From Snails to Whales: August 2012

Monday, August 6, 2012

A Final Post about a Striper not a Stripper!

On our last day of class we had the rare treat of watching Professor Berman fillet a striped bass. Although the star of the show was supposed to be the bass I found myself wandering around the huge kitchen that the school of hospitality let use use for this class.

Our striped bass was very fresh caught less than 12 hours before it came to rest on these cutting boards. We could tell that the fish was fresh because of the clarity of the eye and the fact that it still had the glossing coating on its skin which is secreted to protect the fish from the water that it lives in.

To fillet the fish, Prof. Berman started with making a vertical incision behind the gills, he then took his fillet knife and set it flush with the back bone resting along the rib bones. He pushed his knife through to the anterior side and worked his knife down the length of the fish to remove the fillet.

After both of the fillets were removed from the body of the fish Berman went digging around to see if we could find any remains of what the fish had eaten before it was caught. Sure enough we did find some white worm like creatures that the bass had eaten before he was caught. Once we had broken the fish down the fillets were removed Berman proceeded to remove the skin. After the fillets were broken down they were sliced very thin and served sashimi style with some soy and wasabi. I was amazed about how fresh the fish was. It really did smell like the ocean. After having a sushi scare a mere week below I passed on the sashimi and waiting for the ceviche. The ceviche was the striped bass marinated in citrus juice. While the fish sits in the citrus juice the acid actually cooks the fish. It was very fresh and tangy when I tried it. Very tasty.

For my experiment I took my piece of the fish fillet home with me and took the simple route. I got a skillet nice and hot and added a little bit of olive oil. I simple seasoned the fish with salt and pepper and put it in the skillet for about 3 minutes on a side to be sure an not dry out the fish. I then removed the fish from the pan and set it on a plate to rest while I deglazed the pan with some white wine to which i added some tarragon herb butter to the wine and melted it down in the wine until it thickened into a nice pan sauce which I poured over the fish. Simple yet delicious and to think it was caught in what used to be one of the dirtiest urban harbors in the country.

Thank you for a unique and interesting learning experience.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Last Quiz - Fresh from the Sea

1. Brenda Rivera

2. Bruce Berman

3. The last class experience

As we all know, all good things come to an end. This last class was bitter sweet because even though I learned so much about the Boston Harbor from Professor Bruce Berman, met great people, and came out with a fabulous tan! it was time to get back to the real world and get back to Family, Work and more homework.

Watching and learning about the Striped Bass was yet another great experience that I take with me. I have to say it wasn't the most pleasant to view the fish being split open and learning in detail, front row status, of what is inside the fish. However, he did taste rather delicious in all ways (sushi, ceviche, and baked)

My experiment with the Striped Bass was to cook it and see if my 2 year old would like it. It was very simple, I placed it on the pan with a little olive oil and lemon pepper salt. Placed it over white rice and corn. I have to tell you it was such a fresh taste! My husband and I try to eat fish every Friday. I have to say that this fish tasted like no other.

I want to thank the professor for having such passion for the Boston Harbor and giving us the gift of teaching us a portion of it. In the seven days we spent together, I can only imagine that we only covered a small percentage to what he knows. I also want to say how great it was to meet everyone from the different cultures and backgrounds. It was really nice to see that even though the world is at war with finances, race, global warming, politics, domestic violence, child abuse, etc. we all managed to come together and learn about this little place we call the Boston Harbor.

Even though we didn't get the ticket to go back at a discounted rate, I have already discussed it with my family to take a boat ride and experience the Islands.

I look forward to seeing some of you in the next year on campus.

have a great rest of your summer!!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A Weekend of Ceviche

I took home the quart of ceviche and decided to let it sit for at least 24 hours before trying it again to see the effect of the acids on the fish. I thought that my first tasting of the bass in lemon and lime juice, where it had only sat for a few minutes, would be much different than my second tasting. The first time I tried it the fish was firm and chewy, not very different in texture from the sashimi. According to The Kitchn, "The citrus interacts with the proteins in the fish, causing it to become opaque and firm...A brief 15 minute dunk in citrus juice will affect just the surface of the fish, giving you a 'rare' preparation." However, contradictory to my thesis, after letting it sit for 24 hours it became more mealy and broken down. Instead of being cooked more, it was softer and less appetizing than before. The cilantro was also very wilted which was not After doing some research on different ceviche recipes I found that the lower the marinating time the better the ceviche will be. Most recipes suggested 30 minutes to an hour but never more than 24 hours since the fish will begin to break down in the acid and should probably not be consumed.

I had such a great time eating raw fish, it was truly an eye opening experience, especially for someone whose favorite food is sushi. Although I know sushi and sashimi are made with raw fish, it is really a different experience to watch the fish get fileted and cut up right in front of you then to eat that fish a few minutes later.

(Sorry for the delayed experiment results, but work ate up my schedule this weekend.)

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.”