From Snails to Whales: Day 4: Lovell's Island

Monday, July 15, 2013

Day 4: Lovell's Island

On our fourth day of class, we went on the Boston Belle. We departed from the dock adjacent to the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse at about 8:35 am. The water clarity in the harbor appeared have improved from the day before, which had to do with the fact that the sky was clear and blue. By 9:00, we were fishing at our first fishing location, where we could see the dying diatom; we could tell the diatom was dead because it was floating on the top of the water, and looked like brown pollen. At our first fishing location, we caught several black sea bass in rapid succession. The first black sea bass I saw was about 9” long, and the next one was significantly larger, at about 15” long. Caption Charlie informed us that these two black sea bass were female because they were a brighter turquoise shade of blue, and did not have lumps on their head. I was surprised today to learn how interesting black sea bass actually are. Black sea bass are hermaphroditic fish; they are born female and later in life, as they age, became male. During their transition from female to male, their turquoise shade darkens and their color becomes closer to black. Also during their transition, they grow a lump on their heads. By looking at their color and their heads, it is pretty easy to tell if the black sea bass are male, female, or in transition. Early on at our first fishing location we caught a few bregal or coners. The first one was about 5” long and was a nice light blue, almost pearl color. The number of black sea bass was very telling of the relatively healthy conditions in Boston Harbor. According to Bruce, black sea bass were not found in any large numbers in the Harbor until about 3 years ago, which signals that things are changing, and that perhaps they are migrating here because the water is getting warmer than it used to be. At our first fishing location, the depth was about 20’ and the visibility was fairly good.

En route to our second fishing location, Bruce dissected a black sea bass. The scales of the bass were fairly small and thin. In the bass’ stomach were a few shrimp. We were also able to tell that the bass was just transitioning into male.

At our second fishing location, we were off Long Island and near Spectacle Island. The first striped bass we caught was very large compared to the black sea bass; it was 30” long. The striper was covered in sea lice, which is important because sea lice only live on fish in open water; the sea lice indicate that the fish was migrating in open water, and probably came into the harbor to feed.

After our second fishing location, we went to Lovell’s Island, which I loved. I found the tide pools incredibly interesting and had a good time examining the species present within them (while swimming!). The tide pools were fairly rich and clean, as indicated by the presence of sea life there. The tide was getting higher and higher quite rapidly during our time on Lovell’s, and it was actually shocking to see how different it was from the time we arrived to the time we left. When we left, you could not even see the tide pools any longer, because the water was so high around the rocks that they were no longer visible. We got to the first tide pool at about 11:30, and by 12:20 the water was coming in more rapidly. As the tide was rising, the water got cooler and less transparent. I was able to glean from the appearance of the green algae that the tide zone was going to be pretty high (because the green algae is present in the intertidal zone), but I was still surprised by how quickly it changed.

At the first tide pool we saw many different species. There was an abundance of the invasive Asian shore crabs, which are blue in color. We also saw periwinkle, rockweed, fledging birds, green algae, North Atlantic barnacles, and hermit crabs—all of which, other than hermit crabs, we saw yesterday at the docks,. The species looked less lively though, because they were much more spread out because they were not confined to the limited space on the side of a dock; the intertidal zone of a tide pool is much more spacious than that of a dock. At the second tidal pool we saw most of the same species as the tide was getting higher and higher; however, I noticed two tiny patches of orange sheath tunicate. On the docks we were at yesterday, orange sheath tunicate was in abundance, which was quite a contrast from what was found in the tide pools. Tunicate are a species that start off swimming and smack into rocks or other hard surfaces and attach themselves and grow, so the larger hard-surface area at the dock could be one of the reasons for this. Also, the extreme weather conditions we had in Boston in the past twelve months could also explain how few orange sheath tunicate there were.

On the way back to the Barking Crab, Captain Charlie dissected and filleted the striper. The striper was a female and contained roe (fish eggs) inside. The stomach contents were a few shrimp, but not many.

This day was very informative and I enjoyed all of the hands-on activities we participated in. I went out of my comfort zone by eating the ceviche Bruce prepared for us right on the boat, and by touching all of the fish and even the crabs!

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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

Monday, July 15, 2013

Day 4: Lovell's Island

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