Much improved Long Island Sound waters good news for shellfish harvesters
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Newsday] By Joan Gralla - October 10, 2014 -
For a second straight summer, the Long Island Sound was far healthier than a decade ago, with fewer oxygen-deprived dead zones, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Conditions improved because the weather was favorable and most of New York's wastewater treatment plants and all of Connecticut's were upgraded to strip out harmful nitrogen, said Mark Tedesco, EPA's Long Island Sound office director.
"The good news is there is a lot of progress," Tedesco said.
As nitrogen levels in waters gradually decline, levels of dissolved oxygen that fish and shellfish need to thrive should rise. "We expect that the water quality will lag the pollution reduction," he said.
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