From Snails to Whales: The treasures of Spectacle island

Friday, August 6, 2010

The treasures of Spectacle island

I was quite impressed with what I have seen in Spectacle Island, but I wanted to know a bit more about its transformation. In a Boston Globe article I was able to find some more information about its recent history. I was very impressed when I read: "It is said that the smell of the dump was so foul that in foggy weather ships could get their bearings simply by the stench emanating from the island". I am very impressed that in less than fifteen years, an island that was used as a city landfill, horse-rendering factory, and quarantine station, became such an interesting and pleasant place where I happily swam.

In fact I liked so much that I volunteered to take the next boat (I'd like some extra credit for this please). I am also sorry to inform you that you missed out the most magnificent view of Boston.

Our visit in Spectacle island was very interesting especially considering that we went there after we read the article about the "tragedy of the commons." As I already told you in class, I thought that we were asked to read the article because one of the interpretations was that the "tragedy of the commons" is about the need of having national parks. The following quotation shows how: "The national parks present another instance of of the working out of the tragedy of the commons. At present, they are open to all, without limit...the parks themselves are limited in extent." (Garett Hardin, The Tragedy of the Coommons, 1968). My interpretation is that there cannot be free and unrestricted access to the National Parks because they would soon be extinct. This is why there should be laws and special provision to protect the National Parks as needed in each case. From my (limited) knowledge I know that National Parks in the United States have special rules that are strictly enforced. Spectacle island is no exception since from what I gathered you cannot camp, remove anything from the beach etc.

When we arrived at the island we talked a bit about how we are going to gather data in both a systematic and a non- systematic fashion. We were particularly interested in the abundance of each thing we found, but also in finding things that were particularly interesting to us. Our methodology for the systematic data collection was to use a hula that was 49." We placed the hula in different spots and then we categorized and counted everything we found in the hula. The non-systematic way was to walk across the beach an pick things that there interesting to us.

We collected out first data sample a few inches below the highest rack line, and about 80 feet from the lowest-tide and included the following (thank you Joseph for measuring the distance, and Nikki for writing down the data we collected):

A very big amount (too many to count) of white, green and some brown pieces of glass
20 pieces of some dark coal-like rock. Our group thought that it was Iron Ore
5 smoother pieces of something that we identified as coal
5 pieces of Razor Clam
10 (some broken) blue mussels
7 very small pointy shells
230 shells of periwinkles
6 barnacles
a few parts of disintegrated crabs

We gathered the second dataset as close as the low tide as possible (turned out not to be the best decision ever since by that time the tide was rising). We found the following:

dark and light grey rocks
2 alive mussels (some brave group members followed my example and ate them!)
1 periwinkle
seaweed
a pair of women's slippers

A brief look at the treasure, what impressed me the most (probably the best part of my post):

I am very proud of this finding. It was pretty intriguing and we had to get help from an expert to identify. I have to say that our amazing group was very right in guessing that it is the front of shell.

This brown glass with the numbers is pretty intriguing to me.

I do not understand what these numbers that look like math do

in a glass piece that looks like a bottle to me.

This is something that I identified as a part of a white? Pepsi bottle

I couldn't help it. This is a great picture of our group discussing about our interesting findings. After our first experiment, every time I go to the bathroom I look at whether the water drains clockwise or counterclockwise. After our visit spectacle island, every time that I will visit a beach, I will take the time to examine what I can find rather than just swimming, tanning and doing other activities.

A very unrelated note, but I am sure that Spectacle island would be the paradise for Orhan Pamuk. The museum he has set up in Istanbul and his latest book the "Museum of Innocence" make me think that he would be very interested in finding out about the history of many of the things we found.

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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

Friday, August 6, 2010

The treasures of Spectacle island

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