If you’re out and about on Nantucket
Sound this summer, you may bump into
an essential part of CCCHFA’s newest
program—the Nantucket Soundkeeper
patrol boat. Nantucket Soundkeeper is
part of the internationalWaterkeeper
Alliance, which supports and empowers
member organizations to protect and
advocate for their designated body of
water. According to Program Director
Heather Rockwell, the Soundkeeper
patrol boat helps get that message
across by educating boaters on being
responsible, clean, and green.

The patrol boat, operated by intern
Christy Mihos, educates boaters about the
harmful impacts of dumping boat sewage
waste in coastal waters. It also distributes
foam “bugs” to clean bilge water, along
with the 2009 Boater’s Guide to
Nantucket Sound, created by CCCHFA.
The boat travels to new areas of the
Sound each week—from Falmouth to
Chatham to the Islands. “We explain that
we’re here to watch out and advocate for
the Sound,” Rockwell said.

Nantucket Soundkeeper’s other major
initiative includes the continuation of a
water sampling program. For the past
three years, Nantucket Soundkeeper has
collected data from 16 stations around the
Sound to gauge water quality.

Rockwell hopes to work with local scientists on projects related to water quality and its impacts on the Sound’s ecosystem.

“Very little of this type of research is
being done in the Sound,” Rockwell said.
“We know that there are nutrient impacts
from estuaries that empty into the Sound, and these data will help us determine the effects of degraded water quality on the ecosystem.”

And with the large amount of commercial
and recreational boating traffic in the
Sound, Nantucket Soundkeeper is working on the critical issue of having the
Sound designated a No Discharge Area
for boat sewage wastes.

“Nantucket Sound is one of the last places in New England that isn’t a dedicated “no dumping” ground for boat sewage,” Rockwell said. “That’s a bit of a thorn in our side.”

Nantucket Soundkeeper is also actively
fundraising and seeking new volunteers.
The official kickoff of the program will
take place on August 26 with featured guest Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of the Waterkeeper Alliance.