Year #2

  

Hello everybody, My name is Simon and I'm happy to be returning to Save The Harbor for another summer. I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Specifically in the South End area and I have always been curious about the different sea life on the Boston Harbor. Attending the different sites this job has to offer will help me learn more about the history and life on the Harbor Islands. Other than learning from this job, I am also excited to reconnect with my coworkers and get the chance to reconnect with the kids from the youth programs. In addition, during the orientation, I got the chance to reconnect with my fellow co-workers. Having the chance to catch up with them and connect with our fellow new colleagues was great. Fishing and touring the islands were great, but getting a chance to talk and have fun with out  team again had to be the best part for me. 

  The history of the Boston Harbor islands has always been something that I have been interested in. Learning about how the Boston harbor islands were used for people's trash throughout the early and mid-1900s is so interesting. The harbor was so dirty people who worked on these islands had to get a shot to even be cleared to work on the Boston Harbor. It took the entire city of Boston to stop this. The people of Boston sued the city for how dirty the harbor was during that time. One of the most interesting things I learned from this was that it took 10 years to burn all the trash on Spectacle Island. Lastly, I will always remember this quote from David, "you can be a burning pile of trash for 10 years and you can still be able to turn your life around."
  

 The sea life in the Boston Harbor is another thing that makes the Harbor so fascinating. There are so many different sea creatures living in the harbor, such as European Green Crabs, Spider Crabs, Black sea bass, and many others that are living right in the harbor. Lastly, I am excited to learn more about the unfamiliar species that may be living on the Boston Harbors and try to get familiar with all of the species by the end of the summer. 

                                                      See Ya At The Harbor!

Blog #1 - Liany

 Hiii,

My name is Liany Cruz! I live in JFK/UMASS (Harbor Point on The Bay) and I go to Boston Arts Academy as a rising senior! I’m an instrumentalist at BAA, I play the electric bass and the double bass. I also am a singer outside of school and I’m in a program/school called Hamilton Garrett Music and Arts Academy. I’m in the youth choir and sing an alto/tenor! I love music that's what I’ve been doing since 3rd grade at Conservatory Lab Charter School and I want to go to college for Musical Theater. I also am going to be in our advanced band at school called Charlie Brown as a bass player and ill be going to the Berkeley Gospel Performance Program this july 24-28th! Love math and humanities if I wasn’t going to go to college for musical theater/music i would definitely go in for math or humanities or even criminal justice because it seems so interesting. Finally, i also went to camp harbor view as a camper for 3-4 years and i went onto the rising program and became a first year l.i.t. YOMOOOO FOR LIFE. 

Something I learned about boston harbor & cleanup is that on spectacle island it was a trash/landfill for years and years and that when they finally decided to start cleaning the island to become more accessible and clean to the public, they piled up all the trash put dirt all over it and set the island on fire. And the fire burned for 10 years! Another thing i learned about the marine science of the Boston harbor is that green crabs are actually very dangerous to our ecosystem since they originated from Europe and weren’t originally from here, so they’re an invasive species ad need to be killed off. My favorite part of orientation was ironically doing the scavenger hunt even though me and my teammates complained about it a lot due to the heat, but learning more about seaport and the harbor, running around from place to place being able to navigate the area was really fun. Especially the rush to get back to the park to be first place was also fun, our group and Darius’s group were very competitive (friendly ofc..). As for my photo, this is when i went to Puerto Rico during April vacation. See you on the bay!

My Second Year

 Hello Reader,

My name is Siddharth Motheram. I’m a rising junior in Boston Latin School, and this is my second year at Save the Harbor. I live in Roslindale, and play volleyball and tennis. One of the main reasons I came back is because of how simple, yet fun this job is. I also get the benefits of seeing and interacting with my friends from last year. In this blog, I'm going to go over some things I learned from the orientation, as well as my favorite part and why.

On our second day of orientation, we visited Spectacle Island, one of the more famous islands in the Boston harbor. There, one of our administrators, David, told us about the history of the island. It used to be a giant trash heap until one day, a trash bulldozer sank into the pile of trash and was never seen again. At that point, the people of Boston sued the government in an effort to improve it. I like this story since it shows how much the general public can influence their surroundings and make genuine change in communities.

We also learned about some of the things you can catch in the harbor, including bass, flounders, skates, and jellyfish. At my site (Piers Park), we usually catch European Green crabs. which are an invasive species that I used to see even last year. Someone has also caught a jellyfish before (which I have never seen). Overall the marine biology of the Boston Harbor is incredibly diverse, and varies drastically depending on location. 

My favorite part of the orientation was when we went to Spectacle Island again. It was really calm and it was also nice to stick my feet into the water. Even though I liked the fishing trip as well, it started raining during our time on the boat which made me like it a lot less. 

Overall the orientation and subsequent week were very fun. I look forward to spending more time with my coworkers at Save the Harbor.

Signing off,

Sid

Me and Simon (the sun got in our eyes)

(our first day at our site)

Blog #1

  Hi guys, I’m Arianny. This is my first year working at Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay. I attend the John D. O’bryant as a Sophomore. I live in South Boston. I enjoy playing soccer and softball. I play both sports for my school teams.

  Given that this is my first year working at this program, I am new to a lot of things. I enjoy working with this program because it allows me to teach young campers how to fish and about the harbor, while learning about marine science at the same time. I’m getting used to baiting the rods, and touching all the types of crabs that we catch. I learn something new everyday.

  I’ve learned about Spectacle Island and how dirty it used to be. There was a fire that lasted 10 years, which resulted in the present island, which it is now safe to walk around and swim in. The fire burned all the waste that was piled on the island from Boston and cities around it.

 While working at Piers Park, I have come to realize that we catch crabs more than any other sea animal. We mainly catch European Green Crabs, which are an invasive species and Spider Crabs. We don't catch much fish because we are more close to land and other sea animals are more far out towards the middle of the harbor. We have caught one baby fish in our crab trap at courageous sailing, which was pretty cool.

  My favorite part of orientation was the trip to Spectacle Island, because it was my first time on a ferry. Also, we got to walk aroundthe beach and look at all the broken glass that is there from the fire, pottery, and seashells. It was nice to see that there was  things from years ago, still on the island. Im excited to have a great summer!

See you soon :)

Year #3 at STH

 

Hi again, My name is Henry Burns and this is my 3rd summer working for Save The Harbor Save the Bay. I will be a freshman at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy this year.  I am so excited to work here this summer.  every year I've worked here and I've never had a bad day even if it's raining and you are soaked like last Monday it still was nice.  

some things I've learned about the harbor cleanup after being here for 3 summers are that it's very clean.  I know that the deer island treatment plant makes sewage into water so clean they say you can drink it.  because of all that you can go swimming in the harbor without getting sick, so that's great because it gets hot on spectacle island, and it's nice to go in the water before you leave.  

some things I've learned about the marine life in Boston Harbor; I know that green crabs are invasive and are literally everywhere.  we could catch over 20 crabs and 99% of them will be green crabs.  well, that's enough of green crabs, I wrote way too much about them so I deleted it because all it said was there bad.  I know the most common fish that we catch when we worked at our sites is skates or baby fish that get caught in our crab trap.  

and finally, my favorite part about orientation week was the fishing trip.  fishing trips are always nice you're just out on a boat but when it's just the people you work with everyone can go fishing and have a greater time.  I got to enjoy a somewhat nice day fixing fishing rods and getting them unstuck when someone thinks they caught a big fish, when they actually just got it stuck on the bottom.  

Sea U Later

 Hi,

My name is Khaika Lacrete. I currently attend the John D. O'bryant as a sophomore. I live in Roslindale. Some of the activities I participate in are soccer, NJROTC. 

I'm excited to work at Save The Harbor this summer to meet new people from around Boston. 

One thing that I learned about the harbor was about Spectacle Island. Spectacle Island used to be an island where they dumped trash. They dumped the trash there for a long time. Eventually they cleaned up the Island and now it's very clean by burning all the trash, and the trash burned for so long. However, there are still remains from the fire that is called Beach Glass.

One thing I learned about fishing is about the crabs, specifically the green crabs. While fishing one of the things that I caught was a green crab. I learned that they are invasive so they don't belong here. 

My favorite part of orientation was the fishing trip. This was my favorite part because I was able to see my friends. Meet new people and make new friends. I also got to do a new thing that I have never done before. 

#bestsummerever

Four Years of Fun on Boston Harbor

 Hey y’all, my name is Will and this is my fourth year at save the harbor save the bay. I’ve had an amazing time every summer I’ve worked here at that’s why I keep coming back. I’m a sophomore at Plymouth State University and I play varsity soccer for the school. I’m from Holbrook Massachusetts which is about 30 minutes from Boston so all of the sites are relatively close to me. I’m interested in cars and sports, mainly soccer and hockey. 

I’m excited to be working at save the harbor this summer because of all of the outside time involved. I love being by/ on the water and this job is the easiest way to have that happen. Another great thing about this job is being able to fish and teach kids about fishing and the harbor. My favorite island to go to is George’s island. The history behind it and the dark tunnel are fun and interesting perks to keep the children involved and help them have fun and new experiences. 

A very interesting piece of harbor history is what happened at spectacle island. It went from being a trash dump to a beautiful island. The trash burned for ten years before finally going out and the island grew in size from the dirt that came from the big dig. 

The marine life in the harbor is very expansive. Green crabs are an invasive species that should not be in the harbor. They are harmful to the environment because they eat food that the native species of the harbor should be consuming.

My favorite part of orientation is going to Spectacle island and hanging out with all of the staff members. Spectacle is such a beautiful island and it’s a shame that not everyone has access to it the way we do. I also enjoy David’s talks, especially when he makes jokes to make the education part more fun for people to stay interacted and interested.

Sea y’all on the harbor!!

4th Year Around

 Hi There, 

    My name is Jaylen Gomez and this is my fourth year at Save the Harbor. I started here as a Sophomore in high school and now I am going into my Junior year of College at Suffolk University. I am originally from the Dominican Republic, immigrated to Dorchester, MA  when I was younger, and lived here ever since. At Suffolk University I study Business Economics, it can be hard at times but I enjoy challenges and seek them out frequently. In my free time, I attend club events at school or Econ seminars hosted by students and professors. I also love to spend time with my friends and family whenever I get the chance, keeping a balance is super important to me.         

    I’m super excited to be back at Save The Harbor. I went on a year hiatus for my freshman/sophomore year and missed everyone terribly, so here I am again enjoying new friends and old, gaining new experiences all over again.  

    Let's brush up on some Boston Harbor history, the Clean Water Act of 1972 was passed to help with national beach clean-ups. Since the act passed, Save The Harbor has been the leading organization in the region to continue making sure our harbor beaches are safe to swim in and for marine life to live. 

    Here's a quick fun fact about Green Crabs. You may see them often around all our beaches or if you enjoy fishing, catching some of your own. However, they are not native to this region; they originate from Europe and hitch rides on big cargo ships across the Atlantic. They are super invasive to this region and destructive to the local marine ecosystem. 

    One last thing before I let you go, the first week of summer programming is always fun with meeting new staff members and the first beach bash of the summer, I always have a blast. 

Sea you next week, 

Jaylen Gomez                                                                                                            

Year four! - Ari

 Hello I’m so excited to be back!! My name is Ari and this is my fourth here to Save The Harbor. About me is that I just graduated high school, and getting ready for college life. During senior year of high school I managed to become my school's president. Helped plan events and help give the faculty on what it’s like to be a student and what students want to change. I got to have my last year playing the sports I love which are volleyball, basketball, and softball. I had amazing teammates who we’re always so supporting. I’m so excited to be back at Save The Harbor and this is my fourth year here. I love spending my time outside, interacting with youth and fishing too! I also loved meeting new coworkers at orientation and getting to know them. I can’t wait to see what the next adventures are!!! 

See you next time on the water- Ari

First Month done!

    Hello, I just finished my first month at Save the Habor. I worked at the Children's museum for the first month and we caught many things such as green crabs, spider crabs, and a little flounder. Today I wanna talk more about green crabs and spider crabs. Green crabs are invasive species because when they arrived here they would compete and eat native species. Green crabs are typically around 2.5 to 4 inches and a fun fact about them is that you can identify their gender by their abdomen. Normally males have a triangular abdomen while females have a round and bigger one.

    The next animal I encountered was a spider crab and these crabs can get pretty big. On our first week at the Children's Museum, I believe we caught a very big spider crab The Common Spider crab is a species of crab that lives along the sea floor on North America's Atlantic coast. They will often feed on large starfish. A fun fact about spider crabs is that they can actually live in very toxic and polluted waters. They are very cool to find while fishing in Boston Harbor.

1 month down and I am already enjoying every moment I have working for Save the Harbor and working with new people and making new friends. One of my favorite parts of the week would be Atlantic Wharf because we would fish in front of it and then get free food. Then we would go to the Northend which was also nice because they have a nice park near it and a basketball court. I also really enjoyed going around constitution with Jason.

I am super excited to start the second half of Save the Harbor at All Access because I've never been on an all-access site yet. I am also excited to get to know other members of Save the Harbor and spend the rest of Save the Harbor with them. I am also looking forward to our Friday team events because so far I've enjoyed every single one of them. 

Year 2: Yahoo

Hey Everyone!!, My name is Madison Murphy and this is my second year with STH and I am so excited to be back! A little about me... I recenlty graduated from Sacred Heart University in CT with a bachelors of science in Marine and Coastal Science with a minor in dance! My junior year of college I was able to study abroad for a whole semester in Dingle, Ireland which was such an amazing experience! In college I was a member of the preprofessional dance company, in Kappa Delta sorority, part of the environmental club, a global ambassador, and also was part of the kickline team. During my time at SHU I volunteered my time to work at a local awuarium helping guests touch and experience our animals. Recently I was hired as a 7th grade science teacher in Everett and if it wasnt for the love I have for working with STH and educating the public on the importance of science and our beaches I wouldnt have been able to acheieve it! I am so excited to be back for year two with STH especially at Camp Harborview! I love working at CHV because the staff over there intertwines with our energy so well and I can see how excited the kids at the camp get to come fishing with us! I am also so excited to have Ari as my LHE as last year being her LHE we got to form such a great bond and friendship and I love seeing her grow as a leader. I am so excited to see what the future holds and to see how this summer goes!! Its been great catching up and I hope to see you on the water soon! Madison Pictures: - graduation pictures!! - field work in ireland!! - surfing in ireland!!

First month

 Hi, I’m Arianny. 

Two marine species I have encountered so far in July are a European green crab and a striped bass.

At Courageous Sailing, a child caught a striped bass. Striped bass are also known as stripers, line-sider, and rockfish. They can live up to 30 years and can weigh from 5-20 pounds. You can find this species along the East Coast. They can be found in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Striped bass eats a large variety of food; things like squid, soft clams, sea worms, alewives, etc. They play an important role in the food web by controlling the prey population.

 

At Piers Park Sailing Center and Courageous Sailing, there are tons of European green crabs caught. We catch many of the crabs in the crab trap, but when fishing on the dock, it’s what kids tend to mostly catch. They can measure from 2.5-4 inches in length. European green crab is native to Europe and North Africa but is invasive in North America. They can be found near shore, typically in shallow waters. They feed on many organisms like clams, oysters, squid, etc. The European green crab is known to be one of the most invasive species in the marine environment. 

I have enjoyed my time at Piers Park. I have a bond with all my coworkers at the site, and we worked together throughout our stay. My favorite day at this site was my last day. I got to work one last day with the kids, and then I went sailing and kayaking. Going into Piers Park, I didn’t think I’d like it, but I befriended many of the kids there and I enjoyed the time I got to spend there. It wouldn’t have been as fun as it was without my SHE, Fatima there.

 

I’m excited to be a part of All Access now and try out new things. I'm sad to be leaving Piers Park, but I’m happy I get to try something new.

See you next time.

Sources: 

https://www.fws.gov/species/rockfish-morone-saxatilis

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/habitat-conservation/look-out-invasive-crab#:~:text=The%20green%20crab%20is%20considered,as%20well%20as%20juvenile%20salmon.

First month ✅

Hey guys! Back again. Well the first month of Save the Harbor is in the books and it's sad. No more Sid, no more Simon, no more Mateo. While at Piers, I held a spider crab and a green crab, which is the species we caught the most. Spider crabs tend to live under the ocean floor and have a muddy shield on their shells and look very dirty. One day, I dropped one of the spider crab into the touch tank with the green crabs and it made it dirty. Another fact about spider crabs is males are typically bigger and armed with larger claws. Males have larger claws, called chelipeds, to fend off predators and fighting off crabs. Green crabs are also a cool species. There are 5 spikes on Green crabs that can spell out the word "green" so it is easy to point them out. However, some green crabs are red... someone please explain that to me, this is something I can argue hours about haha. It's weird, imagine being a certain color but you're called another color, thats weird right? I understand that some green crabs turn red because of material in their enviornment, but it is still a little confusing to me. But, as small of a animal it is.. the crab does its best to hold its ground. It's a small animal but a big predator in the water. Green crabs orginate in European Countries and travel to America by boat making them an invasive species. We caught 2 fish as a group, both at couragoues. One kid named, Ino, grabbed a rod and 20 seconds later he caught a fish. He bragged all day about it haha. The fish we caught was a baby Striped Bass. Striped Bass can grow up to weigh 20-40lbs as an adult. They can live in both salt and fresh water. On the fishing trip, we had a squid, who happened to have a baby fish inside which was pretty cool. I think it was a baby fish that the squid ate back in the ocean.

That was all on my first boat fishing trip ever. It was fun we caught the usual green crab and spider crab and even a lobster in the lobster trap. For next week, I hope CHV is fun. If not, im going to be sad. I made such good friendship bonds with my co-workers, I miss Simon, Sid, and Mateo already haha. Why did they seperate us? ): I heard we get free food at CHV and the food good, but that cant replace the fun I had with my coworkers at Piers Park. Everday was a fun day with them, but the worse was saying goodbye to Piers Parks kids and the coworkers. Also the STH co-worker friends I made. But, I got to be strong, so out with the old in with the new. CHV here I come, well I dont know how to get there yet haha, but you know the point. I had a lot of fun last month and I know it will carry on this month. I made a lot of friends in month 1, lets see what my new SHE and LHE and fellow JPA can make me as happy as the others did. All in all, that's month 1 in the books, CHV here I come! I want to catch a sea horse or something cool! You never know whats in the water! Sea you later!

Piers Park recap

  

 Throughout July at Piers Park, we came across Green Crabs and Spider Crabs most of the time, but the most interesting species we caught was a Striped Bass at Courageous in Charlestown. Striped Bass can usually be found along the east coast starting from ST. Lawrence River in Canada to ST. John's River in Florida. In addition, it can also be found along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Louisiana. Additionally, the Striped Bass habitat can be located in Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island in Rhode Island. This wasn't the biggest fish but it was one of the only fishes we had caught and it isn't as easy to catch fish at piers park or Courageous as it is at other sites. The Striped Bass had unique features such as having seven to eight stripes starting from their gills to the tail. Another unique feature that the Striped Bass has is when it has a small mouth the upper jaw is below the mouth but when it has a large mouth, the upper part of the mouth extends past its eyes. The average sizes of these species are 15-25 pounds which is relatively big compared to the fishes we usually catch in the Harbor. Lastly, another fact about the Striped Bass is that they consist of eating small fishes and a variety of other sea creatures such as Shrimp, Shellfish, and Sea Lamprey.   Another species I found very interesting was jellyfish, when the kids went fishing they would see small jellyfish at Piers Park. Once we try to bring them up they were very small it can fit in the palm of our hands. It was so soft that it would be dripping from our hands, which made it almost impossible for us to keep it alive. This was the first time I had seen a jellyfish in a sea around the Boston area and we only had seen it during the last two weeks at our site. So it was a shock to me when I saw it the first time around. 

 The last month at Piers Park was very fun and exciting to be a part of especially being with new coworkers that I haven't worked with in the past. At Piers Park, we showed kids the difference between a male green crab and a female green crab along with showing them spider crabs. The kids were always interested to learn more about the sea life in the Boston Harbors. It was an overall great experience, starting with our staff to the kids who made our job a lot more fun. After each day, each week the bond we had with kids grew, but also the bond between my co-workers kept on growing over time. We were able to build close friendships with one another. It truly made my job exciting every day because I know there was something new that was going to happen every day. Lastly what made this site exciting for me was when we were able to play with the kids. Playing four square was always a heated game especially when the piers park staff decides to play, kids arguing about who is out or who skipped the line always made the game that much more fun because of how intense the games use to get.  

 Although I am gonna be sad that I couldn't stay at Piers Park with my old group, I am still excited to be a part of a new group at all access and can't wait what the future beholds. I can't wait for the beach walks at Spectacle Island and how can I forget about the dark tunnel at Georges Islands? Last but not least, I am super excited to get a chance to know people that I don't usually get to interact with on our Save the Harbor staff team. Happy to get a fresh restart and create new memories and experiences along the way. 

                                                     As always, See ya at the Harbor!!

    

 

Recap of the First Month

Hello reader,

I'm back for a recap of the first month of working at Save the Harbor. I'm gonna describe two species that me and my team caught at Piers Park/Courageous Sailing. First, we were able to catch 2 striped bass. A fun fact is that they can grow up to 40-50 pounds and grow to be 3-6 feet long. They can be found in Delaware river and other freshwater springs. They often feed on zooplankton as well as other small fish and squids. In the 1970s-1980, their population experienced a severe decline in New Jersey due to overfishing. The second species we mainly caught were green crabs. A fun fact is that they are not always green. They can range from green to yellow to orange. They are usually 2.4 in long and 3.9 in wide, and are native to European and North African coasts. They invaded North America in 1817, and eat oysters, mussels, and squid. Various ways of population control over them have been enforced over the years, including bounties on them. 

My experience at Piers Park/Courageous was really nice. I was able to make good friends and enjoyed my time there. The kids were also pretty fun and it was nice hanging out with them. It was also fun hanging out with the Piers Park staff themselves, as they were all nice and cool. My favorite part of this site was playing with the kids, since everyday we got to play a different game. It was always fun to play with them and my coworkers, and they always made it competitive. 

Although I'm said I cannot stay with my old group at Piers, I am still excited to see what we're gonna do at All Access starting next week. I'm looking forward to going into the water and walking on the beach at Spectacle, and revisiting Georges Island. I am also very much looking forward to interacting with people I don't really talk to much in the Save the Harbor team. Above all, I'm looking forward to create new memories and experiences in my time there.

Until next time,

Sid

First Month

 Throughout July, at Piers Park we have caught many Green Crabs and Spider crabs, but what I had found more interesting is that during our day at Courageous sailing we caught some lobsters on our fishing trip. A fun fact about lobsters that most of us didn't know is that lobsters taste with their legs. The antennas they have are used for food that is far away, or hard to locate. The typical size of a lobster is 12 inches long, but it is said that the male lobster can be a bit larger. The bottom-dwelling American lobster live in cold rocky waters off the Atlantic cost of North America, but lobsters can be found in all of the world's oceans, as well as brackish environments, and even freshwater. Lobsters live on the bottom of the ocean. They prefer temperatures from 15-18 degrees C (59-64 degrees F) and saltiness of 20-25 ppt. However, the American Lobster can be found on the east coast of North America, from Newfoundland to North Carolina. Lobsters catch mainly fresh food, (except for bait) which includes fish, crabs, clams, mussels, sea urchins, and sometimes even other lobsters!

 

 Another species that I have found very interesting that we have caught are spider crabs, a simple fun fact about Japanese spider crabs is that, the crabs carapace stays the same size once it become an adult  but the legs keep growing. The carapace (main body captivity) of the Japanese spider crab is 12 inches (30 centimeters) across. But its legs, which continue to grow even when it reaches adulthood, which can span up to 12 feet (3.8 meters) from claw to claw. Japanese spider crabs live on the seafloor along Japan's Pacific coast. They are found on the sandy and rocky continental shelf and slope. Instead of hunting, these scavengers look for dead and decaying matter along the seafloor. Their diet includes the dead of decaying fish, invertebrates, and algae. Over the past 40 years, the catch of the Japanese spider crabs had declined, to help the population recover..Japanese law bans fishing for the species during its mating seasons.

 

I have enjoyed my time at Piers Park, I have made a very nice bond with all of my co-workers at Piers Park.. We had worked together through our stay at the site and I really enjoyed being there with them and experiencing these new things with my co-workers.. My favorite day at Piers Park was the last day. On Friday, I got to enjoy kayaking and sailing with some of my friends. I'm very sad to leave Piers Park and all of the friends that I've made there.

  I'm super excited to be a part of all access, learn many more things, and make friends with my co-workers...

I'll see you all next time..

First Month done time for the next month

    Hello everyone, I had an amazing  week at Camp Harbor View!!! On Monday I met a whole new group of kids and introduced ourselves to the next group of kids we will be working with. We played a game called where the west wind blows where you stand in a circle and one person stands in the middle and says something that applies to them  and if it applies to you, you find a new spot within the circle and the last person to find a spot in the circle has to be in the middle and do it all over again. On Tuesday we had two groups of kids and had them fish and look at the crabs that we caught in our crab trap. Later on in the day after lunch we met kids in a fishing  club where we got the same group of kids for their session. On Wednesday we did the same thing with two groups of kids and fishing club. On Thursday it was the jpa’s last day at their sites!! We got tons of crabs that day, and almost got a fish in the fishing club but the fish broke the line!!! We checked the crab trap one more time and the kids were so excited to have more crabs. On Friday we had a staff day and went sailing and kayaking with piers park. It was a lot of fun! I went kayaking with Madison and tried to get away from Jah and Juner who were splashing people but they ended up in the water which was funny to watch. This week I learnt about green crabs, this month we have got lots go European green crabs which from their name they are from Europe but they are in the US bc they hide in cargo ships which since there are so many of them they are an invasive species. They are 2.5 or 4 inches. They live on rocky shores, tidal marshes, and sand flats. They eat clams, oysters, mussels, marine worms, and small crustaceans. Last but not least they have very few predators. I also learned about Rock crabs they can be up to 4-6 inches wide. They eat small fish, and hermit crabs, rock crabs are from the west coast of North America. A fun fact about these crabs is that sometimes male crabs carry female crabs. That is all for this blog!

See you next time on the water - Ari:)

First Month at All Access Boston harbor

Mottled Duck

       Mottled Ducks spotted at Boston children's museum

A fun fact about the mottled duck is that its scientific name is Anas fulvigula. the typical site of these ducks range from 18.5 - 22.5 inches. These ducks can be found all around the US. Freshwater wetlands including marshes, lakes, ponds, ditches, impoundments, flooded fields (including rice fields), stormwater collection areas, mosquito control reservoirs, and sewage treatment plants are where these ducks enjoy staying. Approximately 40 percent of the mottled duck's diet consists of insects, snails, mollusks, crayfish and small fish. The remainder of its diet is composed of grass seeds, stems, and roots; seeds of other marsh plants; and bayberries. Mottled Ducks are “dabbling ducks” that feed at the surface or tip up to reach submerged vegetation. They rarely dive unless being pursued by a predator.

                               Green crabs

 

                                                        green crabs caught at spectacle island

The green crab is considered one of the most invasive species in the marine environment. It has few predators, aggressively hunts and eats its prey, destroys seagrass, and outcompetes local species for food and habitat. Green crabs can be identified by their unique shell shape. Adult shells can be up to 4 inches across. The green crab is a small shore crab whose native distribution is in the northeast Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, ranging along coasts from northern Africa to Norway and Iceland.

                                    All Access

All Access Boston Harbor offers fun, FREE day trips for youth groups and community organizations to visit DCR’s Spectacle Island and Georges Island. this month has been a riveting experience. Even though I did all access last year this year has been more interactive and exciting. On of my favorite days this month would be days we go to Georges island. The story of the ominous lady in black robes that wanders about the grounds of Fort Warren is a welcoming on on Thursday mornings. 

See you next week!

-Seoule 

First Month at STH!!

     Hello! This past month at All Access we've only caught green crabs. But the one day I spent at CHV, we caught some spider crabs, as well as some Jonah crabs. A fun fact about Jonah crabs is that they are used in so many seafood dishes such as crab cakes, rolls, chowder, and more. They can be found anywhere from Nova Scotia to as far as North Carolina. When we caught the spider crab, I was caught a bit off guard because of how different it looked compared to the other crab I was used to seeing since we mainly only get green crabs at All Access. Its legs are a lot thicker, and its shell has a more pointed edge where its eyes are. A fun fact about spider crabs is that these crabs live up to 100 years. They eat decaying fish and can be found in places like Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. 

I didn't get any pictures from when we caught it so here's one I found online!

    For the past month or so I've been working at All Access and it's been so much fun! Seeing so many new faces daily and teaching people what I've learned about our harbor has been fulfilling. There are so many things I enjoyed about my site, like drawing cute things with chalk, playing all kinds of different sports with the kids near the Gazebo on Spectacle, and interacting with people from so many different places. I also really enjoyed the people I've gotten the pleasure of working with at All Access, and I'm happy I was able to bond with them during those boat rides to and from Spectacle/Georges Island. Although I'll miss it, I'm excited about the new things I'll experience at Childrens :)

My First Month at STH!!

At my site in July, I noticed two very commonly caught species of crab which are green crab and spider crabs. Green crabs are actually an extremely invasive species to our harbor. They eat many different aquatic animals such as clams, oysters, mussels, small fish and more and with such a large diet selection, they are also competitors for food with other animals in the harbor. These crabs can be found all across the world at rocky beaches and usually range from 2.5-4 inches in width. 

The other animal i’ve seen a lot of is spider crabs. Spider crabs are generally nice but intimidating looking animals. They have the longest legs out of all arthropods. These crabs usually eat shellfish, dead aquatic animals and plants surrounding them. Their leg span alone can be 3.3 to 3.9 feet long. These crabs are also unable to swim.

For the month of July, I worked at our all access site. Tuesday-Thursday we would spend our day on one of the Boston harbour islands showing children different things to do on the island and helping to lead activities. My favorite thing to do is fish with the kids and see how excited they are when they’ve caught something.

Even though i’m going to miss being at all access with my friends and getting to see the amazing Boston harbor islands, im excited to see what my new site will bring.

Managed Retreat: Yay or Nay?

 On July 18th we attended a webinar on Managed Retreat put on by UHI (United Harbors Institute) that discussed the perceived importance of managed retreat in Massachusetts municipalities through surveys. 

Managed Retreat is a relocation from coastline towns all over the U.S. due to the rising sea levels from climate change. Overall, it is the movement of infrastructure somewhere inland that cannot be affected by rising sea levels. 13 out of 15 municipalities surveyed by UHI said they had considered a managed retreat, but there were not many who had planned to do so in the future. 

"Managed retreat" carries a negative connotation, since it does use the word "retreat", which can lead communities to think they are giving up or running away from the problem instead of facing it head-on. Other terms that were discussed involved "relocating" or "coastal relocation". "Refuge" and "community: were also talked about since those words can lead communities to receive any managed retreat plans better.  It was discussed how the focus should be on bringing communities together to find solutions, and that communication between regions/municpalities is important when organizing movement inland. However, many municipalities preferred to elevate any existing homes or infrastructure to accommodate the rising sea levels instead of relocating. 

Local Massachusetts governments are considering the idea of managed retreat in the long term, but it was brought up that many tourist towns have problems educating the residents since there is high turnover from season to season. Legal restraints against managed retreat also heavily influence any managed retreat plans. There is no evidence that the federal government has made any long term managed retreat plans. Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) has a great model that can be used to simulate managed retreat. 

Hi! I'm the new intern!

  Hello! 

My name is Erin and I'm doing my summer internship with Save the Harbor this year. I'll be working with the policy and program planning staff to help make the rest of the summer awesome! This is my senior internship through the Health Sciences program at BU. I'm originally from Maryland, but I moved to Mass to go to BU in 2020. Boston has become my home over the past 4 years, so I'm super excited to be able to help make Mass's beaches a better/safer place to be. I love going to the beach, crocheting, and my cat Lucy. She's my world! 

Save the Harbor intrigued me because the organization encompasses a lot of what I hope to achieve in the future during my career, and I have always been interested in what I could do to help make the environment a better place for future generations to be. I feel like my work here is going to help make a difference, no matter how small (I am an intern after all). 

Here's to having a great summer! 

Erin Cox 

Year 3 and Still More to See

Hi my name is Keiana, I am originally from Boston Massachusetts, specifically the Jamaica plain area. I graduated this year from cathedral high school. I will be going to North Carolina A&T in the spring. I did Track and field, volleyball, and cheer this school year. I was inducted into a youth sorority group called Zeta Phi Beta youth incorporated back in 2021 I was the president which was a fun role to experience because you got to really be hands on and have control over things and make big decisions for the group as a whole. It was last year there since I was a senior so they gave me a debutant ball which was fun and really cute you got to dress up and feel like a princess for the day. I am happy to be a returner this year because I feel as though Save the Harbor Save The Bay really helps you learn new things everyday and fishing is a good way to be able to interact with kids younger than you and it’s something about seeing them excited and happy to do something maybe the never did and you really do make a lot of new friends working here over the years. This is going to be my first year being an LHE I like it so far it’s like a leader type of role and your under the SHE instead of being a JPA. All rlly that changed id you have to attend two meeting a week instead of just one and of course the pay which is the good part about it lol. I am exciting to see what this summer has to offer and especially to see we home grow as a whole and become closer of the months. 

                               Our first week was orientation for the first day we went on a fishing trip in the harbor and we didn’t catch as much as we would have like but we caught the this animal that kinda looked like a sting ray. The second day we went to spectacle island and we learned that Spectacle Island has a varied history that included farming, a quarantine hospital, a glue factory, resort hotels, and a garbage dump. The island was recently the receiving ground for excavated material from the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project. The site is being returned to the public for recreation as a park is constructed over the landfill. and we all were able to go swimming for the third day we all got into group and went on a scavenger hunt all around the seaport area and I feel as though this is where you got to bond with ppl in your group because throughout the first few days everyone is in their own little groups and then they start getting more comfortable around others as well.

Year two with Save The Harbor Harbor

 Save the harbor ft. ME year2

Hello! My name is Giacomo and I am happy to be back at Save the harbor for my second year. I am currently working on getting my real estate license along with some other little things! I still live in Charlestown in the same house next to Jennys which has unfortunately closed. I can't say i really have the same interests as last year because i have really gone sailing in a while which i am trying to go do with some friends soon but i still like to edit videos and pictures, started reading more, and still fishing. I am so excited to be back to save the harbor especially considering I got the honor to be back at all access. So excited to be able to spend my summer in the sun teaching the community about our harbor!

Something I found fascinating was how much the big dig helped form spectacle island. The project ran from 1991 to 2006 and basically it involved rerouting the elevated highway into the ground creating a new tunnel system. So to make that underground tunnel they would have to put the sand and soil somewhere and where better than spectacle island. So if it wasn't for that it might have been longer before we would've had our spectacle island or even a full logan airport.

So incredibly happy to be back with Save the harbor for another summer and can't wait to update yall on how my weeks here go! 

See you next week!

Giacomo

Five fantastic summers!

 Wooohoooo!! Another Save the Harbor Summer! Hi everyone, I’m Grace and this is my fifth summer at save the harbor! I just graduated from Oberlin college. I majored in Geology. Save the Harbor has played a big role in my interest in what I have been studying at school. My research focus is on marine invertebrates. This interest was in part sparked by working at save the harbor and learning about the role they play in our marine ecosystems. In the fall I will be starting my masters program at the University of Georgia where I’ll be studying invertabrete paleontology which is like a combination of marine science and geology. 

This is me from 5 years ago ;) (mind blown… I still use those same sunglasses) 

This summer I will be working at the Boston Children’s Museum site. This is my second summer here and I am so excited to be back. I think my favorite part about this site is the variety of people we get to interact with and share the harbor with. Being infront of the museum we interact with a ton of little kids. It’s always fun to share the crabs or fish that we catch with them. My favorite part is teaching them that crabs when you hold them the right way are not as scary as they can often seem. Because we are located on the fort point channel we don’t always catch a ton of fish. Last year we had a couple of skates and one small striper. This year so far we have had some green crabs and a baby flounder that was only a couple of inches long. 

Here is the baby flounder 

Every year at Save the Harbor I learn something new. So far this year I have learned some facts about Boston Light. Last week my group had the opportunity to go out on one of the Share the Harbor cruises. While on a cruise out to Boston Light I learned from our harbor historian David that the lighthouse was the first in the country to be built and that it was destroyed by the British back in revolutionary times it was rebuilt in the same location. 

Sea you on the flip side! 

Grace