Hurricane Sandy created an enormous ecological impact to Jamaica Bay in the tremendous amounts of marine debris that was deposited along the shoreline and throughout the islands of the bay.

Hundreds of boats, docks, lawn furniture, yard equipment and even large shipping containers broke free and floated out into the bay where they were deposited along the shores and islands of the bay.

Much of the Debris lies in or upon the sensitive wetlands of the bay. Some these areas have been restored at great cost and effort.

There continued presence will further degrade the Habitat of the Bay

To this day there has been NO attempt to remove any of the debris by any of the agencies including the main agency responsible for the park- the NPS. This matter was the subject of a Jamaica Bay Taskforce discussion and review in the spring of 2013 where it was recommended to the NPS that they form an internal task force to begin to attempt removal of this material.

The Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers and the Littoral Society have worked together in the past with the assistance of the National Parks Service to Remove derelict vessels. However since the storm the National Parks Service has refused all offers to partner to remove this damaging debris.