I wanted to update everyone on our weekly crab count from last week. For those of you who don't know, every Wednesday at STH/STB is crab count day. Each site conducts a quick count of the crabs in their area and reports back on their findings.The idea behind this project is that everyone is a citizen scientist and can do something to better understand the environment we live in. A "citizen scientist" can be anyone-kids, adults, witty interns such as yours truly, everybody can learn more about Boston Harbor and then share what they find with others. My small contribution so far has been to set up a sample area when All Access arrives to either Georges or Spectacle Island, and then count the number of crabs I find in the "crab zone." I also measure them and note whether they're male or female.
While the kids love looking for crabs with me and the other interns, we had no luck the past week. Neither the kids nor I could find any crabs last Wednesday, which was a bit of a bummer. However, one of the best parts about science experiments is that even when you don't get the answer you're looking for, you ask yourself a bunch of new questions no matter what. So I didn't find any crabs-why? Was the sample are too small (it was 1 1/2 feet by 1 1/2 feet)? Was it because the tide was coming in? Should we try a different part of the beach, maybe a littler further away from the crowds? All this citizen scientist knows is, that over the next two weeks, I'll have a lot more questions to try to answer.
-Carolyn
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