26 PST
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