Chris Reddy is director of the Coastal Ocean Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The Coastal Ocean Institute studies how human activity like industrial pollution, fishing practices and agricultural runoff affects coastal waters. Dr. Reddy spoke
with us about the greatest threats to coastal waters here in the New York
area, and what we can do about it.

1. What is the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and what kind of work do you do there?

WHOI is a nonprofit institution dedicated to understanding marine science and engineering, and dedicated to gaining the best understanding about how the ocean works. At WHOI, we think of the ocean as a big manufacturing plant and we figure out what goes on in the plant. We’ve been around since 1930, and we have 150 scientists that work on different projects. We’re trying to figure out what happens to the ocean.

2. What is the greatest threat to the ocean around New York and the eastern seaboard now?

It’s question of scale and time. If you’re in Long Island, the biggest threat in the short term might be algal bloom, or it may be these places where there’s no oxygen in the ocean and fish can’t breathe.

A brown tide (algal bloom) near Long Island; the blue water is Block Island Sound.
( photo by L. Cosper, 1986)

In the long term, we’re not quite sure what the sea level rise will affect, what ongoing climate changes will affect. These are questions of extreme debate. It’s hard to tell. In terms of things that are tangible to the lay person, we certainly have a problem in Long Island Sound, thanks to the runoff from the overuse of fertilizer. What happens is that the natural populations of bacteria in the Sound will eat all the fertilizer and food that is overproduced. It’s like too many drops of Miracle-Gro are going into the ocean. The bacteria and algae population grows astronomically. The ocean has oxygen in it, but it will run out, and you end up with fish kills. This has to do with how much fertilizer goes on our grass, or runoff from our septic systems.

3. Large cities like New York have a profound effect on the marine environments around them. We all know that industrial pollution damages ocean ecosystems, but what other threats to the ocean come out of cities?

In the grand scheme of things, there’s more oil that enters our coastal environment from urban runoff than from oil spills out in the ocean. You know that black patch of oil that runs down the middle of the road all over New York City? That gets washed off in the rain, into the sewers and finally the ocean. So the end result is that there’s a significant load of oil in the ocean from urban runoff. Cars by themselves cause a lot of pollution and runoff.

4. Are there any other “dead zones” in the ocean around New York City or the Eastern
Seaboard?

There may be, but not on the scale of the dead zones in Long Island Sound.

5. Climate change is supposed to wreak havoc on ocean currents, especially the movement of warm and cold water — how will New York City’s temperature zone be affected by climate changes in the ocean?

Cold water is denser than warm water. Melting sea ice and warmer water is actually less dense and takes up a greater volume, causing a rise in sea levels. One of the problems that people struggle with is that 1 to 2 degree changes in water temperature are subtle and hard to grasp, but these are huge factors. It’s a big deal, because that’s a lot of heat. Think about trying to heat up water in a pot, and the amount of energy and heat it takes to do that. Now think about the amount of heat and energy it takes to raise the temperature of the ocean. These temperature changes impact how the ice will melt, the density of water, and the rise in sea levels.

6. There’s a lot of buzz lately about the melting of glaciers, and their effect on sea levels. How severe is this problem, and how does it affect coastal cities like New York?

Low-lying regions are going to affected by sea-level rise, and there are erosional issues as well. (See a map of New York land areas vulnerable to sea level rise). Sea level rise takes land away. You’re going to have a greater impact of sea level rise in coastal areas because the water’s close in already.

7. How has the Atlantic ecosystem changed over time as urban populations have grown?

Over time, over-fishing has upset the natural balance of the ecosystem. Humans are playing around at the bottom of the food web by affecting algae that’s being made, and we’re tinkering at the top by over-fishing, and the end result is that we have fish population problems.

8. What kinds of new initiatives, public or private, are happening to help clean up marine environments?

Right now, we have geo-engineering going on — scientists and thinkers are getting together all over the world to try to figure out some way to manipulate the ocean to fix some of these problems. Large meetings are happening to talk about geo-engineering as we speak, dealing with the concept of cleaning the ocean. Trying to neutralize the acidification of the ocean because of CO2 emissions is a daunting task. Right now, the only thing we can do is to stop putting stuff in.

9. Some people might say: “I don’t live in the ocean. Why should I care about what happens out there in the ocean?” How would you respond?

What I would point out is how much the ocean regulates our climate. I would take them to a map, and put my finger on northern Europe, and have them tell me the average temperature in that latitude. Then if I slide my finger over to central Canada, I’ll find a significantly colder region. The ocean does a huge job of regulating the temperature of the coastal areas and inland. The reason why people move to coastal areas is because it’s warmer in the summer, and less cold during the winter. When you mess with the ocean, you affect the climate.

10. Does economic advancement have an adverse effect on ocean environments?
For example: Is the ocean worse off around more developed cities like New York, as opposed to a cities in the Third World?

A lot of emerging nations don’t have the same pollution controls as the Western world. I think some of these rapidly industrializing countries should look at how they affect the environment as they grow. Ideally, they want to grow rapidly as a Western society, but do it cleaner. They can say to themselves, “Here’s our chance to grow and explode, but we’re going to grow and leave behind less of an imprint than the U.S. or Britain,” for example.

11. Do you think the American government is doing enough to protect and preserve marine environments?

I would say no. I would say all the research that’s going to manned space flight should be turned around to do the work of NASA’s research on how the ocean works. We should be doing some triage about how we use NASA assets. Some of these satellites are finding data about the ocean that a million ships can’t. Think about a patient in the hospital. All we can do right now is tell people its pulse and its blood pressure. In order to understand how the ocean is behaving, we need to see the sea from below and above. I would argue as Chris Reddy, oceanographer, that I would devote many of NASA’s assets to studying the earth, not the solar system.

12. What about municipal governments, like in New York and Boston? Are they doing enough to protect the ocean?

It’s difficult right now to expect much. I think education is the best place to start. I would try to do as much education as possible about the ocean and the best way to add clarity to issues like climate change.

13. So aside from recycling, are there things that the average New York City person can do to help the ocean?

In reality, use less energy. It all comes down to energy. We’re in a struggle to keep CO2 levels down. For instance - do you really need to use that much shampoo? Most shampoo comes from petroleum, and it has to be processed, and transported, creating more CO2 in the atmosphere and more pollutants in the ocean. Think about every time you use toothpaste or lotion — all these little things add up. To me, I think we can start to save energy on a scale of 25% based on efficiency. It’s all about energy. We have to get energy from fossil fuels like coal, and then coal releases mercury into the ocean. If you burn something you make CO2, which acidifies the ocean, which impacts shellfish adversely. I would say conserve energy, and use less of everything.

For more on Reddy, go here. Please note that Dr. Reddy’s opinions in this Q&A do not necessarily reflect those of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.