New York Bight

A bight is a coastal embayment usually formed by a curved shoreline. The New York Bight forms part of the Middle Atlantic Bight, which runs along the east coast of the United States. The dimensions of the New York Bight are roughly square, encompassing an area that extends out from the New York-New Jersey shore to the eastern limit of Long Island and down to the southern tip of New Jersey. The apex of the bight, as it is known, is the northwestern corner, which includes the Hudson River estuary, the Passaic and Hackensack River estuaries, Newark Bay, Arthur Kill, Upper Bay, Lower Bay, and Raritan Bay.

The New York Bight contains a valuable and diverse ecosystem . The waters of the bight vary from relatively fresh near the shore to brackish and salty as one moves eastward, and the range of salinity , along with the islands and shore areas present within the area, have created a diversity of environmental conditions and habitats, which include marshes, woods, and beaches, as well as highly developed urban areas. The portion of the bight near the shore lies directly in the path of one of the major transcontinental migratory pathways for birds, the North Atlantic flyway .

The New York Bight has a history of extremely intensive use by humans, especially at the apex, and here environmental impacts have been most severe. Beginning with the settlement of New York City in the 1600s, the bight area has supported one of the world's busiest harbors and largest cities. It receives more than two billion gallons per day of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater . Millions of gallons of nonpoint source runoff also pours into the bight during storms, and regulated ocean dumping of dredge spoils also occurs.

Numerous studies have shown that the sediments of the bight, particularly at the apex, have been contaminated. Levels of heavy metals such as lead , cadmium and copper in the sediments of the apex are of special concern because they far exceed current guidelines on acceptable concentrations. Similarly, organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from transformer oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degraded from petroleum compounds are also in the sediments at levels high enough to be of concern. Additionally, the sewage brings enormous quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus into the bight which promotes excessive growth of algae.

The continual polluting of the bight since the early days of settlement has progressively reduced its capacity as a food source for the surrounding communities. The oyster and shellfishing industry that thrived in the early 1800s began declining in the 1870s, and government advisories currently prohibit shellfishing in the waters of the bight due to the high concentrations of contaminants that have accumulated in shellfish. Fishing is highly regulated throughout the area, and health advisories have been issued for consumption of fish caught in the bight. The bottom-dwelling worms and insect larvae in the sediments of the apex consist almost entirely of species that are extremely tolerant of pollution ; sensitive species are absent and biodiversity is low.

There are, however, some reasons to be optimistic. The areas within the bight closest to the open ocean are much cleaner than the highly degraded apex. In these less-impacted areas, the bottom-dwelling communities have higher species diversity and include species that prefer unimpacted conditions. Since the 1970s, enforcement of the Clean Water Act has helped greatly in reducing the quantities of untreated wastewater entering the bight. Some fish species that had been almost eliminated from the area have returned, and today striped bass again swim up the Hudson River to spawn.

See also Algal bloom; Environmental stress; Marine pollution; Pollution control; Sewage treatment; Storm runoff

[Usha Vedagiri ]

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Meyer, G. Ecological Stress and the New York Bight. Crownsville, MD: Estuarine Research Federation, 1982.

New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program. Toxics Characterization Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1992.

PERIODICALS

Payton, B. M. "Ocean Dumping in the New York Bight." Environment 27 (1985): 26.