From Snails to Whales: Excursion 2

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Excursion 2

(above is my fantastic drawing of a green crab....dont act like you're not impressed....)

On our never-ending quest for knowledge about Boston's harbor, today we observed several sites and even got our hands dirty (figuratively) with specimens living near the Barking Crab. First, we observed the water clarity off the dock near the aquarium, which we ranked, on average, to be roughly a 6 out of 10 (10 being the clearest possible water). This was encouraging! Additionally, we observed the physical characteristics of specimens living within the intertidal zone, such as some brown/ black seaweedish looking characters, as well as green, mossy looking creatures just above it on the seawall. Shortly after, we observed another rock wall only a few hundred yards away. This one, however, was distinctly different because it lacked the mosses present at the previous site. We concluded that the seaweed/mosses were not present at this site because neighboring condominiums blocked out the majority of the sunlight. In the absence of sunlight, such autotrophic specimens cannot live, which explains why they were not there.

Moving on, we ran into a nice fellow from NOAA who explained the significance of his tide-measuring apparatus. He claimed that any more than a 6 millimeter discrepancy would result in him having to re-calibrate the apparatus, to ensure correct readings. But more importantly, to ensure that the ocean water levels are not rising or falling.

Finally, we reached the Barking Crab. Though some students had difficulty navigating their way through the dangerous bridge..... we all made it down to the docks in one piece. There, we scooped, cut, snagged and captured various aquatic life forms living within the Barking Crab dock community. The dock was teaming with various specimens!!! Fish, algae, crabs, barnacles...you name it, the Barking Crab dock has it. After documenting our findings, we released our temporary captives back into the wild and headed out for beer and lobster rolls. I mean, aaahhhem, just lobster rolls.

After searching several online sources for information about the specimens we saw, i stumbled upon the New England Aquarium site.... www.neaq.org/educationandactivities This was an extremely useful resource, as it explained in great detail what kinds of organisms are typically found within Boston Harbor, how to identify them, and supplemented the info with a picture of each specimen.

the following is a list of specimens we encountered (or at least i think we encountered) while on the dock:

1. Northern Rock Barnacle- these were first observed on the rock walls close to the aquarium, but are very common in Boston harbor. We saw many, many barnacles whose color and shape resemeble that of the ones on the New England Aquarium website

2. Sea Lettuce- this "lettucey" looking organism is aptly named. because it looks like lettuce. we found this under the docks. Well depicted by the website, pretty easy to identify.

3. Green Crab- i believe group 2 found this little guy swimming around the docks. There color and shape helped us to distinguish them from the rock crab.

4. Rock Crab- my group (group 3) found an immature rock crab, or so we think we found...

5. Blue Mussel- very common, i believe everyone had a chance to observe closely this organism.

6. Bubblegum Algae- this i looked up, and is commonly located on blue mussels. now that i'm thinking about it, i believe we saw this also

7. Brown kelp- floating nearby one of the docked boats

8. Right coiled tubeworm- typically located on rockweed (which we also observed) and characteristically curls itself up in a tube-like fashion if it feels threatened

9. Golden Star Tunicate- the cute little flower-looking organisms growing on the mussels. Clearly stated on the NEAQ website that they commonly grow on mussels, and often have an orange or pink color. they did!

10. Atlantic Silverside- although professor Berman did not confirm or deny that the baitfish we caught was in fact an Atlantic Silverside, the physical characteristics we observed were similar to that described on the website

11. Longhorn Skeleton Shrimp- the mostly translucent shrimp we found rumaging through the seaweed.

12. Rockweed- professor Berman divulged early on, accidently, that this was the name of the organism we found on the rockwall early on in the trip. The NEAQ site confirmed the slip-up. The organism was in fact a rockweed. Thanks for the free-bee, professor.

-matt heim

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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

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Excursion 2

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