From Snails to Whales: Last Class!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Last Class!

Hi everyone!

I can say with absolute confidence that I couldn't have asked for a better concluding class. The day was gorgeous, and although it was pretty windy and overcast when we got out to Stellwagen Bank, it was refreshing to get out of the heat. I have never seen a whale with its calf before, let alone right next to the boat! It's amazing to see so many whales right off the coast of Boston, and even more amazing to see them as thriving here as proof that the water is so clean. I had never thought of taking advantage of all the whale-watching companies right off of Boston harbor because I honestly never thought I would never actually see a whale! The best part of the trip was the crew being able to identify the whales based solely on their flukes, and that they could track how many calves Whisk had since they first identified her. The crew was truly passionate about the survival of the different whale species in the Bank, and it was cool to see first-hand where the scientific data on the whales comes from and how it's collected. On a last note about the whale watch, it was so appropriate to end the class with the largest mammals of the ocean when we started the class with some of the smallest creatures. We covered everything from the tiny amphipods under the docks, to the giant Humpback whales of the Atlantic and truly got a small but detailed glimpse of the marine life off of Boston.

On to the controversial issue of Humpback whale hunting in Greenland. I did some research on the issue to try to get a look at why the indigenous people wanted the humpback whale in particular and to see what data was out on the subject. According to a few different newspaper sources, but the Manchester Times in particular (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6554324.ece), Greenland's indigenous population wants access to the humpback whales for subsistence farming while opponents say that their current ability to hunt both Minke and Bowhead whales makes humpback whale hunting completely unnecessary. Prior to reading this article, I sympathized with the indigenous people and supported their request to hunt just 9 whales a year under the idea that they would use every part of the animal for food. When the Humpback whale population is sustainable, then I could support the idea that a small fraction could be hunted for survival purposes for a people that had traditionally depended on whale meat for food and nutrition. However, it seems that they have not reached their quota for hunting the Minke and Bowhead whales which means they are already well-supplied with whale meat. To hunt any more whales looks like a preference in taste of Humpback whales over the other two, rather than a need to supply food for the population. In conclusion, I do not support the request to hunt even a small population of Humpback whales and believe that they have no real need for the meat.

This whole class experience has day after day shown me a new part of Boston (and the harbor) that I never gave a second thought to, and I will never again look at the water the same way. We have so many resources at our fingertips in the bay and I only wish that more people had the experience we had the last two weeks to both take advantage of and appreciate the unique environment right in our backyard. I had never looked at a map of just the harbor, nor did I ever appreciate the proximity of the islands to downtown. I feel more confidence to just go out and visit the different islands now, and hope to get to as many as I can. So Bruce, thank you for opening up a brand new Boston harbor to me when the farthest I had ventured to was World's End, while looking curiously at the islands but never thinking to actually explore them. I had a great time, thank you for everything!

-Lydia T

No comments:

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 8, 2010

Last Class!

No comments:

Nature Blog Network

My Favorite Nature Blogs