Monday, July 31, 2023

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!!

    








 

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