From Snails to Whales: Saturday @ the Long Warf

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Saturday @ the Long Warf

Today we observed the diverse sea life that exists on the docks of Boston harbor. Our first observations were on the Long Warf Marriot Hotel dock wall. We looked at the green “moss” that covered the wall above the intertidal zone and the seaweed that was growing on the rocks in the intertidal zone. The seaweed had bladders that help it float on top of the water. Later I found out that that was Rock weed and that its presence is actually a good thing. Since rock weed does not do too well with too much human waste (phosphorous, nutrients etc) its presence is an indicator of a healthy environment. Looking in the water I saw many little fishes swimming back and forth really quickly, they appeared to be feeding. We also saw a lot of evidence of human use. All of the observations were made from approximately 20 feet.
We proceeded to ponder on the question of where is there more biodiversity in the natural environment or on man made structures with lots of human interference. We split into two groups based on our opinion. I joined the group that thought that there would be more sea life presence where there’s more human presence thinking that all human use = more nutrients, bacteria and all that other stuff for the life to prosper. However, now I am beginning to wonder if all those nutrients and foreign bacteria (i.e. human waste) would kill some organisms and prevent only but a few of them to survive … I will need to do some more observing before I can answer that one.
We proceeded along the long ward waterfront and observed another wall that was covered in seaweed. However this time the seaweed was different (in color and appearance). I noticed that the water was much more turbulent here and was not as quiet in the protected area as at the first location (Marriott hotel). Lack of sunlight, constantly being underwater and turbulent water gave way to a different kind of seaweed (green leafy as oppose to red and floating around).
When we got to the barking crab docks I got down on the dock and took a look at what is going on below it. At first I just observed the mussels (blue mussels), seaweed and all of the other masses some that appeared to be porous, some looked more jellylike. I drew a picture and then reached down for my first sample. I first pulled up a single mussel and proceeded to visually inspect it. It was dark in color and was covered in some sort of grey stuff (that was hard). What amazed me the most was the abundance of living organisms that I saw running away in all different directions. There were tons of little creatures crawling everywhere. I saw at least 4 different kinds of “bug-like” creatures. There were little ones with thousand little legs (clam worm?) crawling away from me in a hurry as I was intruding on their lives. There were bigger brown creatures that looked like snails out of their shells that were trying to blend in with the mussel. Tons of cumaceans. There were also “tentacle-like” creatures that were attached to the mussel that were constantly in motion sort of reaching for something (After looking into the field guide there on the docks my first hypothesis was that it was polydora mud worm but now I think it is skeleton shrimp).
The second sample was much bigger and contained a lot more stuff. There were mussels (big ones, smaller ones attached to it, dead ones, live ones – sign of a healthy mussel colony) different kind of seaweed (brighter green and transparent, more brownish and covered with stuff), this orange spongy stuff (Orange Sheath Tunicate?)
Method was: individual visual observations, magnifying glass, binoculars, occasional pocking with sharp pencil.
(I cannot scan my drawing so I will bring it in to class tomorrow … today actually)

Vadim

P.S. I’m ready to see some whales now

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From Snails to Whales

Welcome to Snails to Whales, Bruce Berman's blog focused on both the little and the big things that make Boston Harbor such an interesting and extraordinary place to live, work and play.

With 50 miles of protected water, four sheltered bays, seven river systems, 34 islands and a nine-foot average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in America.

This blog focuses on the flora and fauna of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay - on the beach, the shore, and the harbor islands, and in the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay - including this ecosystems most important species - people.

During the summer, it is also a place for my Boston University Students and my colleagues at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to share their work and experiences.

Where I am coming from...

Love that clean(er) water
Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece

By Brian Fitzgerald, BU Bridge

On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup,
which is largely complete. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Bruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?”

He’s talking about the water below.

It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. The sky is clear, and so is the ocean. But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.

Berman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup.

“The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor.

Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s.

“It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”

Paradise regained

Berman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day.

“And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention.

“The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. “Treated water,” chime in a few more.

“That’s right,” he says with a smile. “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.”

Now Berman returns to his original question: “How clean is clean enough?” There’s no quick and clear answer to this one. “It’s a question that at the end of the day the federal courts had to decide.”

In 1985, a landmark federal court case required that the harbor’s beaches be made swimmable and fishable by 2000. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was formed the next year to raise public awareness of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup. Sewer ratepayers in the 43 cities and towns financing the project cried foul over the prospect of astronomically rising bills, but because of the determination of environmental advocacy groups such as Berman’s, the cleanup was largely completed on schedule.

Berman says it isn’t finished, however. There are still frequent beach closures because the counts of Enterococcus bacteria exceed the federal and state standard for swimming. The culprit: filthy storm water and sewage, much of it from leaky pipes and illegal hookups emptying into storm sewers, and then into the harbor.

“So is the harbor clean enough,” the Springfield native asks his students, “when you can’t swim in it one out of five days in the summer?”

Work to be done

Berman and his class look out from Georges Island to Gallops Island (left) and the white tanks of the waste treatment plant on Deer Island (right). Photo by Vernon Doucette

This summer the state approved one of the last parts of the cleanup: the construction, by 2011, of a 2.1-mile tunnel near the Dorchester and South Boston shorelines that will hold sewage and storm water during bad weather. It then will be pumped to Deer Island for treatment.

Berman is ecstatic over this development, the result of “tireless negotiation and consensus-building,” he says. “After 2011, we’re looking at beach closings once every five years, when there is a major storm, instead of once every five days.”

But he is not about to let his guard down. To say that he is a man obsessed with the harbor cleanup would be an understatement. Berman is also Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s “Baywatcher,” and he lives on his 40-foot trawler Verandah. Polluters beware: if you’re discharging oil or sewage into Boston Harbor, the Baywatcher just might be watching.

He is quick to point out that his zealotry is not just on behalf of the harbor’s flora and fauna. “The harbor is for everyone,” he says. “If you’re from a working class or poor family in Boston, and you can’t afford a Cape Cod getaway in the summer, a clean harbor is important. The same is true if you’re a tourist vacationing in Boston or you happen to live in a pricey waterfront condo.”

Accordingly, Berman, who was a political consultant and contributing editor to the Phoenix newspaper before joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay nearly 10 years ago, also teaches his students about the harbor’s role in the city’s economy. He points out that in the early 1990s, just a few ferries cruised the harbor’s waters. Today, more than 100,000 people visit its islands each summer, discovering their ecological and historic treasures.

“The best way to protect the harbor cleanup,” Berman tells his students, “is to make sure that the public has access to the resources and can see a return on its investment.”

Trevor Kosmolsick (MET’05) has lived in Boston for seven years, but until taking Berman’s course, he had never been to the waterfront. “I’ve also wanted to go camping in the area, but I never knew that you could camp on a few of the islands,” he says. “Bruce Berman is not only a great professor, but the ultimate tour guide.”

He also backs up his words with actions. Sometimes he takes off his shirt and dives in the water to demonstrate to passing boaters that it’s safe to swim. To show people on ferries that fishing is safe, he’s been known to grab one of the bluefish or striped bass he’s caught and (very carefully) plant a wet kiss on it.

“What I want everyone to understand is that investment in the environment really does pay off,” says Berman. “We’re willing to pay for a clean Boston Harbor, so we should enjoy it.”

From Snails to Whales

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Saturday @ the Long Warf

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