Bags meant to stop erosion now decaying, sending plastic sheds into South Shore estuary

On a small crescent of shoreline just off the road to Jones Beach, unruly stacks of sandbag fortifications lay slumped on the narrow beach. Most of the hundreds of bags were split and disgorging their contents onto the damp sand below; others were half-buried by overwashed sand.

The state Department of Transportation placed the bags there two years ago to forestall erosion and protect a nearby electrical transformer and building, according to Robert Weltner, president of Operation SPLASH, a group that patrols and removes trash from South Shore beaches and bays.

But now the bags themselves, made of woven plastic fabric and stacked about four high, are deteriorating and shedding plastic fragments into the ecologically rich South Shore Estuary. Filaments of plastic that had broken free were twined around driftwood, salt-marsh grasses and seaweed at the high tide line.

Earlier this month, volunteers from Operation SPLASH were approaching the drawbridge on the Wantagh State Parkway when they noticed the degrading bags.

"The sandbags were exposed to the sun, and the ultraviolet light is breaking them down," Weltner told Newsday. Weltner went to the site on Tuesday to see if anything had changed. "The tide was coming in. And I know that plastic was going to wash into the bays, and that's not a good thing, as we all know."

Weltner is especially concerned now that a coastal storm is predicted to hit Long Island this weekend, as the rain and wind are likely to cause more shredding and more plastic pollution.

The Department of Transportation did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The South Shore Estuary Reserve encompasses all the bays and shores from Long Beach to the Hamptons. Its marshes, nearshore subtidal zones and mudflats support a diversity of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, shorebirds and marine mammals.

The reserve’s management plan has identified marine debris, especially plastics, as "a major concern in the Reserve" and a mortal threat to wildlife.

"Plastic doesn’t simply disappear," Andy Mirchel, the South Shore waterkeeper for Save the Great South Bay, wrote in an email to Newsday. "It breaks into smaller and smaller pieces that can move through our marshes, bays and the broader food web."

Plastics in the water can be mistaken for food by seabirds, turtles and other marine life, and when their stomachs fill with trash, they can slowly starve. Long strands can entangle marine animals’ feet, wings, necks and flippers, inhibiting movement and blood circulation and sometimes strangling or drowning them.

About 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year, according to the research and advocacy group Oceana.

"We understand why these fortifications are needed," Robyn Silvestri, executive director of Save the Great South Bay, told Newsday. "But protecting infrastructure shouldn’t come at the expense of the ecosystem surrounding it."

Adrienne Esposito, the executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, wrote a letter to the state transportation commissioner, Marie Therese Dominguez, on Sept. 17 and gathered nine other representatives of local environment, civic and recreation groups — all members of the reserve’s citizens advisory committee — to sign on.

The letter noted that the compromised sandbags are unlikely to offer meaningful protection to the building and transformer, particularly "with the severe storms and coastal weather that can be expected in the months ahead." Instead, the letter said, they pose "an increasing risk of plastic pollution entering the bay."

"We respectfully request that the deteriorating sandbags and associated plastic debris be removed or secured as soon as practicable and that a more permanent and environmentally responsible erosion-control solution be implemented," it concluded.

As of Wednesday, the letter writers had received no response.

"The best way to deal with plastic pollution is to prevent it from entering the water in the first place," Mirchel said. "In this case, we know where it’s coming from, so we have a real opportunity to stop it."

Weltner said he and some of the Operation SPLASH boat captains considered possible temporary measures to contain the sandbags, but they decided that their poor condition would make it near impossible to do so.

"We're all trying to work together to keep the bays clean," Weltner said. "And here we have our own—" he stopped himself and then said, "The state government has to fix something quick."