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Post-Textile c. 1940 - 1980
Back to the sea The post-textile period was characterized by high unemployment in the first half of the period, a decline in population as workers left to find jobs elsewhere, and diversification of industry. New Bedford responded by refocusing on its connection to the sea. The commercial fishing industry expanded during this time. Although the commercial fishing fleet was active in New Bedford in the second half of the nineteenth century, those boats depended on sail and thus, could not get fresh catches back to port quickly. Several changes occurred during the beginning of the twentieth century that allowed the fishing industry to expand into a major industry in New Bedford: motors on the fishing boats, use of trucks to transport the catch, modern refrigeration, and a freezer plant built in the 1940s that added to the port's ability to process fish. The port of New Bedford became a major fresh-fish processing center on the east coast and the major scallop port on the northeast Atlantic coast. In 1984, the port of New Bedford ranked number one in the nation, based on value of landings.
Hurricane barrier The fishing fleet and other coastal businesses sustained heavy damage during the hurricanes of 1938 and 1954. In 1965, the Army Corps of Engineers finished building a barrier across the harbor entrance to protect businesses and homes from storm damage. A 150-foot gateway allows boats to pass and water to flow between the inner and outer harbors. Gates close the barrier when storms surges are predicted.
Environmental effects of hurricane barrier Although researchers have studied characteristics of the harbor after the hurricane barrier was built, only a few have addressed the possible effects of the barrier. One researcher reported that sediment is now accumulating faster in some areas of the harbor inside the barrier. Another suggested that less water is now being exchanged between the inner and outer harbors. A recent preliminary modeling study, designed specifically to evaluate the effects of the barrier, calculated that residence time of water inside the barrier increased up to 30 percent. The same modeling study also calculated that the pattern of water circulation near the barrier had changed, with the water forming gyres just north and south of the barrier during certain parts of the tidal cycle. The north gyre would mix incoming water more and thereby affect sedimentation patterns; the south gyre would recirculate water and wastes leaving the harbor, allowing part of that water to be swept back inside the barrier during the next incoming tide.
An attempt to diversify The post-textile period was not dominated by any one industry. In an attempt to offset high unemployment, a series of city and private non-profit groups, active from 1929 through the 1960s, developed strategies to encourage industries to relocate to New Bedford. They offered incentives such as moving expenses, a favorable tax strategy, and low rentals. The city, with its large empty factory spaces and large workforce with manufacturing experience and low pay scale, was attractive to manufacturers. Clothing manufacturers were a natural to occupy the empty mills and by the 1960s, they accounted for almost one-third of the manufacturing jobs in New Bedford (Fig 12).
A new environmental problem A number of other manufacturing companies moved to the city and occupied empty mill buildings. Two manufactures of electronic parts moved into empty mill buildings on the waterfront, Aerovox Corporation in 1939 and Cornell Dublier in 1941. Both of these companies used polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the manufacture of electronic capacitors, and discharged wastes with high concentrations of PCBs directly into adjacent waters and also through the municipal sewer system.
What are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)? PCBs are industrial chemicals that contain carbon rings and chlorine. They were commercially manufactured and sold in the U.S. from 1929 to 1978. PCBs were used in industry for their insulating and nonflammable properties. Concern about increasing amounts of PCBs in the environment was first noted in 1968 by a Swedish scientist who measured concentrations of PCBs in fish, eagle feathers, and human hair. PCBs pose a health concern because they are teratogenic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic. They persist in the environment, concentrate upward in the food chain, and accumulate in fish. In 1975, some fish from the Hudson River, New York, were found to have concentrations of PCBs that exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action level of 5mg/kg. For humans, the primary non-occupational source of PCBs is the ingestion of contaminated fish. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the manufacture of PCBs in 1978.
PCBs in New Bedford Harbor The presence of PCBs in New Bedford Harbor was first documented by researchers in 1976. Concentrations of PCBs in the river water exceeded the water quality criterion of 0.03 ug/L designed to protect marine life. Concentrations of PCBs in sediments in the upper harbor were also exceedingly high, up to 431 ug/g dry wt. (Fig. 13). New Bedford Harbor was placed on the National Priorities List for clean-up under Superfund legislation in 1982.
Harbor closed to all fishing To protect human health, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health closed the harbor in 1979, to the taking of all fish and shellfish because PCB residues in fish and clams found there exceeded the FDA action level of 5 mg/kg. Areas south of the hurricane barrier were also closed to the taking of labsters and bottom feeding finfish because particles of PCB-contaminated sediment inside the hurricane barrier are transported outside the barrier into Buzzards Bay by tides and currents (Fig. 14).
Cleaning up PCBs In 1994 and 1995, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged about 5 acres of sediment (14,000 cubic yards) from the "hot spot", the part of the upper harbor that contained the highest concentrations of PCBs. The dredge spoil is currently stored in a contained disposal facility (CDF) until a decision is made on how to dispose of this highly contaminated sediment. A second phase of the project, dredging about 450,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment from 170 acres in the upper and lower harbor, is planned. For the latest information on the remedial dredging see the "Newsletters & Press" section on the EPA New England (Region 1) New Bedford Harbor web site. Scientists are monitoring New Bedford Harbor for 30 years after the dredging to assess the effects of remediation (see Nelson et al., 1996).
Other industries were sources of pollution As in the earlier periods, there were numerous metal-working industries in New Bedford in the post-textile period. Potential polluters included businesses that refined and stored petroleum, generated electricity, and manufactured paint, glass, rubber products, and plastics. They may have released metals, acids, petroleum hydrocarbons, phenols, cyanide, solvents, and synthetic chemicals into the environment.