From Snails to Whales: STRIPED BASS (MIKE F.)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

STRIPED BASS (MIKE F.)

So today we discussed the striped bass situation regarding the opening of federal fishing grounds. My group represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and I represented the recreational angler in the group. As a representative of the recreational anglers, I am not in favor of opening the federal waters to striper fishing. My reasoning follows

1- By opening the federal waters, the many fragile species of baitfish and other animals such as whales and tuna may be caught/killed in the bycatch.

2- Many anglers in the recreational angling community do not have access to boats or do not have the means to get all the way out to the federal fishing grounds to catch the stripers, so this would only benefit the commercial anglers

3- the commercial anglers who would be catching the majority of the fish in Federal waters may disrupt migratory patterns or catch the largest fish before they make it around the cape and inland into the harbor thereby reducing the quality of the catch enjoyed by recreational anglers onshore.

4- We like the way the system works now. We are catching quality fish and wouldn't benefit very much from the opening of federal fishing grounds

I, as a recreational angler in Massachusetts would have to agree and disagree. I agree that opening the federal waters could change the quality of landings in Boston harbor and further inland, but I wouldn't mind seeing it opened. I have a boat that could easily get me to the federal grounds and I imagine that many of the people who are catching all the stripers inland wouldn't be able to do so in the federal waters. In short, it would limit my competition and allow me to have a fishing spot that eliminates the day fisherman and tourists. I do not believe that any migratory patterns will change, nor will the quota increase. the only difference will be where the landings occur, not the number of landings or the quality of landings (size, health, etc). It is important to note, however, that we do not know the implications of this decision until it happens. For all I know, the opening of federal waters for striper fishing could screw up all sorts of aspects of the mass bay eco system. As such, I believe that the ban should be lifted on a 3 year trial basis and reevaluated.

When we cut up the striper, I was especially interested in what was in its stomach. I was surprised to see the crab because I was anticipating some squid or eel or something like that. I was also surprised that the only part of the crab left was that stringy meat and that the shell was digested before this meat. Although I have made bass fillets many times in my life, I have never cut off the belly meat to eat. I was intrigued by this and will definitely do it next time at Bruce's suggestion. Ted put up some bomb-diggity pictures of the fish so just scroll down to check it out. hes pretty good, that one.

Spectacle

Spectacle Island was all kinds of fun. i enjoyed the delicious treats at sumer shack and the wonderful scenery. I liked that the visitors center ad interactive displays because I am immature and need things like that to keep me focused. i learned through the displays at the visitors center that spectacle was a dump, a resort island with two thriving resort hotels, a grease processing facility that made soap, and a horse processing facility that made glue and hides and other things. Furthermore, I learned that Spectacle was on fire for a period of approximately 4 years on and off and that there are methane and asbestos problems, albeit small ones. while on the Island, we found spark plugs, tons of sea glass with blue being the rarest, a doll hand, apple cores, pine cones, bricks, marbles, melted plastic/ melted rocks that looked like volcanic rock, and other goodies. We saw periwinkles on the rocks at the shoreline and I was surprised to learn that the dock closest to the beach has nearly no depth at low tide. We also saw remnants of asian shore crabs and I hypothesize that I saw fish bones on the dock as well. Bruce helped us identify some of the class as coca cola bottles and cream jars. Following the exploration, I enjoyed my delicious lemonade and took a quick nap in the lovely rocking chairs provided by the generous people of spectacle island....it was glorious.

Thanks

FALLON

1 comment:

Bruce Berman said...: Probably the shell was crushed and spit out, not digested.

Those gills are very tough.; August 5, 2010 at 11:46 PM

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

STRIPED BASS (MIKE F.)

1 comment:

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