Murphy touts ‘living shoreline’ to area environmentalists
NEW HAVEN — Peter Solomon is planting many seeds as part of his job as an environmental science teacher at Sound School.
On Wednesday, he talked about the living shoreline project near the school that he and his students have undertaken, in which they are growing oysters, which in turn is also growing interest in marine-related jobs.
The discussion of that high school project was one aspect of a conversation with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy on living shorelines, which use nature to make them more resilient to climate change, rather than building hard man-made barriers.
Connecticut’s junior senator was at the Canal Dock Boathouse to talk up the Living Shoreline Act that he soon will re-introduce in Congress, along with U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, DCalif., and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
The act recommends $25 million be put into a fund for cities and states to build on the work already being done in New Haven and elsewhere.
The city was awarded an $8 million grant to create a living shoreline and other green infrastructure along Long Wharf that will protect important assets such as the railyard, highway and businesses. Across the harbor at East Shore Park, the living shoreline will enhance a beach there and protect the area from erosion.
Murphy said the federal Living Shoreline Act also will “force the federal government to develop expertise in green infrastructure.”
A living shoreline can prevent coastal erosion and water from taking over a commuity by using natural materials such as plants, sand, shell or rock that bring back wetlands to slow wave energy and mitigate flooding by absorbing coastal storms.
“It is more ecologically and environmentally healthy than simply putting up a bulkhead,” Murphy told the crowd of environmentalists.
On his current living shoreline project, Solomon said they started it two years ago as a pilot in which they built mini-bay reef balls as homes for their lab-cultured oysters.
He said they had a lot of success with the oysters and this year they were given the go-ahead to extend that to the living shoreline along the marsh at the school on South Water Street.
As for jobs, Solomon said some students are interested in scientific research that would require a college degree, but many are eager to find work in related marine fields through tech and trade schools.
“If you want to get a job in the environment, you don’t have to go to college,” Solomon said he tells them.
There is a one-year course in wastewater management at Gateway Community College, an industry experiencing a massive age-out of employees who were hired in the 1970s when new laws on these systems were adopted.
Solomon said through a club at Sound School students are learning scuba diving, with more than 50 student divers certified in the last four years after training by the Connecticut Scuba Academy, which volunteered its services.
Solomon said there are several underwater construction companies in the area that always are looking for workers, which will be needed as more wind farms are permitted. He said his first student is going to Florida this summer to train in underwater welding.
On the coastal side, Solomon said in enviromental sciences there are more two-year programs in ecosystem management. Scientists also will be needed to help the marshes grow to become giant sponges, as well as to track the data associated with that.
Scientists at the conference urged Murphy lobby for funding that follows these projects over time so they can be continually improved.
“We have a lot of passionate young people who would love to go into these (marine) caeers,” Solomon said.
forms, more affordable generally.
Solomon has been following the reef ball technology project at Stratford Point as a good example of what can be done in the field.
Full scale reef balls, which are concrete structures with large holes, are being used there. He said professor Jennifer Mattei at Sacred Heart University has achieved a dramatic reduction in wave action there and successful marsh restoration through the use of this tecnology.