New Jersey Scuba Diving

For most of mankind's history, the world's oceans have been used as refuse dumps. Everything from sewage to everyday trash to medical, industrial, and chemical waste has been disposed of in the ocean, or in rivers that flow out to the ocean. In the vicinity of a major urban area like New York, you can bet there has been a lot of waste and dredge dumping, and much of it at sites that are alarmingly close to shore. All ocean dumping was finally banned by the EPA in 1988 after some massive fish kills, but not before many seafloor habitats were contaminated if not outright destroyed. The two major ocean dumping sites that have served the New York area since the mid-1800s are the 12 Mile Dumping Ground and the Mud Dump. Old dumpsites are marked on the charts as yellow areas.

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