From Snails to Whales: ajay

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Back to Basses

Prof. Berman gutted a fish today that was almost hunted to extinction. That it survives and was available for purchase is a testament to how people can get together to preserve the commons. Striped bass was the first fish to be protected by law in the United States and the first fish to be taxed. Even so, overfishing and habitat destruction led to an alarming decrease in its numbers. The states on the Eastern Seabord where striped bass can be found got together and hammered out a management plan that included a complete ban on striped bass fishing for five years. Its numbers have since rebounded.

Prof. Berman sliced and diced our fish, showing us how to properly prepare fillets and giving us an opportunity to observe the anatomy of the fish. We were offered sashimi (I declined) and ceviche, which I reluctantly tried. We also took a piece of the fish home to prepare in whatever way we chose.

I want to thank Prof. Berman for an inspiring and interesting class. I learned a lot about Boston Harbor and had a great time doing it.

Cutting out the fillets

The guts of the striped bass

Fillets of other small fish in the stomach of the striped bass

Pieces for us to take home

I added some masala powder to mine and fried it

Friday, July 27, 2012

Pretty social for a hermit

If you like hermit crabs, you will love Lovell's Island. I saw more hermit crabs than I have seen in all my previous days combined. And I almost missed this opportunity -- the scheduled ferry to Lovell's was cancelled. But Prof. Berman made a few calls and the Abigail appeared to ferry us the few feet from George's Island.

We took a walk along the sandy beach, which quickly turned rocky. We did most of our exploring in tide pools which had formed as the water receded due to a low tide. The large, stacked boulders were covered with exposed barnacles, just as we saw on the docks but more so than any of the rocky beaches we have explored.

The rocks below had both barnacles and periwinkles aplenty. I had seen periwinkles in large numbers before but they were most numerous here and in sharp contrast to the floating docks where I didn't see any. Pictured below is a rough periwinkle. Also present were smooth periwinkles.

It's possible that a third type of marine snail was present -- a limpet (pictured below).

Stacey found this tower of slipper shells:

I also saw sea lettuce and other algae, not as much as on the floating docks but about as much as was present on the beach of Castle Island. Picture below is a very curious one which I saw for the first time.

I also saw mussels. The one below has attached itself to a rock with a white, stringy material. Mussels were more prevalent in the docks than on this beach.

I saw a number of green crabs of various sizes. Pictured below is the female green crab which is red, yellow, and white on top.

The largest of the green crabs I saw:

The hermit crabs were everywhere. I saw a couple at Castle Island and others discovered them on the docks but nowhere were they seen in the numbers we saw today. There at least six in the photograph below.

One coming out of his shell:

Quite a few types of tunicates are living in harmony on this rock:

Unidentified sea worm:

Finally, we were able to find brown-lipped snails on land. One of my classmates found the first one in a sumac tree. I was not able to observe the color of the lip, but the lip of one of the shells we found on a beach rock is clearly brown. Those shells were probably dropped on the rock by birds trying to break them up to get at the animals inside.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Clean water is not negotiable

We have been discussing the tragedy of the commons, how self-serving behavior on the part of individuals results in disaster for all. Water is one of the resources many could take for granted in the past but no longer. I believe that everyone should have access to clean water. And not just to drink but also to enjoy recreationally. Even if people chose never to enter the waters of Boston Harbor, I still believe it wrong to pollute those waters and destroy the life that calls it home.

Obviously, all of us have different values and some of us value clean water more than others. I do not think that matters much. Since clean water is necessary for life, both the lives of our fellow human beings and those of the plants and animals that form the ecosystems which feed and shelter us, it must be a protected resource. Those who do not value it either do not understand local ecosystems or have no regard for the lives of other people, and cannot be taken seriously.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Peddocks by Day

When the only church on the island has fallen into disuse, shrubs reach across the path with their thorny arms to draw blood, and unseen creatures wail from beyond the bushes, it is best you visit the island by day. I'm glad we did. Two ferries away from Boston, Peddocks Island has only recently been opened to the public.

On our way over, we spotted a flock of terns hovering over open ocean. Prof. Berman told us that striped bass had pushed up bait fish and the terns were attacking from above. I also saw a cormorant stationed on one of the buoys, and a number of seagulls and Canada geese on the island.

Terns hunting

We started off walking one of the island's paths, flanked mostly by Norway maples. When he heard the wailing, Prof. Berman told us we should get down to water because he cannot protect us on land. Noted.

We crawled the beaches looking for life and its remains. The beach started off with pebbles, graduated to cobbles, and returned to pebbles again.

Beach on Peddocks Island

We spotted shells from a number of creatures: blue mussels, hard-shelled clams (both quahogs and cherry stones), slipper shells, soft-shelled clams, and razor clams. Since none of these creatures were spotted alive, it is unclear exactly where they came from.

Blue mussel shells

Soft-shelled clams (left) and hard-shelled clams (right)

Slipper shells (left) and razor clams (right)

We also saw the carcasses of red crabs, horseshoe crabs, and skates. The horseshoe crab is noted by our Peterson Field Guide as "unmistakable." Most everything else is confusing.

Probably the deep-sea red crab

Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

Front and back of skate

While much of the life we had seen at the docks was beyond reach, our tiny friends, the amphopods, scurried from under flipped stones, continuing to frustrate my attempts at identification.

At least three different kinds here

Black and white amphopods

While rock weed remained an easy ID, the other plant life was more difficult to identify.

Rock weed, blown in from off-shore

Reddish algae which looks a little like the broken tentacles of lion's mane jellyfish

Sour weed or tangle weed?

No idea!

Fossilization in action

In addition to living things, we discovered a number of artifacts. The pink glass was particularly interesting, as it probably comes from glass manufactured in the Boston area around World War II, when the Nazi-affiliated sources of green dye disappeared. The dye that was used locally turns pink over time.

Two kinds of sea glass and stoneware, all found on the beach

My favorite rock from the beach:

Multi-colored beach rock

Life in the mud flat, receding due to a lack of rain, was very different. The land went from dry to squishy and tadpoles (or small fish, who knows?) scurried to the sound of water settling as crabs gave chase.

Baby crab (image blown up several times) in mud flat

Crab in mud flat

Plant life in the mud flat. May be dead, who knows?

Our final assignment was to find and pick up a live Asian shore crab and a periwinkle, both invasive species. The periwinkle has especially changed New England beaches by leaching the sand attached to the algae on the rocks, changing the beaches from sandy to rocky.

Back of Asian shore crab -- it's a girl!

Asian shore crabs hidden among the cobbles

Periwinkle

Please identify yourself...

I was very surprised to discover the diversity of organisms living on the floating docks of Boston Harbor. This is some of what we found and tentatively identified:

1) Rock Weed - flat; broad; bladder-like air-filled sacs on the ends; Y-shaped forks.

2) Star tunicate - flat, star-like system; common in our area; whitish outline with clear or brown interior

3) Sea lettuce - bright green, ruffled, single broad sheet; common in brackish pools

4) Blue mussel - smooth bluish-black valved shell; violet inside; common in brackish water

5) Skeleton shrimp - pinkish-red; multiple segments; mantis-like claws; can stretch or collapse; tiny legs on final segments; abundant on fouling organisms

6) Orange sheath tunicate - number of orange stars compounded into a squishy mass; lives on docks

7) Northern rock barnacle - common in intertidal zone; plates are furrowed; white

8) Striped anemone - orange with numerous white tentacles

9) Spongomorpha - greenish-yellow; ropy and tangled

Much more that I was unable to identify:

A high-res picture of what we saw near the Barking Crab (very similar to the image on Blackboard of what others saw last year):

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.”