To the editor:

I took my dog for a walk at the Langley marina on Monday. The stench of raw sewage was overwhelming and everywhere.

To escape the smell, we walked out on the pier, where a father and son were fishing. At the end of the pier, I looked down onto the cement breakwater. There on the deck were multiple starfish, dead and upside down, including the largest five-legged starfish I have ever seen, about 18 inches across. There was also a large fish, 12 inches or so, its gill covers gasping for water. I was appalled at the sight. Just because a species isn’t a delicacy, doesn’t mean that it should die. If I could have made my way to the breakwater, I would have returned the displaced to the water.

Is there any group on the island, like Beachwatchers, who could monitor the Langley pier occasionally? Could information on the various species who live there be posted and perhaps inform the ignorant who might then allow the starfish, and others, to live?

The marina is in need of major help. I don’t own a yacht, but a 14-foot boat just for getting out on the water occasionally. It would be lovely to have a place to launch a boat where you don’t get beaten up by the wind and waves (sorry, Freeland).

It would be lovely to not have to smell raw sewage when you go to the marina for a walk. It would be lovely to have access to the deck surfaces where thoughtless people leave starfish and others to die. It would be lovely if “Langley-by-the-Sea” actually had a place that allowed people access to the “sea.”

The marina isn’t for the yacht owners (yes, some of them will use it); the marina is for us. It would be a lovely gift to ourselves.

Mary Ann Mansfield

Langley