If you ask Jack Reynolds, past president of the Westport Fishermen’s Association, about the organization’s legacy, he’ll tell you that there are still too many fish left to save and too much pollution to stop to save the Westport River. The WFA’s most important role, he contends, was to “shine a light” on the river’s pressing water quality issues.
But a quick list of the WFA’s 35-year history of action to protect the Westport River clearly shows what the organization accomplished: Creating a bacteria monitoring program that allowed the river’s closed shellfish beds to reopen. Stopping the largest-ever source of pollution to the river. Pushing for lasting state policy amendments that halted the threat of development near the river’s shoreline. Saving Buzzards Bay’s last remaining historic Life-Saving Station. And most recently, bringing to light the devastating disintegration of the river’s precious salt marsh islands.