From Snails to Whales: Alex Beach Striped Bass

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Alex Beach Striped Bass

First off I want to thank Bruce for providing the Striped Bass for class and dinner today. That was very generous. More thoughts on the class portions of the day later but I just ate so I want to share my “experiment” results with all of you. I apologize to those who would like to copy my recipe; both the Italian and Hungarian in me forbid me from measuring when I cook. It is an inexact science.

In a frying pan I mixed about equal parts olive oil and whole milk, a quarter stick of butter, a bunch of garlic, grated asiago and romano cheeses, and about a half a cup of chopped fresh basil from my back yard. Using a low flame I let the sauce simmer and slowly mix together. Meanwhile, I started boiling some whole grain conchiglie and steamed fresh broccoli florets. I did not have any flour or bread crumbs on hand so I crushed up a small bowl of multigrain cheerios to use as a breading for my filet. This turned out to be a great alternative because the cheerios added a bit more crunch to the fish than flour alone would have. Once the heated milk started to congeal and thicken the sauce I put in the filet and turned the heat up to a medium burn. The fish fat further thickened the sauce into a nice creamy texture. I cooked the fish for about 3 minutes on each side, just until the fish was slightly golden on the outside and white but not too flaky on the inside. The completed filet was served over a bed of conchiglie and broccoli with the sauce drizzled over the entire dish. It was delicious but I think my experiment would yield better results if I had a few more data points to try.

As a New York State fisheries manager I do not really care one way or another if the ban on fishing in federal waters is lifted. As long as the quota for striper does not go up my constituency would be happy. It does not affect the sustainability of the species if they are caught off a pier on Long Island or four miles off the coast. A dead fish is a dead fish. Before I would support this repeal, however, I would like to see some data on how the landing numbers would be affected by fishing in federal waters. As a New York citizen I do not care where New York anglers catch their fish, but as a responsible citizen who has a stake in the wellbeing of the fish stock I would be concerned that opening federal waters could increase the total landings for the Atlantic coast. We are currently in a fairy sustainable equilibrium with the bass population, but this is based on the actual landings and not the quotas we set. Those states that cannot reach their quota in state waters but would be able to reach it if federal waters were opened would greatly increase the actual landing of bass. Just because we would still be following this human imposed quota on fishing doesn’t mean that the increased pressure of the species won’t be too much to overcome. Since New York State is currently doing just fine I would say keep the ban on federal waters just to ensure that other states do not ruin the fish stock with an increased landing.

My personal opinion is slightly different, and was what our group agreed upon during class. I would support lifting the ban on fishing in federal waters if anglers made some other important concessions. I would like the recreational fishing limit of one bass per day above the George Washington bridge decreased to zero. I would also like to eliminate sport fishing in the Hudson and the NYC harbor waters. Even though there is currently a catch and release policy for these waters there is no need to risk unintentionally killing fish for sport. These two measures would protect the spawning grounds and nurseries for the bass and help ensure a continuous stock in the future. I am sure anglers with boats would go for this proposition and shore based anglers around the city would not but I am not empathetic. This is my proposition and they are all likely Yankee fans anyways so anything to make them more miserable is a good decision.

-Alex Beach

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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

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Alex Beach Striped Bass

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