From Snails to Whales: Yue Chan: 4th post

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Yue Chan: 4th post

July 15, 2013

On this day, we embarked on an unforgettable adventure filled with fishing, swimming, and splashing around like playful dolphins. Along the way we inspected, pawed, juggled, and ate various colorful, live, and fresh sea creatures in and around the shores and ocean. We began the day at the Courthouse Docks still rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, then boarded the Belle, a fishing boat with a crew of lively fishermen, and sailed away toward Lovells Island stopping along the way to fish at a couple spots. Here are the observations I made throughout this remarkable journey:

~8:30AM Courthouse Docks

clear skies
blue, clear waters reflecting the skies
gentle breeze tickling my shoulders
sun rays just lighting up the city, but still considerable amount of shadow in between buildings and on docks
receding tide
boarded the Belle
sailed away headed toward Lovells Island
salty wind whipping through my hair, once we started sailing
engulfed by the scent of the sea

~9:15AM somewhere in the Boston Harbor

tide still receding
stopped the Belle to fish
brighter, more glaring sun than before
put on my reflective shades
everyone who wanted to fish was given a rod
sea worms were used as bait

many legs that looked like short triangles, blue stripe running down back of worm, large black pinchers that were hidden and protruded when biting
looked frightening when one was biting Professor Berman's finger--it was scraping his skin away!
at first I was uneasy about attaching them to the fishing hooks, since I was only familiar with using earthworms (without scary pinchers), but sea worms turned out to be quite easy to attach to a hook once I got the hang of it

several Black Sea Bass were caught

dark colored, glimmering scales, slightly lighter underbelly than top
one black sea bass had a large hole near its dorsal fin which I was told it was a scar from being speared
I caught one! It was an exhilarating experience.

one mackerel was caught, then hooked onto another fishing rod and thrown out to sea to be used as bait

slim, roughly 5 inches long, 2 toned coloration: dark colored on top, nearly white on its underbelly

Striped Bass was hooked and Professor Berman skillfully reeled it in

~30 inches
female
2 toned fish, dark upper half, lighter lower half

~12:30PM arrived at Lovells Island

strolled around Lovells Island and followed the trails to the other side of Lovells Island for its shore and tidepools
clear waters
low tide, receding waters when we first arrived
lush forest inland away from shore
sun quite hot and beating down on us
we explored both the benthic region of the receding tide line and the tide pools left from the receding tide lines, here was what I observed:

there were many small, ~2 inches wide, box like, blue tinged crabs scuttling about, in benthic region, under rocks in the open air, and in tide pools

was told by Professor Berman that they were invasive Asian shore crabs (not found in field guides)

many small snails in benthic, tidepools, and under rocks with spiraled, blunt cone shaped shells, had dark operculums, dark colored shells, dark grey colored body

most likely common periwinkle snails due to the blunt conical shape of the shell, the small 1 inch long size, and having dark gray colored insides

vibrant orange, asymmetrical blob-like structures attached to fouling habitats on rocks, attached to mussel shells, star shapes where forming

most likely orange sheath tunicates

flat jelly-like structure on fouling habitats found on rocks, sprawled on mussel shells or sea squirts, dark-green star patterns

most likely golden star tunicate

brownish-reddish worm, similar to those used as fishing bait, segmented, 2 black pincers, found in mud under a rock, small 4-5 inches long, many triangular shaped feet

most likely a pelagic clam worm because it was found under a rock on open shore in mud, near low-tide line water, and not found in a bay or estuary to to distinguish it from a clam worm

many mussels found on rocks among other fouling species, found in clusters, in tide pools

most likely blue mussels due to bluish-black sheen

~5-6 inches long sea squirts, whitish-grayish color, leathery skin, did not occur in colonies, two siphons, squirted water when squeezed, solitary, on rock

possibly a striped tunicate because it was found solitary, and in low tide-line

single shell, clam like shell, found on rocks, sometimes on top of each other, ~1-2 inches, whiteish colored with variations of purple stripe patterns, domed, attached tightly to hard substrates, tasted delicious live, inside of shell had a slipper-like shelving, oval shaped, pointed dully on one end

most likely common slipper snail or "boat snail" (Crepidula fornicata) due to oval shape, with apex turned to one side, found near low-tide line

observed green algae-like covering on rocks, seemed like carpet on rocks exposed to air
large piece of brown kelp found on detached rock

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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

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Yue Chan: 4th post

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