Striving for clean waters in Freeport

Operation SPLASH continues 30 years of work

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As Rob Weltner, 64, grew up in Freeport, he loved boating and diving along the South Shore, but over the years, he’s said the marine environment has changed dramatically.

Gone are the days of the clean ocean floor as pollution and garbage have become the norm in the South Shore, greatly affecting the marine life that supports the local economy and culture in Freeport.   

“It just became covered in trash throughout the decades,” Weltner said. “We need to do something about it because our economy is tied to fishing and recreation on the shore.” 

As president of Operation SPLASH, Stop Polluting, Littering, and Save Harbors — a local nonprofit organization that works to clean up the South Shore — Weltner and his fellow volunteers are back at work collecting garbage and building a new SPLASH boat after the coronavirus pandemic delayed their annual launch day in March. 

Operation SPLASH was founded 30 years ago by Joanne Grover, a Freeport-native who wanted to clean up the local waters and restore them to how it was when she was growing up in the village. 

The organization has about 200 active volunteers who go out on six boats to collect tons of garbage every year. They have collected about 2.5 million pounds of trash in the last 30 years. 

Jacqueline Le Duc, of Freeport, joined Operation SPLASH two years ago and is helping Weltner build the seventh SPLASH boat. She said all kinds of garbage could be found in the water, from plastic bags and bottles to even guns and bullet shells. 

The SPLASH headquarters itself, located on the Nautical Mile, is filled to the walls with all sorts of odd things the organization has recovered, including signs, rafts and small boats.  

“Anything and everything is out there,” Le Duc said. “But trash almost always starts on land and makes it way to the ocean.” 

Weltner said that while people assume that the trash they throw out will end up in a dumpster or their litter will disappear into the woods, a lot of garbage ends up being thrown into the ocean via storm drains. 

That garbage goes on to damage the entire ecosystem in the South Shore. 

Weltner said SPLASH volunteers often go out early in the mornings to clean up the marshes, which are often littered with trash that tangles up breeding wildlife. The garbage and pollution also hurts the marshes, which act not only as nutrients and habitats for marine animals, but also as a buffer to protect communities on the shore from flooding by storms.

Weltner and Le Duc added that people could be unknowingly damaging the marine ecosystem through things like lawn fertilizer and balloons. 

They said that while homeowners may think fertilizers stay on their lawns and gardens, the chemicals are picked up by rainwater and delivered to the ocean through the storm drains. That goes on to feed the algae, which blooms sporadically and die off into deep-water nurseries. The dead algae damages the oxygen balance and causes the nurseries to die, which disrupts the oxygen even further. 

Along with the fertilizers, Le Duc said balloons were a huge problem in local waters. She and Weltner hoped that Nassau County would ban the intentional release of balloons, much like Long Beach did last year.        

“People don’t really understand that when you release the balloons, it seems wonderful, but it has a lasting impact on the environment,” said Long Beach City Councilwoman Anissa Moore. “And those balloons return and can be eaten by sea animals — dolphins, sea turtles, you name it — and can cause death.”

Weltner said he’s hopeful for change and felt confident that SPLASH would spur further environmentally friendly legislation as they did with the county’s plastic bag and styrofoam ban last year.    

“We share all our data with local governments on what we’re seeing out here and how much of it we’re collecting,” Weltner said. “We want to help make policy that improves our bays and our beaches.” 

“People move out here because they want to see the nice, clean water,” Le Duc added. “That’s why we all have to do our part to make sure it’s just that.”  

While SPLASH meetings have been cancelled since March, the organization hopes to renew meetings in August. SPLASH meets on the first Tuesday of every month at 202 Woodcleft Ave., at 7:30 p.m. 

Operation SPLASH has local chapters in East Rockaway, Long Beach and Wantagh. 

To learn about volunteering opportunities or how to make a donation to SPLASH, visit operationsplash.com.