From Snails to Whales: Seaweed, striped bass, crab cakes, oh my!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Seaweed, striped bass, crab cakes, oh my!

Long-Horn Skeleton Shrimp: These guys were by far the creepiest and most common thing I encountered under the dock. Their long spindly bodies seemed to find their way onto every piece of seaweed, empty mussel shell, and stationary submerged object. When picked up out of the water, these shrimp would lash out their tail section, revealing their long red tinted form and "grasping appendages." (National Audubon society Field Guide to North American Seashoe Creatures, Meinkoth) I was able to match pictures I took to pictures in my guide book, which also stated that these creatures can be found "on seaweeds, hydroids, and sponges from the low tide to water line" along the Atlantic Coast. (Meinkoth)

Orange Sheath Turnicate: The mysterious orange things! I found this colony of orange clusters at the first dock we visited. The smaller clusters were less than an inch long while some of the bigger ones I spotted appeared to be about 5 inches long. They were attached to the underside of the docks mixed in with the sea lettuce.

(Golden) Star Turnicate: This black and white colony of ovular organisms was found in the brackish water near the dock by the Barking Crab. The defining characteristic that helped me determine this was a Star Tunicate was the white star like pattern at the center of the black jelly-like spheres, which matched up with the finding in my field guide. The description of this animal stated that they are found in brackish water, attached to pilings, seaweed, and other solid surfaces. This animal did not move on its own when removed from the water and after a few minutes began to perish from being out of the water, shrinking from its original form.

Sea Lettuce: The long, translucent, wavy leafy green that appeared similar to real lettuce is called sea lettuce. This plant can be found free floating in the water or attached to rocks and docks. Although I could not find this plant in my field guide, according to the Rhode Island Habitat Rehabilitation, "sea lettuce is often found in areas of exposed rocks and in stagnant tide pools" and "grows in both high and low intertidal zones." This source also explained that a large presence of sea lettuce is an indicator of nutrient saturated water since this plant thrives on sewage runoff and pollutants.

Rockweed: Rockweed was scattered throughout the pier and wharf structures we visited today, attached to rocks and walls that were stationary but not completely submerged under water. This seaweed was brown at the base and had clusters of 5-8 stems that branched off into lighter greenish yellow air pockets. These pockets allowed the plant to float at the surface and adjust its position with the receding tides so that it remained at the surface of the water, closest to the strong rays of the sun.

Blue Mussel: This species of mollusc was more commonly found hollowed out, attached to seaweed or turnicates and crawling with different varieties of tiny baby shrimp. My group and I found a live baby mussel and larger mussel attached to the pier by the Barking Crab. It was shiny blue and ovular in shape. We opened it up with a knife to reveal a pale yellow squishy organism with a muscle like body part running along the seam of the shell.

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Last year's photo of the underbelly of the harbor docks appears to be much less green than the sites I observed today. I see many colonies of Star Turnicates scattered throughout the area, which indicates that this site must be in brackish water. In all of the photos I have taken and seen of the harbor today, there was a thin, possibly 2 or 3 inch strip of green algae running along the edge of the docks where they meet the water. Unless the algae simply doesn't show up in this photo, it would appear that more has grown over this spring/summer season. In addition, there are large clumps of brown, black speckled algae like plants connecting everything on the dock, causing this section to jut out farther than the rest. There are also large shells mixed in there which might account for the volume of the section. Overall, this sample of last years growth seems less green but much thicker.

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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 16, 2012

Seaweed, striped bass, crab cakes, oh my!

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