Newtown Creek most polluted waterway in NY

Newtown Creek is New York City’s most polluted waterway. More than 50 years ago, a 17-million-gallon oil spill seeped below 55 acres of residential, commercial and industrial property in the area. The spill affects the communities of Maspeth, Bushwick, Greenpoint and Long Island City.
City officials first learned of the oil spill in 1950, when an underground explosion in Greenpoint shot 25 manhole covers into the air and shattered windowpanes on more than 500 buildings. It turned out that gasoline had seeped into a sewer and ignited.
It took almost 30 more years for the problem to be rediscovered. It was a Coast Guard pilot on a routine patrol who noticed the oil slick on Newtown Creek in 1978. Further investigation revealed the slick was part of a spill that originated from tanks at an Exxon facility. According to Riverkeeper, because ExxonMobil ignored the spill, it has spread. It is now six times larger than the infamous Exxon Valdez spill was in Alaska.
It was not until 1990 that ExxonMobil signed a consent order from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to clean up the mess.
But Riverkeeper has maintained that the order was inadequate since no provisions were made for cleaning the contaminated soil beneath the water’s surface and ExxonMobil was not required to pay penalties or compensate the community. An estimated 230 homes and 80 businesses are still thought to be affected by contaminated soil.
In addition to the oil spill, Empire Transit Mix, a concrete manufacturer based in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in federal court in May to illegally dumping concrete slurry into the creek. Riverkeeper also sued Maspeth Concrete Loading for similarly dumping concrete, which changes the pH balance of water and kills fish.
Riverkeeper continues to patrol the creek either in a helicopter or by boat every few weeks, and sometimes on consecutive days. Even now, with the fate of the creek highly publicized—Robert Kennedy Jr. is the organization’s chief attorney—companies still routinely dump hazardous materials. [orb pub Queens Chronicle by Kim Brown]

NY Newsday, 9/23/05

1. Western Long Island Sound: As the tune switches from fluke to porgies, the bluefish are still keeping the beat. Snappers are huge and can sometimes be taken on every cast, according to Jack's B&T. They're mixed with harbor blues and some to 10 pounds on bunker chunks. R&G Bait and Tackle reported some bass off the points at night on chunks, but nothing huge until the water cools a little more.

2. Huntington/Northport bays: Joseph Roach won the Oyster Bay Bluefish Tournament with a 12.63-pounder and there were 12 fish weighed in at more than 10 pounds. Joe Migliore won the Huntington Yacht Club Tournament with a 10.5-pounder. Four Winds reported sustained action just outside Huntington Harbor on 7-10 pound blues on diamond jigs.
3. Smithtown Bay: Swaine's reported schoolie and keeper striped bass to 35 inches in the mouth of Stony Brook Harbor on clams and worms, and customer Tadd McLaughlin nailed a 30-pounder in Port Jeff Harbor on eels. Bluefish are in and out of the channel; Bill Higgins reported drilling fish to 8 pounds while watching another boat catch keepable bass on bucktails. Porgies are off Cranes Neck and fluke are mostly short but killies have better luck finding keepers.

4. Port Jefferson to Mattituck Inlet: Snappers to cocktail blues are along the local beaches, according to Rocky Point Fishing Stop, and the false albacore are dashing around. The boats out of Port Jeff are hitting the porgies, then catching the bass and blues on the tides. The Capt. Bob fleet was banging the keeper stripers at Hortons Point, including Tom's 25-pounder that won the pool Sunday.

5. Orient Point to Fishers Island: A lot of pole-benders in the Gut and the Race as the fall fishing kicks off. Most of the bigger bass have been taken on the ebb at night, according to Wego Fishing, with dark bucktails and eels working well. During the day, it's a bluefish bonanza with some bass still around. Surfcasters are getting their share of the action, as well, working worms and chunks at night for nice fish.

6. The Peconics and Gardiners Bay: Porgies are still strong, though once in a while a klunker of a day comes along. Bluefish are packed nicely in the bay and anglers are finding a nice run of weakfish from 12-20 pounds, especially off Rose Grove and Buoy 16 by Noyak, according to Wego Fishing.

7. Montauk Point: The caravan will be heading east this weekend for the Montauk Classic surf tournament, and just in time for the first blitzes of the season at Turtle Cove and North Bar this week. Freddie's, which will be open 24 hours for the tournament, reported loads of fish in the 20-pound range from the suds. Rick had a 52.8-pound bass weighed in off the Night Stalker, so the big guys are out there. Sharking is very steady with lots of exotics alongside the blue sharks. Eddie Ammon caught a 15-pound mako while fluking a quarter mile off the town beach.

8. Shinnecock Bay: The Shinnecock Star reported a load of big sea bass Wednesday, with some porgies mixed in. Chuck Wouters nailed an 8.5-pound fluke immortalized on Willy's Wall at Molnar's Landing. Bass are starting to turn on as John Fernandez had fish to 29 pounds. Offshore, Molnar's reported the crew on Barbaric caught five yellowfin to 75 pounds and eight albies.

9. Moriches Bay: A nice body of bass is sitting in the east and west cuts and anglers using live baits are having the best success. Silly Lily's reported decent fluking with a keeper ratio of about 1-8.

10. Great South Bay/Fire Island Inlet: Stripers are heating up in the inlet, taking eels even during the day, according to Augie's B&T. Ken Higgins on the Laura Lee reported terrific sea bass action with some triggerfish and big porgies mixed in this week. Monday's half-day trips had more than 500 keepers each. J&J Sports reported a lot of action off the Patchogue docks with snappers, kingfish and blowfish coming up.

11. Jones Inlet/Western Bays: The fluke are pushing out of the bay, and anglers are at the JI Buoy to ambush them, according to Scotty's Fishing Station. More and more striped bass are being caught, mostly on whole clams for bait with clam belly chum. Check out the action at the bridges or out on the West Bar.

12. East Rockaway Inlet: No Time Charters has been hitting the weakfish hard, sailing west to Raritan for limits to 5 pounds on sandworms and peanut bunker, according to Bay Park Fishing Station. The Reel Time took a 33-inch striper off Riis Park. The crew on Fish On made it out to the north tip of the Hudson Canyon and scored bluefish to 100 pounds chunking with sardines and herring.

13. New York Bight: The Angler reported loads of porgies and sea bass on the half-day trips, and customers who bring a spinning rod can usually snag the bonito that break around the boat on occasion. Surfcasters are itching to get at the stripers, but so far, it's been pretty slow. [NY Newsday, Tim Rock]

RI, 9/23/05

Rhode Island [org pub Providence Journal]

• BAY: Ed Noll took a 48-pound striper on a tube-and-worm rig this week, said Sam Toland of Sam's Bait & Tackle. Large fish have been striking the rigs in deep water from Elbow Ledge to Brenton Reef, he said. Anglers are catching as many as 100 stripers a night on the Seekonk River, according to David Henault of Ocean State Tackle. Only three or four percent are long enough to keep, but the action is fast. Larger bass have been hitting umbrella rigs trolled over Ohio Ledge.
• Bluefish are biting throughout the Bay, but they're unpredictable. Larger blues have moved into the waters off Barrington Beach and Bristol, said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle. Ed Hughes spotted a large school of 10- to 12-pound fish off Allen's Harbor yesterday at midmorning. Snapper blues are in all the coves and they're biting. Newport Harbor, the Newport Bridge and the waters father up the East Passage also hold blues, said Toland.
• An angler caught a 12-pound squeteague on a live scup near the No. 2 can off Bristol this week, Littlefield said. There have been a lot of small weakfish around, but this was one of the first reports of a keeper this season. Scup fishing has improved, but the fish are smaller than they have been. Sea bass are mixed among them in deeper water, said Toland. Bonito arrived in the waters off Newport Wednesday.
• BEACHES AND SALT PONDS:The waters from Whale Rock to Fishers Island are alive with gamefish.
• The big news is the arrival of little tunny and bonito: They're popping up everywhere. Fly fishermen and light-tackle anglers are catching 7- to 12-pounders on flashy flies and small lures such as Deadly Dicks and Swedish Pimples; a green Crippled Herring is deadly. The waters off Weekapaug have been especially hot.
• Striped bass are biting around dawn and dusk along most of the beaches. Don Michaud of King Cove Outfitters said boaters are taking fish on Watch Hill, Catumb and Sugar reefs. The bite has also been active off Sandy and Napatree points, and the flats in between. Bass are biting on the reefs and inside the breachways, too, but you have to get through the bluefish, said Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle.
• The bluefish bite has been reliable all day long off the Charlestown and Quonochontaug breachways.
• Fluke fishing is getting more difficult but anglers willing to work have been catching fish in 60 to 80 feet of water off Isabella Beach on Fishers Island.
• Blackfish are beginning to bite on Old Reef and Ragged Reef. They're also biting in the waters off Latimer Light, but those are New York waters, and the Empire State season doesn't open until Oct. 1.
• Reports on scup are mixed this week; Ron Mouchon said large fish have been biting on the reefs off South Kingstown, and Don Michaud said they're also biting off Stonington.
• Fishing for sea bass is slower, although there have been fish on reefs to the west of Charlestown.
• Hard-fighting jack crevalle have arrived, said Michaud. Most of them are under 6-inches, but one angler caught a pair of 14-inchers off Weekapaug on small Kastmasters.
• OFFSHORE
• Albacore tuna, between 40 and 50 pounds apiece, are biting in the waters from Atlantis Canyon across to the Fish Tails and down to the Dip, according to Sam Toland.
• The Mud Hole holds sharks and small bluefin.
• The only concentration is yellowfin is still to the east, at Oceanographers Canyon, but Toland is confident, they'll move closer.
• BLOCK ISLAND
• Reporting by cell phone from Great Salt Pond yesterday morning, Don Rafferty of Oceans & Ponds said that either little tunny or bonito were in and boiling. Both fish have been making forays in and out of the Coast Guard Channel.
• Boaters are still catching a lot of large bass and bluefish in the waters over Southwest Ledge said Ron Mouchon. Rafferty recommended the waters on the south side of island for surf casters; Southwest Point and Black Rock have been dependable all season long.
• Fluke are biting in the waters south of Southeast Point, said Mouchon.
• FRESHWATER:
• Buddy Thayer and a pal have been catching a bass between 5 and 7.4 pounds on Stump Pond in Smithfield and Echo Lake in Burrillville, Thayer reported in an e-mail. They've been using shiners.
• BEST BITES:
  
• South Shore Bluefish, bass, bonito, little tunny
• Block Island: Bluefish, bass, fluke
• Lower Bay: Bluefish
  

On The Water, 9/23/05

1. The big story this week is the arrival of false albacore in the eastern end of Long Island Sound and along the south shore beaches of Rhode Island. It is far from a sure bet with these fast-moving fish, but apparently they are around in sufficient numbers that a scouting trip of likely spots should at least produce some sightings. The best, most consistent catches are coming from Montauk Point, with other “inside” areas the usual hit or miss.
2. Since the storm, bass and bluefish activity have improved as these fish moved inshore to chow down on the super abundance of bait that seems to be everywhere in the region.
3. Steve McKenna of Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle, North Kingstown told us that the fishing has picked up considerably in the waters he and his customers have been fishing around Narragansett and along the south shore since the storm passed through over the weekend. There is tons of bait, mostly in the form of mullet and peanut bunker along the shore from Newport to Watch Hill.
4. False albacore showed up off the West and East walls at Pt. Judith, off the coastline along Narragansett and down the beaches to the Weekapaug Breachway. Fluke fishing is pretty well dead since the storm. Scup and blackfish are filling the void for bottom fishermen, with blackfish catches just starting to pick up as fall approaches. Waters are still a tad warm for this cold-loving species. Steve said it looks and feels like the fall runs are revving up already.
5. Rob at Saltwater Edge, Newport reported that the fishing is pretty good along the mouth of Narragansett Bay. He caught two 20-pounders on Sunday and another similar fish while casting the surf Tuesday evening. The bass are chasing mullet that are 6 or 7 inches in the surf from Sakonnet to Sachuest Point. Watch Hill was red-hot with albies, bass and bluefish over the weekend, according to a group of his buddies who headed down that way. There are some bigger bass around. Rob dropped a big fish on a foot-long Hab’s needlefish over the weekend. Iron Mike caught a 38-pounder on a plug he “borrowed” from Peter Graber who works at the shop. The albies seem to be biting best in the morning but disappearing toward the afternoon when they have been popping up off the breachways.
6. The bluefish in the Newport area have been bigger fish of eight pounds and up lately, as opposed to the small “snarbors” that were dominating the fishery for most of the summer.
7. Ronnie at Breachway Tackle said the bass and bluefish have been all over the breachway all week, and the false albies just showed up about two or three days ago.
8. Scup fishing has been pretty good for bigger scup along the beaches and local rock piles, but not many anglers are after them. There are tons of bait inside the breachway, more than Ronnie has ever seen. Offshore has slowed since the storm, while the action along the beaches has improved.
9. We missed Rob at Wildwood Outfitters in Wakefield this week, hope he was into a blitz somewhere.
10. John Swienton, owner of Twin Maples Tackle out on Block Island, told us the island has been producing lots of bonito and false albacore in the Coast Guard Channel and vicinity. Anglers are hitting them on Deadly Dicks and Fin-S lures that, as he jokingly said, have to be “activated” at Twin Maples before they will catch anything.
11. The island is still holding big bass weighing in the low 40s for local eel slingers. Overall, the striper bite is still holding up well with big fish in the usual spots such as the southwest corner and Black Rock. Bluefish are dominating the bite at Sandy Point, but elsewhere in rocky areas stripers are the primary target and catch for those who fish the surf both from boats and the rocks.
12. Fluke slowed, but sea bass and scup are still around for bottom fishermen to catch.
13. Here like everywhere else, there are tons of bait all over the place. John said that Wednesday while at Payne’s Dock he looked in the water and saw needlefish and northern sennet (northern barracuda, a small toothy fish of about a foot in length) in good numbers swimming around near the dock. Both of these species are tidbits for bass. There are also some eight- to nine-inch baby bonito swimming around, along with anchovies that are big, up to eight inches or so, attracting the bass. Surprisingly, peanut bunker is not the primary bait at Block Island like it is every place else. But they are present along with enough big bait to maintain a great bite all fall, weather permitting.
14. A few locals have been out looking for shark and bluefin, south-southeast of the light, but there’s been no word on how they did.
15. Captain Don of Captain Don’s in Charlestown, Rhode Island reported that there are fish (bass, blues and some tunoids) all over the place. Tons of mullet have moved in since the storm’s passing on Friday, and with them have come some nice bass and loads of bluefish that are strung out from Watch Hill to Point Judith. The weekend produced phenomenal fishing, according to the customers he’s talked to. Saturday you could see people tied into fish in both directions from the Quonny Breachway. It looks like these fish are holding and not on the move due to all the bait in the area.
16. Over the weekend no one was out fluke fishing. He suspects the fluke are still around because the water temperatures are high and bait is so abundant. However, the bigger fish are of primary interest to most anglers as the fall blitzes begin to shape up over the next few weeks.
17. False albacore have been showing up off the West Wall at Point Judith. Wednesday they were in both the Charlestown and Quonny breachways, although in the morning they were not sure if the fish at Quonny were albies or bonito because no one caught one. But they were definitely tunoids of some variety. [OnThe Water, Bob Sampson]