Keeping Up With Current Events at Constitution Beach

After reviewing a video created by Chris Busch on Climate Resliancy, I found a few things surprising. I knew that with climate change there would be rising sea levels and hotter overall climates, but I never took into consideration how these two aspects would affect cities. Busch addresses the effects of climate change in cities, specifically Boston, and how the heat will affect these densely populated areas. For example, areas with darker surfaces, such as buildings and paved roads would absorb much more of this heat, causing certain areas to be unbearable. He also mentions rising sea levels and illustrates what exactly a three foot sea level increase would do to the city’s shorelines.  As the water expands and elevates, it would wash out much of lower level areas of Boston, specifically the areas of Boston that have been built up over time. Some of the possible solutions are flood barriers and creating elevated buildings, however these would take more time, money and resources.

This week my group went to Constitution Beach. Constitution beach is a popular spot in East Boston to host gatherings and cookouts, and there are designated spots to set up picnics. This beach is the closest swimmable beach to the airport, and the water is incredibly clean, when compared to what it once was. We talked as a group this week about climate resilancy, specifically talking about preventing the creation of more greenhouse gas emissions from plastic waste. We took part in a beach clean-up, collecting trash from the beach to prevent it from contaminating the harbor. There can be a lot of plastic waste used at cookouts, and this plastic is incredibly harmful to marine life if it gets into the harbor. One way we can protect marine life in Boston is by “Refusing” to use plastic. This way we can “Reduce” the amount of plastic that gets into the ocean, and protect our beautiful beaches. 

As rising waters are beginning to threaten neighborhoods in areas of Boston, people are wondering what is the solution? Globally, we have used about 9 billion tons of plastic since the 1950’s, yet around just 9 percent of this has been recycled. Around 79 percent is left in our environment, in our waters and neighborhoods. 50 percent of plastic is single-use or disposable plastic. As it does, sunlight and heat cause the plastic to release greenhouse gases, leading to a cycle. As our climate changes, the planet gets hotter, the plastic breaks down into more methane and ethylene, increasing the rate of climate change, and so perpetuating the cycle. We can do our best to stop this cycle by reducing, refusing, reusing, and recycling plastic, and being responsible for our environment!

SEA you next week!

Caroline

A crab-ulous new site

       Hello! Welcome to another blog describing my weekly adventures in the Boston Harbor! This week was completely different from the rest of my summer because I am now working at a new site, Camp Harbor View. The Senior Harbor Educator that was at this site had to leave for the summer, so I got to jump in! The timing was perfect because the site I was at, Blacks Creek, ended last week.

Beautiful CHV shore, with the pier we fish from in the background

       My first week at CHV was great! The Save the Harbor team that works there is awesome and were all patient and eager in teaching me about their site. Camp Harbor View is an awesome summer camp for middle school students that live in Boston. The camp is free of cost to all participants and provides three meals a day, busing to the boat, boat rides to and from the island, camp apparel, and generally four weeks of fun. It is such a pleasure working with an organization that is providing incredible activities to so many, regardless of financial situation. At CHV, Save the Harbor teaches the campers to fish. Each day we have 4 or 5 groups of campers that come out to the pier to fish with us and to learn about the organisms we catch.

Twin day!

       The most delightful part of working at CHV is the awesome campers. My favorite age group to work with is middle school, and these kids are extra awesome. Middle schoolers can be so fun to work with because they are often still willing to get carried away with fun and silliness but you can also begin to have adult-like conversations with them. The Camp Harbor View campers are generally great at polite sarcasm and that makes them all the more fun to teach. It's clear there is a strong sense of support and acceptance at CHV, because even when they first met me campers were generally very comfortable being their true selves. It’s been lovely to be a part of a community where kids are able to have fun and be themselves!

       This week our most exciting catches were two legal size flounders that we found in our crab traps! The campers were fascinated by the flounders but also freaked out by the way they moved and splashed. I was also excited to see how many Rock and Jonah crabs are at Camp Harbor View. These are the two native crab species, and in many places that I have worked around New England they are not nearly as prevalent as the invasive species, Asian shore crabs and green Crabs. Asian shore and green crabs were accidentally brought over to the United States aboard boats from Asia and Europe, respectively. It is believed that one of the main methods of movement of invasive marine species was in the barrels commonly used for shipping. Scientists have postulated that when arriving in the New World crew members would rinse out the barrels in the ocean, accidentally releasing any taggers-on that had entered the empty barrels in their home ports. Both Asian shore and green crabs have few natural predators in US waters and reproduce at very high rates. This means that there are many of them and they compete with the native crab species for food and other resources. In recent years many biologists have reported finding more invasive crab species and less native species when exploring along the shore. Efforts are being taken to more precisely monitor all four species as well as to decrease the abundance of invasive species. The fact that we catch so many native crab species at Camp Harbor View made me excited and hopeful for the status of their populations. On Friday we had some extra exciting catches, a skate and two spider crabs that were carrying eggs! It is great fun to be at a new site where we catch new things and I get to teach about different fishing strategies.

A camper releasing the skate he caught

       All in all, I had an awesome week working at the new site. I am excited to be there next week, but also starting to feel the end-of-summer-sadness. I only have one week left at this job before I move to my fall job. This summer has flown by! Spending every day out exploring the water has been so fun and I am definitely feeling the age-old adage that “time flies when you’re having fun!”

Catch you back for my final blog!

Tessa

A (virtual) walk through Piers Park

Welcome back!

A rock crab we caught during dock time! 1st rock crab all summer.

     This week we’ll be taking a deep dive into what it’s like to work at Piers Park, and the kinds of activities and learning we do with the kids. Piers Park is one of the prettier parts of Boston: scattered trees dot a gently rolling lawn, interlaced with brick pathways that meander down a long wharf. Sometimes, we get a gentle sea breeze, which was a blessing during the hot days we had this week. We’re right across the river from the seaport district, which lets us enjoy a great view of the city without any cramped city feelings. We work with campers who are between 6 and 8 years old, generally. Our standard schedule puts us at Piers Park Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, with lawn games from 9-10, dock time from 10-11:30, lunch from 11:30 until 12:30, lessons at 12:30, and finally more dock time from whenever lessons end until 2:30. On Mondays we spend part of lawn games doing a name game (very helpful in a job with 30 new kids), but apart from that we play games to get the kids moving like everyone’s it tag. Dock time offers lots of activities for the kids: SHSB staff run the fishing and the touch tank, as well as the crab trap, and Piers Park counselors offer group sailing and kayaking. As for the lessons, I go over what we do in great detail in my previous blog if you haven’t read it, so there’s nothing I can add here that I haven’t said there. We usually catch green crabs off the dock, with a few rare exceptions. We caught a skate once, a few weeks ago, and a rock crab this week, but green crabs are our usual find. Tuesday is the odd day out, as we program at Courageous Sailing instead of Piers Park. The kids we teach there are a bit older, around 9 to 12, and we alternate fishing time and lessons/activities time. Even when we’re not doing lessons (for either site), I like to help the kids learn something about the harbor to pass the time. Whether it’s figuring out which birds are which, or how the fishing rod works, or even how deep the water they’re fishing in is, if a kid I’m working with can walk away with one new piece of harbor knowledge, I’m happy.

An exciting game of Poison Dart Frog!

     Now, back to our weekly recap! This Monday was another staff enrichment day! This time, we went to the U.S.S. Constitution Museum to learn about the life of a Navy sailor on the Constitution. For me, the most interesting part was when we learned about the food that the sailors brought on their voyages, which could sometimes last months without restocking. Brined meat, cheese, and sauerkraut were all staples of a sailor’s diet, because if properly prepared these foods could last for months on board the ship. Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) was especially important, as it provided much-needed vitamin C to sailors, preventing scurvy. There was also a special type of bread called a “ship’s biscuit”, which is hard-packed bread without yeast in it. The example biscuits the presenter showed us had been baked “probably a year or two ago” if that gives you any insight into how long these things last. They looked like I could break a tooth or two trying to take a bite into one. After going to the museum, we trekked over to Base Boston, the Coast Guard base of operations in Boston. We got a cool tour of some of the smaller boats the Coast Guard uses for patrolling and rescues, as well as a look inside some of the buildings (not the command center, unfortunately). The rest of the week played out similar to previous weeks: we spent Tuesday at Courageous, and Wednesday and Friday at Piers Park. Thursday was a fun surprise, as I was suddenly transferred to a beach event at Malibu Beach for the day! The event was a lot of fun: in addition to the fish printing we brought to the table, there were circus performers, practice stilts, several playground obstacles, and even a gaga ball pit (think dodgeball mixed with volleyball, using a kickball, in a ring with 8 sides). I had never heard of Malibu beach before, but I'm glad I got to work at the event, it was a blast.

Song of the week: Gold by Imagine Dragons

See you next time,

~Colin McRae

Week 6 at the Wonderful Piers Park

Hey guys! Hope you all are doing well,


    I work at Piers Park, which is a beautiful park down in East Boston. This park is right by the Boston Harbor so people at the park usually take pictures of the view, and usually a lot of wedding pictures and quinceañera pictures are taken at Piers Park. They come out so beautiful, especially with the harbor and Boston in the background. The days here are very fun and also very relaxing. All 5 days we play with the kids in the morning and after that they go to the tent and get ready to come down to the dock to fish and see/play with the crabs that we catch in the crab trap. After that we go eat lunch and after that time period, we go give the campers an educational lesson about animals in the harbor, the food chain, history of the Harbor, etc. Then we bring the kids back to the dock for another chance to fish and that’s pretty much our day.

1. 

Demani holding the dead fish we saw and caught in the water 

   My favorite activities to lead are mostly the games because I love playing games and running around. A usual go-to game is everybody’s it, so everybody has a chance to run and tag people. It’s usually a game all kids love and continue to want to play. A lot of the kids we serve are all very happy, energetic, and eager to learn which makes it easier to pick and play games with them. And since they’re eager to learn, it makes it easy to try and teach them an educational lesson instead of kids complaining about learning in summer.

A camper playing one of our games called poison dart frog and trying to find the “frog” switching the pattern 

    The common creatures we catch or find are fishes and green and Jonah crabs but after learning about all these creatures I learned that green crabs are invasive to the environment and food chain. They don’t have any predators and eat all the food the other crabs eat which cause the other crabs to have not as much food to eat. They also came from Europe so they aren’t even native: they just came out of nowhere and just started ruining the other native crabs’ environment and food.

Add caption

See you later,

Che
 


 
 

Orientation blog

Hey guys!!

     My name is Che. I go to Excel Academy Charter High School in East Boston. I play basketball both on my school team and outside of school I play on an AAU team. Besides basketball, fishing is also really fun and I always have a fun time waiting and hoping a fish gets hooked on to my rod. The excitement when the fish does hook on is amazing.

     I live in Charlestown and I am glad to be part of Save the Harbor. I grew up in Boston all my life and I always had a good time near the water and harbor. During orientation, I learned so much about the harbor, it was amazing how hard the community worked to clean up the harbor. We learned that the Boston Harbor was the dirtiest harbor until we came to a realization that this is hurting the water animals and also us. Then we made a lot of technology that helped us clean the harbor. We burned all the trash we threw into the water and once all of it burned we started fresh and made sure to keep our harbor clean. Now after all of our hard work, the Boston Harbor is one of the cleanest harbors in the country.

     The marine animals such as fish in the harbor are very nice, each fish has their own type of look, the weirdest looking one that kind of freaked me out was the skate, it had human-like eyes and it curled into a ball which was kind of weird. We also learned about the Black-striped sea bass and that they are overfished, so if you do catch one you should put it back because if we do keep fishing them they will become extinct. But if we let them live there won't just be a lot more, they will also keep getting bigger over time.

Kamal catching a fish!!

     All 3 days of orientation were very fun but I liked the fishing part on the second day the most. It was good seeing everybody patiently waiting for a fish to hook on and their faces, when they did catch one, was priceless. They had so much joy on their face. Although I didn't catch a fish, I had a lot of fun waiting for a fish and hanging out with my peers. I had a good time talking to everyone and getting the opportunity to get to know everybody.

A running game we played during the first day of orientation

Sincerely,
Che Hanks

First Day

Hello everybody,

My name is Aidan Haney, and I'm a new Junior Harbor Educator working with Save the Harbor Save the Bay Summer Youth Program. I've been to Boston beaches and been on the water many times before, so I'm looking forward to many great days ahead with the SHSB team!

I was born and raised in Holbrook, Massachusetts and I am going to school at Holbrook Middle High School. During some of my earliest years as a kid, I spent lots of my time learning and observing animals, mostly birds and aquatic life. I've always held a deeper interest in the denizens of the oceans, mostly due to their bizarre forms and varying organisms, and it makes me excited that I get to be even more up close with them than I ever have before.

My time spent at orientation was amazing. The first day of going to Spectacle Island was a blast. My first impression of Spectacle, during the summer about a year ago, wasn't too good, since I could only hike around accompanied by my brother, and my sister Patrice was working. But playing games and being able to make friends and interact with others around me made the day about as good as any summer day could get. Also, I never would've thought that Spectacle, when it was a trash dump, would burn for ten years straight, even through storms of rain and snow! I also found it a little funny that a whole dump truck once sunk into the rotting abyss (luckily the driver was retrieved safely).

I'm the one in the black sweater in the front row, holding a flounder.

The second day when we went fishing was also a great time. I was relieved the boat didn't smell like the unholiest amount of fish on Earth, and I took great enjoyment with the scenery, surfing out across Logan Airport watching planes go by, and the city of Boston disappear in the fog that day. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any fish, but it didn't stop me from marveling at what others caught, like flounders, skates, and one large black sea bass. I never knew that before the harbor was clean, the flounder had tumors and disease, which was identified by observing the normally white belly of the flounder. It was hysterical to have everyone sing along while Bridget taught us "Haul Away Joe" and the Fisherman song.

Watching a friend bait a hook

The third day of orientation had me settle in at the Children's Museum, where we got to play around Martin's Park, built in honor of Martin Richard, a victim of the Boston Marathon Bombing, where I was able to embrace my inner child and enjoy the big slide and mist area.

Anyways, that's all I've got to say this week. As I said before, I look forward to the following weeks with the  Save the Harbor Save the Bay crew.

Until next time,

Aidan

REELy excited for this summer!

Hello all!

     My name is Tessa, I’m a new Senior Harbor Educator working with the Summer Youth Programs. I’m new to Boston and so excited to spend this summer getting to know the city through my time teaching on the Harbor.

     I was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended college at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After graduating, I moved up to New England to work in environmental education. As a kid, I visited New England every summer, and always loved my time near the water and seeing all the ocean stewardship that so many wonderful organizations work for in the area. I have spent the last two years working for The Ecology School in Maine, The Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire, and substitute teaching. I’ve always had a love for nature and a passion for sharing its wonders, but have found a new level of joy through teaching students about local ecology.

Fish head, most likely tuna, that I found in a New England Salt Marsh!

     I’m very excited to continue working with students on the water this summer. Orientation was a blast and confirmed that it is going to be a great summer. I feel lucky to get to work with so many high school and college students who call Boston home and are so ready to share their knowledge with me. Throughout orientation I enjoyed the opportunity to swap expertise and passion with the students; me teaching about some marine animals and them teaching me about the history of Boston Harbor and Save the Harbor, Save the Bay. I was equally impressed by the returning staff sharing their knowledge as well as the new staff with their willingness to jump right in. I am so excited to get to not only teach young students this summer but also to work with our awesome high school staff.

     This past week I learned just a tiny fraction of the history of Boston Harbor, and yet what I learned is already so fascinating. I was particularly interested in learning about the waste treatment plant on Deer Island. Humans produce lots of waste, of many forms, and it is wonderful to hear about large initiatives to properly dispose of this waste. Hearing stories and seeing the evidence of the work that so many people have put into cleaning up Boston Harbor gives me hope for humanities’ ability to reduce our waste in many other places. I look forward to learning more about waste-reduction initiatives currently happening in Boston in order to keep our waters and land clean.

     Our fishing trip on Tuesday was especially exciting because I always love getting hands-on with salt-water creatures. Over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot about shore-dwelling creatures, so it was wonderful to get a chance to go out into the channel and bring up some animals that live offshore. I particularly loved learning about using different weights and different fishing methods for catching different types of fish. I never knew that you should have your line a few feet above the bottom with a jig in order to catch Black Sea Bass. Bruce Berman, our director of strategy & communications, was especially patient with teaching me some of the finesse it takes to hook a bass. I have only dappled with fishing when I was young and I’m so excited to get better at it this summer. It is so wonderful to bring up healthy fish that are benefiting from human’s efforts to protect and clean the harbor.

Having a blast on our orientation fishing trip with Damani, Michael, Stephanie, and Dee

     I am so excited about all of the adventures and new relationships that this summer will bring. I can’t wait to get out on the shore with our staff and the students we serve next week!

CATCH you later,
Tessa

Crabs, Moon jellies, and Striped Bass! Oh my!

This is my fourth week at the Boston Children's Museum and this Tuesday we caught our second striped bass!! Oftentimes our most exciting catches come from the crab trap. We will get green crabs, spider crabs, cunner fish and baby flounder fish. The only thing we really catch on our fishing rods are crabs. Parents, or the adults responsible for the kids, often ask us what we are fishing for and we say anything that will bite but realistically we almost exclusively catch crabs, but this makes it even more exciting when we catch something other than crabs.

It was a regular Tuesday day at the Boston Children's Museum. It was a toasty day with the temperature wavering between high 80's to low 90's with a high percentage of humidity. Luckily we had a tent to protect our touch tank from the sweltering sun, as well as ourselves! The first half of our shift (10am-1pm) was a bit slow, with less than 60 visitors. The second half was very busy. We had several camp groups come through, all eager to fish and test their luck. There were kids at each pole but then, one young girl, just nine years old, started to feel a particularly strong tug. We saw the pole started to bob up and down. Imani quickly rushed to assist the girl reel up the rod but it still seemed too strong for both of them. I decided to try and steady the line by grabbing it so Imani could reel it in. Even that was difficult! This fish was a fighter. Eventually we were able to lift the fish from the water and into the touch tank. It was 25 inches long!! Our tank was not big enough so we had to let it go soon after we caught it but not before dozens of people ran over to check out our latest catch.

I hope to catch more fish soon! It truly is an exciting time for the people at the BCM.

Sea you later,
Ellen

We found a horseshoe crab!

Welcome back blog readers!

     This week started out strong with a rare Horseshoe crab encounter, my first time ever seeing one alive. At first we thought the crab was a rock, but when it started moving we quickly scooped it up and brought it over to the touch tank. The crab was roughly the size of a dinner plate but with more of a pointed oval shape ending in a long, straight tail. As Eric held the crab at a full arm's length, some sort of sticky, viscous, black sludge dripped from the crab's back. There was so much sludge that the water in the touch tank immediately clouded up with the addition of the horseshoe crab. I still don't know what the... residue was, but I'm just glad I wasn't the one holding the crab. Apart from the obvious facts, nobody really knew much about horseshoe crabs, so the next paragraph is devoted to the research I conducted after work.

Briana and Ariagnna with the horseshoe crab

Helping the kids hold crabs. I'm in the white hat

       

     Despite masquerading as crustaceans, horseshoe crabs are actually arthropods, meaning that they are invertebrates with exoskeletons, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. It also means that they are more closely related to spiders and scorpions then they are to crabs (interesting note: horseshoe crabs are the closest living relatives to an extinct species of water scorpion). They are considered as living fossils due to the longevity of the species and lack of close relatives, genealogically speaking. Horseshoe crabs have NINE EYES. Yeah. Nine. They also swim upside-down, and have two eyes on their underside so make it easier. Honestly, these things belong on a different planet. As a last fun fact, horseshoe crab blood is used medicinally to test for bacterial infections.

Diagram of eye locations

Underbelly of a horseshoe crab

     Wednesday we visited Curley Community Center at Carson Beach, which was my first time going to a public beach in Boston. As we walked out of the beach building and onto the sand, we were greeted by more than a dozen wild, jumping, crazy kids. After everyone was calmed down, we set up our rods and baited them, then split the kids up into groups. It took a few minutes for the kids to learn the basics, but soon enough all of the kids were casting without getting close to hitting people (it's the little victories, y'know?) It's amazing how even casting and reeling is exciting for kids, even if they don't catch anything. 

     Thursday was my last day at Blacks Creek, at least for a while: I'm moving locations for the next two weeks, and part of me is glad because in my mind, change is always welcome. I'll miss the campers though, and I had finally learned all of their names. I think Blacks Creek is the perfect introduction site to working with Save the Harbor because the skills are easy to pick up even if you don't have experience (for example, I had never held or caught a crab before, but now I'm pretty good at it.) I'll also miss working with the Blacks Creek regulars: Eric, Briana, and Ariagnna.  I'm looking forward to my next site!

This week marks the first iteration of my song of the week! This will consist of songs I listen to on my commute that I think people will enjoy. I'll try to pick from different genres, but no guarantees there.

Song of the week: King of the Clouds by Panic! At The Disco

     See you in the next blog!

~Colin

Week 2: Location Change Increases SHSB Appreciation

I started out my second week with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay at Blacks Creek, my intended site for the week. On a given day, I never really know what to expect for the day, regardless of location. We started out the day with exploring the harbor, as we normally do. While exploring, however, we saw a large, round object. It seemed to be moving closer and closer to the shoreline. At first, some of my coworkers thought it was a rock or trash that was being pushed to the shoreline. After closer examination, we realized it was a horseshoe crab! At this point I had very little experience with horseshoe crabs. Going to college in Florida means I am exposed to horseshoe crabs from time to time, but I often see them walking along the ocean floor when I am on a kayak or paddle board and several feet above them. I have never actually had the opportunity to hold one or look at one up close. We picked it up with two nets and held it upside down on its back while we examined it. The kids were shocked and excited, as were most of the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay staff. It was such a surprise! This was the highlight of my week while at Blacks Creek.

As I was hanging out with my dog after an exciting Monday at Blacks Creek, I got a message that I would be moving sites from Blacks Creek to the Boston Children's Museum for the rest of the week. I really had no idea what to expect, as I had not worked at the Children's Museum before. The children's museum is quite different from Blacks Creek. Blacks Creek has set program times where kids sign up in advance. They explore the shoreline, help pull up the crab trap, and play GaGa ball. At the Children's Museum, the kids come with their adult as they like. Some stop by our spot while waiting to get into the museum, others spot the crabs in our touch tank during their walk along the Channel and want to get a closer look. Generally, I like this style of programming because the kids who come by and hang out with us for a bit have a genuine interest in fishing and learning about the creatures in our touch tank.

There were two main things that I would consider the highlights of my time this week at the Boston Children's Museum. The first is a visitation from the Learning Center for the Deaf. One day there were a group of kids eating their lunches outside of the museum. I noticed none of them were verbally talking, but they were using American Sign Language. I also noticed their immediate interest and excitement when they saw our touch tank and crabs. One by one they started to come over with their chaperons to see our crabs. Some of them were also interested in fishing. We had at least 10-15 kids with us at one point, either fishing or touching/holding our crabs. While it was more of a challenge to talk with them about how to properly fish or the reason why some crabs only had 3 legs and 1 claw, we were able to do so with the help of their chaperons. There is nothing like seeing the pure excitement and interest in a kid's face when they are fishing or touching/holding a crab.

The second highlight of my week at the Boston Children's Museum was when a 7 year old girl caught her first crab. She came up to us, asking if she could fish. I always like to ask kids if they have fished before and what they know about fishing before we start. She said she had gone fishing once or twice before but never caught anything. This girl caught three crabs in her time with us! She would have caught five, but two of them let go of the bait while she was reeling up the line. She was so excited, and even stayed most of the morning and came back for our 2pm-4pm session. We even had to tell her we had to start packing things up soon because she was so content and excited to be fishing. I look forward to more time at the museum and hopefully more time at the other sites.

Sea you next time,
Ellen :)

New Experiences

This week I got to do something I've never done before. On Wednesday I got to visit our site at Black's Creek and I loved it. The day started with some exploration of the water which led to some interesting discoveries. The most interesting one was a green crab which was molting! I had never felt a crab so soft. It was interesting to see the difference in the shells.

Exploring the creek one net at a time!

At first the kids were nervous to pick up the crabs and settled on using a net to pull them out. I made sure they knew that as long as they do it the right way, the crabs can't hurt them. I showed them how to pull a crab out of the bucket without getting pinched and assured them that even if they did get pinched they would not lose any fingers. Finally, I got them holding the crabs and they realized there was nothing to be afraid of! After they overcame their fears of the crabs we decided to do a crab race. Instead of the typical race from the starting line to the water we decided to mix it up a bit. We drew a circle in the sand and placed the crabs in the middle to see which was fastest to leave the ring.

Gaga ball game!

After we released the crabs back to their home we headed up to play gaga ball. I have never played gaga ball in my entire life. Basically, you stand in a fenced in circle and try to roll the ball into other people's legs. Getting to play the game with the kids was a lot of fun and I enjoyed learning to play.
In the afternoon my group and I moved on to the Curley Community Center where we got to teach a bunch of kids how to fish. They were lined up at the rods waiting for instructions as soon as they got out there. Though we didn't have much luck with catching fish we did get quite a few crabs! An impressive moment was when one of the kids reeled in two crabs on one line. After that all of his friends wanted his help fishing! It was great to see everybody so excited about fihsing.

See you at the creek!

Sam

See ya Spectacle!

 For one last time, Hello Boston!

Max giving a final crab talk

Jaiden teaching proper fishing technique

It is with a heavy heart that I write about my last week on Spectacle Island! Thursday we made one final trip out to the island for the summer. Max and I orchestrated fishing and welcomed families that were joining us for the day. We met so many lovely people who were extremely grateful for the opportunity to fish and try things they had never done before. In true Spectacle Island fashion, we caught a good amount of crabs. One luck boy caught 3 in a row! The kids and adults had a fantastic time hanging out on the pier with us, playing with crabs, and perfecting their side casts. Once fishing came to an end, we took one last plunge into the cold water. Even though the water seemed colder than usual, we welcomed the chill and appreciated our final swim all together.

Qalid and Vince at the Dorchester Beach Festival

This Saturday was also my last event through Save The Harbor/Save the Bay. I attended the Dorchester Beach Festival to complete one more round of fish printing. We set up next to a shark sand sculpture and greeted children as they arrived with their families. Although we faced a few reluctant people, we talked everyone who passed us into printing a fish. We had some pretty creative outcomes including polka dots and rainbow fish.

This summer has been an incredible one to say the least. I have learned so much about Boston and the harbor, I have tried new things almost daily, and I have met some very wonderful people. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is an amazing program and I am grateful to have been a part of it. 

A great summer team!

I will be on George's Island for the last week of the summer so stop on by!

I really do hope I sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

The Epic Catch at Children's!

Measuring the Striped Bass!

After having caught about a total of 10 cunner in these past weeks, today wasn't just like any other ordinary day at the Children's Museum. As a little boy named Danny and his dad approached us, they were extremely excited to fish. While we waited for the fish bite, he told us all the stories about him and his dad fishing and the almost-whale they caught but their line snapped and all these other amazing stories. I had never seen a kid so excited about fishing. 

After waiting about 20 minutes Danny seemed a bit discouraged but his dad encouraged him and told him that fishing was a sport of great patience. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit in doubt too, since we had only caught one fish that whole morning, but I really admired his patience and determination. Then, right when they were almost about to leave Danny yells "I feel something! It's tugging!" Everyone rushed over to see and some even thought (including myself) that the hook might've just gotten stuck on a rock or another line down there. However, we all thought wrong! As he was railing his line up it was still moving, so it was definitely a fish. 

We all expected another cunner of course, but instead we railed it up and saw the very unexpected...... a STRIPED BASS! I was really surprised because the only other time I had seen someone catch a striped bass was on the fishing tournament last year when my group caught one. It was 13 inches long and its the biggest we've caught this summer at the Children's Museum. It barely fit into our tank! All the kids gathered around to see the fish and were asking all sorts of questions about it. We ended up learning so many new things about striped bass including things like their favorite food, which are clams! Today was a very memorable day and is definitely one of the highlights of this summer as it nearly draws to an end. I can't wait to see what other amazing things we will catch in the harbor next week during our last week of programing! This summer has truly been an epic one so far. 

See you soon! 
Rusenny

Any Fish In There?

Views of the city from the boat

Hey everyone! So today was the fishing tournament, and this morning I got to the dock before boarding the boat in hopes of if not winning the tournament, at least catching something worth remembering. Last summer I caught my first fish on this tournament and it was a big striped bass. I remember it being one of the best days of the summer for me and definitely one of the most memorable.

This year, it was five of us on a boat and it was a pretty nice boat. We started of by going further into the harbor and as we were moving I stared off into where the city was behind us and it always gives me a sense of aliveness whenever I feel the breeze and see the beautiful views of  Boston Harbor. To me that is what making the best out of the summer is, enjoying the great outdoors.

Anyway, before fishing for any big fish, we tried catching some mackerel to use as live bait which I had never done before, so it was exciting. We used special rods that had like four hooks on each and oh boy did we start catching mackerel like crazy! As soon as we would put the rods down into the water about 5 seconds later there would be 2 or 3 or even 4 mackerel on the rod. In total, we caught about 20 mackerel fish within 10 minutes! After that exciting moment, we then moved further into the harbor and waited for the bigger fish.... we waited and waited when we finally heard a tug on the rod and we immediately tried to rail it up but unfortunately the line snapped. The captain said it was a blue fish that had been on the rod but snapped off the hook. I was kinda of disappointed but still had hope to catch something else. Later on, when we were heading back to Boston, there was one more big tug and this time we railed it up enough to see that it was a big striped bass! Unfortunately it also snapped off the hook and we didn't get to bring it up. When we got back we heard that other groups hadn't caught much either because I guess it was a slow day for the big fish. But at the end of the day, this fishing tournament was a fun experience and I learned a lot of new things and I would definitely do it again next year in hopes of catching something great.

See you around the harbor!
-Rusenny

Finally Fish!

Our first skate and the lucky fisherman

After a crab-filled summer at Spectacle Island, this week finally broke our fishless curse! I was in charge of managing fishing on Thursday when our luck changed. The first group to fish was filled with energetic kids ready for anything to bite the hooks. After just a few minutes, one young man started shouting that he thought he caught something. I ran over to help him reel up a skate! We got the skate up and onto the pier where Kharliyah and Patrice carefully removed the hook from the spiky skate's mouth. A lot of the children did not know what type of fish this was or confused it with a stingray. After everyone had a chance to see our pokey pal, we sent him back into the ocean. 

When the next group arrived to fish, I told them they had some big shoes to fill after the previous group's achievements. Within a matter of moments, a camper from Tricklin Falls Camp claimed that he had caught something as well. We expected another fish, but instead we discovered that he caught an old and forgotten crab trap. The trap was filled with a few small green crabs, a tiny spider crab, and even a few little fish! One crab had a baby flounder clutched in his claws. When we removed this crab from the trap, he waived his baby flounder around proudly as if he was showing off his own catch. I managed to free the founder from the crab's grasp and gently plopped it back into the water. We let the other little fish go and kept the small crabs in the touch tank for other kids to enjoy. 

Catching crab traps

Baby spider crab

After our first two eventful groups, we continued to catch plenty of crabs left and right. At one point, Patrice pulled up a line to reveal that she had snagged a pregnant crab in the process of giving birth! As she was in the middle of releasing her eggs, we quickly let her return to sea to ensure that her babies had a safe delivery. 

A crab and his flounder friend

I think this has been my most successful day of fishing ever! We encountered so many interesting creatures and it really boosted the kids spirits to see that they could find such cool things in the ocean. I hope this is just the beginning of a bountiful summer.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

Fishmania at Children's Museum!

It is said that there are plenty of fish in the sea.... and today at the Children's Museum it was definitely proved. Today was my first morning at the Children's museum and it was more exciting than I expected. When we first got there, as we waited for some kids to arrive I spotted some chalk and decided to start drawing what I draw best.. SPONGEBOB! Since I was a kid my favorite show has always been Spongebob and so I was inspired to start drawing him. In the end, we all pitched in to help draw Spongebob and the final product was pretty decent. After drawing Spongebob, all the kids that passed by would yell "look it's Spongebob!"

Kids fishing at the children's museum!

Aside from our totally awesome drawings, we also caught some feisty green crabs in the crab trap, and not only were there crabs in the first trap we brought up, there was also a cunner! It was the coolest thing ever because I had never seen that type of fish and the kids were pretty excited too. Some even asked if they could pick it up and take a picture with it! But wait it gets even better... within that same hour we caught two more cunner fish! They were about 6-7 inches long and we put them in a small tank for the kids to see and learn about. They were really excited and it encouraged them to fish. Although we didn't catch any more  fish on the fishing rods, one of the kids named Daniel who had been patiently fishing for a couple minutes finally caught a crab right before he was about to leave and it was the most exciting thing to see. It had been his first time fishing and he yelled "I caught something! I caught something!" and when he railed up to see the fiesty green crab at the end of his rod he was the happiest kid ever! Even though it was just a crab, it was nice seeing a little boy experience fishing for the first time and enjoying it. I can't wait to see what more awesome fishing experiences await us at children's museum!

Til Next time,
Rusenny

Sea Stars and Tunicates and Mussels, Oh My!

Our first sea star at Georg's Island

Wednesday and Thursday were another great few days spent on George’s Island. I was still on sports duty and spent the days gathering kids to play with us near the fort. On Wednesday, Kharliyah and Vince started a game of kickball while Patrice played football with a group of campers. Even adults were lured in by a friendly game of football leading to groups of campers playing island visitors. It was fun for everyone! After we were worn down from sports, we made our way back to the boat to find that our fishing group had come across a beautiful purple sea star! The kids on the dock gathered around as I taught them about echinoderms and how a sea star can grow an arm back if it loses one. “Just like a crab!” one child replied and told me that he had learned all about crabs while fishing with Save the Harbor that day.

Qalid helping a young sailor with fish printing

On Friday, I attended Courageous Sailing Center with Ana, Qalid, and Vince. We were teaching all new sailors today so we gave them a brief history of the health of the Harbor. We discussed Deer Island and played From Your Sink to the Boston Harbor which is an interactive lesson on the water treatment plant and all of its components. The kids couldn’t stop laughing at each other as they pretended to be a flushing toilet or a chlorine squirt gun. Next, we moved on to fish printing and fishing. All of the children loved poking and petting the flounder we were printing. They just could not believe we were painting a real fish! At the end of our lesson, we all walked onto the dock and pulled up our crab traps. One trap was tangled in seaweed and it took all four of us to pull it up onto the dock. It was the perfect opportunity for a sea shanty! Our traps were mostly full of feisty green crabs, though a mussel bed did start to form on the outside of one trap. I showed the children the byssal threads that were created by the mussels and showed the kids just how strong a mussel can be. We also caught a group of tunicates and the children enjoyed squishing those sea squirts. 

Overall, it was another successful week with Save the Harbor, Save the Bay! I can’t wait to do it all

again next week.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker