My Personal Experience at This point

Hello again for the 7th time! (I think)

So for most of the summer, I have been talking about the water quality, the animals, the pollution and many other things that have to do with the Harbor. However, I haven't talked much about what I've been doing at the harbor and the sites I have been at. I believe it's now necessary to talk about what I've been doing at my site!

I've been at CHV also known as Camp Harbor View for the past 2 weeks or so. Honestly, I have to say it's the most fun site to be at, especially when you have a group like mine. They know how to bring the entertainment and keep me occupied when we're not working either. On top of that, the workload is definitely not too challenging, the kids seem excited to fish and chat with all of us. If you're wondering what we exactly do at CHV, we pretty much teach kids how to fish and show them crabs, lobsters and fish. It's the usual only you stay with a certain group of kids every day. It's not that different in comparison to the other sites, but its simplistic and easy for everyone.

Camp Harborview Save the Harbor team with the Mayor

But that's for CHV. I've also been working events throughout the summer with other Coworkers. The ones I have worked are on weekends and usually we have fish printing, coloring, a touch tank, and many more things. I've worked around 3 or 4 events during this summer and they have all been a fun time. I remember my first event at Hull where they had a fire show, the illumination of the beach, as well as the beautiful sunset to top it all off. The second event as the one by the seaport at the seafood festival. I handed out tickets to people by scanning those who already had paid prior to the event. Then I handed out water bottles to those who were tired and thirsty at the event. The third event was last Sunday, where we just had a touch tank and coloring for the kids. It was a really friendly event and really fun for the most part!

This is just half of all the stuff I've done over the summer. However, it was definitely necessary to write about because people need to know what I've been doing with my summer. It's been really fun and I can't wait to enjoy the rest of it with everybody else!

Oh buoy! Can't wait to get back into work

We Need to Help What's Left of Right Whales

          This was another fun week on the harbor. We had some interesting catches at Camp Harborview this week, two 12.5” winter flounder were caught in our crab traps! It was a really surprising sight to see when we check the traps in the morning. This provided us with excellent opportunities to teach about the history of Boston Harbor, its clean-up, and how organisms were affected when it was heavily polluted. Some of the other campers were more focused on catching seaweed than fish!

One of our trapped flounder!

Campers pose with their catch!

Since this week we get to talk about what we felt was missing from our blogs, I decided to write about some charismatic megafauna. These animals often get a lot of coverage in the media, but we rarely get a chance to work with them. I decided to focus on my favorite whale and the state marine mammal of Massachusetts, the North Atlantic right whale. This whale is endangered with just over 400 individuals left in the wild. Their namesake is owed to whalers who claimed they were the “right” whales to hunt for oil. They were important in establishing the whaling industry in Massachusetts, however, this practice along with new challenges leaves the whales in peril.

Right whales are baleen whales, which means they have specialized sieve-like structures in their mouth that they use to filter out seawater and swallow whatever organisms they caught. Right whales, along with other baleen whales, feed on a variety of organisms from zooplankton to krill to small fish. 

During the prime of the whaling industry, hundreds of large ships called New Bedford their home and would set off on long voyages from there in hopes of harpooning a large right or sperm whale. Right whales provided materials for many commodities in the 18^thand 19^thcenturies. Their blubber would be rendered into oil that would be used primarily for lighting lamps and making soap. The baleen was used for a myriad of different products, from corsets to umbrellas. Even though whaling focus was eventually switched from the right whale onto the sperm whale, due to the valuable waxy secretion from the spermaceti organ, the damage had been done to the North Atlantic right whale populations. 

Close-up of a North Atlantic right whale

Breaching right whale

Although a lot of legislation was passed to protect marine mammals, these whales still face many challenges. The North Atlantic right whale has low calving rates and low numbers, so the species population grows very slowly. Shipping lanes often interfere with the migratory routes of these whales and collisions between ships and whales often occur. Whales have been known to get tangled in commercial fishing gear which can cause premature mortalities. Now, global climate change further threatens these animals by altering where and how much food is available for these whales. Hopefully, improvements to shipping lane regulations, fishing regulations, and climate change legislation are passed to help these creatures rebound. 

This week will be a bittersweet one. We get to go on a fishing trip with the fishing club, but Camp Harborview is ending, meaning we are nearing the end of summer and the beginning of classes. We still have a little bit of time left programming in the harbor, and I plan on enjoying every second of it!

Tight Lines!

-Michael 

Water a Summer !

My summer at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has been such a different experience in comparison to last year, in a completely good way. I have met new people and have had experiences I wouldn't have had if I stayed at other sites. Being stationed at CHV has been one of the highlights of the summer, all of July was a BLAST. One of the parts of being stationed at Camp Harbor View was being able to first-hand experience what the camp had to offer to kids. When I was younger I would always hear stories about how great Camp Harbor View was and it would make me jealous of all the kids who attended this camp when I was younger. But now I got to see first hand what the kids in my old school were talking about, how beautiful the view of Boston looks! At my time at CHV I was also able to visit the locations around the island! I was able to see the rocky beaches and find beach glass! Even on the fishing trip, I was able to see think the old abandoned buildings at the site, which was extremely creepy to me, but I would love to visit them in possible. I've heard the stories about what CHV used to be back in the day and it always peaks my interest in them. I also found a heart shaped rock at CHV which I thought was really cool.

I've made so many fun memories this summer and coming to work does not feel like a chore, in other jobs going to work is so boring, but I'm always looking forward to Monday when I get to see all my smiling coworkers and the kids at my site. It is always a great way to start off the week. During my second year at Save the Harbor, I was able to meet a bunch of new people and show them how things are done at the job. I was also able to reconnect the existing relationships I had with my friends from last year! Meeting the kids has also been a blast.One specific memory that really stood out to me was what one young boy by the name Solomn told me, he wanted to work for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay when he was of age. This specific line really touched my heart and it stayed with me for a while. This has definitely been the top moment of my summer and makes want to continue working at Save the Harbor for years to come. Til next time- Albert!

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

Importance of Water and the Harbor!

Hello, Once again!

When it comes to saving the harbor, we need to know multiple things when it comes to water in order to monitor its quality. This is important for the ecosystem and human health because it can teach us how water affects animals and many other things, like the tides and the water cycle. Humans can affect the system and if they affect it drastically they can ruin animals habitats and harm the water in general, which would overall harm all life. Speaking of water, there are a lot of challenges that we are facing now to maintain the water quality in Boston. The main being the plastic pollution in the harbor that affects all the animal and water life, that is the main challenge considering that the pollution in the harbor keeps coming back up to where it was before. It is going to take a while before we get rid of pollution. 

Do you ever wonder what happens to the water after it leaves your house? Well, the water that leaves our homes ends up going into sewage water/septic tanks that are buried under us. After that, it is sent to a sewage treatment plant that is sent from the sewer. This is what filters used water and new water from our houses, along with a test to see if the water quality is clean or not. We do multiple tests, like a mineral test or a bacterial test to see if the water is clean for us to bathe in and drink. Naturally, the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems have a big part to play in natural water purification and each organism that resides in that habitat plays apart into cleaning and assisting with our water. This could be in the form of interactions or living arrangements in the water. 

Most of my generation before me that's apart of my family (my parents, grandparents, etc.) grew up in Jamaica so they won't know much in regards to Boston Harbor. However, according to my mother, she recalls Boston Harbor as decently dirty. It was still developing into the Boston Harbor we had now, however, it wasn't as much as a trash dump as it used to be because of the development of making the harbor very clean. Her memories compared to my own aren't do differently though, mainly because the harbor is clean as it is due to the cleaning process that took place many years ago, but they still need to be more cleaning done. We all need to fix the pollution problem that is messing up our harbors.

Anyways, I hope you SEA what I SEA and help me clean up the harbor! ~Kamal

Chefin' it Up!

Grace with the winning fish!

            It feels good to be back on the harbor this week! Being on vacation is great, but you really do miss the smell of salt in the air after some time. This week was fun to be back for, a new session at CHV started, and we had the annual Save the Harbor Save the Bay fishing derby! Shout out to Grace! She represented Camp Harbor View really well by winning the derby with a 45.5” striped bass! Congrats to all the fisherwomen who caught keepers in the derby, some really impressive fish were brought in. 

            Even though I didn’t catch any fish during the derby it’s always nice to be out on the water. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to take home a striper fillet. Thank you to the angler who caught the fish I ate! It was delicious.

Ingredients used!

I used a recipe for garlic and herb baked striper fillets from the cookbook Cooking the Catch, by Dave “Pops” Masch. I turned the oven on to 415, and while waiting for it to preheat I chopped some Italian parsley and minced several cloves of garlic. The recipe called for specific amounts of these ingredients, but since I had a different amount of fish, I just eyeballed what I needed. 

Once the oven was preheated, I put the fillet in a glass baking dish with some olive oil, flipping the fish to coat it. While doing this I sprinkled the fillet with some kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, the parsley, and the garlic. 

Finished product!

            I put the dish in the center rack of the oven and fifteen to 20 minutes later the fish was done! I served it with green bean salad straight from my garden and rice. I used the leftover fish for fish cakes, striper hash, and as an addition to salad. 

I think the success of the derby is evident of how water quality has improved greatly in the harbor and in other coastal places in the United States. When my dad was younger, striped bass were not nearly as populous. He recalls very few stripers being caught then and the majority of the fish he brought in were bluefish. 

The Chesapeake Bay provides striped bass with ample spawning grounds. However, in the 70’s and 80’s subpar water quality due to low dissolved oxygen levels, increased acidity, increased chemical levels, runoff, and poor sewage treatment coupled with overfishing led to huge drops in striped bass population. The water quality during those times did not help the stripers that did survive since they would move from one polluted area to another. 

Striped bass populations recovered when places such as the Chesapeake and Boston cracked down on what was released into the ecosystem. Improved fishing regulation also helped the striper population rebound. 

Boston Harbor is now one of the cleanest urban harbors in the United States and provides ample recreational opportunities. Despite this, there are some current challenges to maintain the superb water quality we’ve worked so hard to get. Even though Deer Island Wastewater Treatment facility is state of the art, it is not equipped to treat for pharmaceuticals and micro-plastics that enter the system. New legislation is necessary to control the release of these into our wastewater and new water treatment processes need to be implemented in order to intercept these pollutants. 

            Lastly, I’d like to say thank you and goodbye to Xavier, the Senior Harbor Educator at CHV for the summer. It was awesome working with you, and we had a lot of fun! Good luck in Vermont, we’ll miss you! Please enjoy some cool pictures of our fearless leader.

Tight Lines!

-Michael

A Clean Harbor is a Happy Harbor

Good Morning Harbor Explorers, this week at Camp Harbor view was a special one. As we walk onboard the Provincetown II we hear a special announcement from the captain that we would be arriving to Long Island about an hour later than usual due to the King Tide. The King Tide was the lowest the tide has been this summer which made it difficult to dock, so we got to spend a little extra time going around the harbor. Upon arrival, we were planning to take advantage of this opportunity to go tide pooling. The water was pulled so far back it revealed the life that hides behind those waves. I convince my team of campers into a friendly competition to see who would be able to catch the most Asian Short crabs. The first one to jump with joy was a young 12-year-old named Anthony. He called himself the crab whisperer. He was very confident and took the lead in finding as many crabs as he could. Each one he found he shouted with enthusiasm, and would then race back to the bucket to place them in. I'm pretty sure he won the competition for being fearless and resourceful. Not only did he find lots of crabs but also noticed small pools of water along the rocks that held life in it. If you looked inside you could see a school of minnows swimming back and forth, as well as hermit crabs, crawling between the rocks and hiding in the nooks and crannies. It was hard to fish with

the king tide but it was a lovely view to see how much kelp was actually hidden when it was high tide.
The amount of life in the harbor is important to note because it indicates the quality of the water. Water quality is not only important to the life in the harbor but to the city and people who use this resource year-round, or just for the summer and swimming season. Water quality testing is done by DCR and surrounding cities to verify it is safe to be in or near the water. Sampling and testing are done various times to check bacteria levels, especially after the rain. Save the Harbor Save the Bay is a big help when it comes to testing water quality. Our water quality report card was released by the end of May and displayed a consistent average of the quality of the water in the harbor from within the last 6 years.
With that being said, over by long island we are happy about the water quality of the harbor for it brings us all types of marine life that we can share. For example, a young camper at fishing club caught a baby flounder from the pier on the island. It was just below 12in. but it was big enough to cause a lot of commotion as he reeled it in. The campers were in awe.
If they thought that was impressive, they would
be blown away by the big and wonderful striped bass my fellow O'Bryant girls caught at our fishing derby! The size of those stripers was jaw-dropping
because it was nothing like the baby-sized ones we catch on the pier at Camp Harbor View. I was both proud and impressed by these girls holding up these heavy fish. They were so big, at least half my size.

Stay tuned to see what we catch this week at CHV,

Best of Luck 

Kharliyah 

Touring the Harbor

Hello Boston!

This week was filled with variety and excitement. On Monday, I spent the day fishing at Camp Harbor View. Our first pull of the crab trap produced a small, algae-covered spider crab and two hermit crabs. The kids loved playing with the hermit crabs on the table; encouraging hermit races. Some of the more courageous children held the small, fluffy spider crab. Our little friend was content nestling down into the children's palms and staying put. As far as fishing went, we lost a good amount to bait to some strong nibbles, but were not able to catch a fish fully.

Vince teaching these young girls about crabs

On Tuesday, we returned to George's Island. I was in charge of fishing on the island, but was once again overrun with crabs! Every time we pulled up the crab trap, we caught another handful of multi-sized crabs. There were large red rock crabs and snappy, small green crabs. The kids kept catching crabs on their lines as well. It was entertaining to watch them reel in a crab, bring it over the dock, and then scream whilst chasing it all over the floor. Once the kids felt comfortable holding the crabs, they would not put them down. It was almost a struggle to get the kids to release the crabs back into the ocean. They all wanted to know why they couldn't take them home in their bags.

An all girl team on the fishing derby

On Wednesday, we had the wonderful opportunity to take part in a fishing derby. Our staff was split among a multitude of fishing vessels and were able to partake in some serious tournament fishing. Myself, Kharliyah, Kimberly, Patrice, and Marly were on a boat together with Captain Tim. The captain and his assistant taught us how to bait a line that would be used to catch blue fish and striped bass. We released the lines and watched as they trailed behind our moving boat. We passed through schools of fish flopping at the surface of the water. This, it was explained to us, was a sign that larger fish were below the surface causing these small fish to panic where we could see them. Although we did not catch any fish, we did get to see a harbor seal and have an excellent tour of the harbor from the back of a beautiful boat. I learned a lot about fishing and the Boston Harbor and I can't wait to return to the islands to test out my new fishing skills.

Front row view of the beautiful harbor

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

Does it get any better than Hustle Day?

The hustle field at CHV!

Hi everyone! So today was one of the most exciting days at Camp Harbor View. It was the last day for the kids in session one so that meant the first group of kids were done for the summer and there will be new group coming in for session two. In honor of it being the last day for them, it is called Hustle Day, and trust me, it was way more fun than it sounds! We started off the day by taking a tour around the Boston Harbor and then when we got to the island the day was full of colors! Yellow, blue, orange, purple, green, everyone was representing their individual group color and it was pretty exciting to see how ready the kids were to play and compete on the fields with their groups.
It was set up like a relay race so when the games started, I decided to go to the Wheelbarrow race and help out there. While we waited for the teams to come we played a game of crock-a-dilly-oh-my which was really fun because we all sang even though we didn't know all the words which was pretty funny. After that, we played a name memory game in which you had to say your name and something that began with the first letter of your name, and say the people's that went before you. I won't lie, it was pretty hard at first, but then it got easier and I remembered lots of new names and faces! When it was finally time to "wheelbarrow" the kids got in position and it really made my day to see all of them cheering on not only their teammates, but other teams too. They were all working together to win the race but also to have fun and make the best out of their last day at CHV. Moments like these, are what really make summers memorable. Although it was an exciting day, it was also a little sad because we already knew most of the kids and it was our last day with them, but we made the most of it and that's all that matters.

Til next session!  Keep exploring!

-Rusenny

Wind and Rain and Scary Tunnels

Hello Boston!

Periwinkles and Asian Shore Crabs

Wind and rain can't stop our invasive species hunt!

This Monday was a soggy one for sure! I spent my Monday at Camp Harbor View where the wind was blowing strong, the rain was coming in sideways, and the chill went straight through you. Our first group learned about invasive species and helped us gather Periwinkle Snails and Asian Shore Crabs from the beach. We tried to hide our next group from the wind as we played What You Can't See Under the Sea on a covered pathway. As the weather progressed, we took our last group up to the fort on the island. This was my first time exploring the fort and the kids were excited to give me a spooky guided tour. At the end of the day, we had a slow and bumpy, yet heated,
boat ride back to Boston.

The perfect spiral

On Tuesday, I got to visit George's Island for the first time. Although it was still a little cold, it was not nearly as wet as Monday. When we got to George's Island, my group forced me to go into the dark tunnels that line the forts there. They definitely got a good laugh as I screamed and shuffled through the completely dark stony path. After one walk through the tunnel, I had experienced enough scary dark places for one week. I spent the remainder of my time on the island playing sports with the kids. I am quite proud to announce that my football throwing skills are getting better each day! Though I probably will not be a quarterback any time soon. I am looking forward to spending the rest of the week on George's Island and learning more of the history there.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

Starting week 2!

This picture was taken on the dock during a safety talk for the campers.

I'm very excited to start week 2 of working at Save the Harbor Save the Bay. Even though I am still struggling to wake up early, it is worth it coming here everyday to get on the ferry and work with the kids fishing with them on the dock. Yesterday I went to Camp Harbor view and I must say it was extremely hot. Once we got off the boat we started setting up our crab trap and gathering our first group of kids. We instructed them about safety and how to fish properly, but surprisingly they were already familiar and had previous fishing experience.

Baiting the fishing rod at Georges Island 

Today I went to Georges Island where we were fishing with the kids and playing sports with them. We did not catch any fish but as usual we caught plenty of crabs! We also used a flounder fish as bait we had to cut it up and as you can see in the picture above I was placing the bait on the fishing rod. We caught Green crabs, Jonah crabs, and Red rock crab. It was raining but we managed to continue fishing and the kids didn't mind at all. Once we caught the crabs they were very intrigued and excited to hold them. We got to show them how to tell the difference between a male and female crab.


                                                                          Sincerely,
                                                                         Vince Vila

Crab-mania at CHV

The bravest holding two green crabs!

Hey everyone! So this is week two at Camp Harbor View and it's been a very fun and interesting one. Unfortunately, our fishing trip got cancelled because of the bad weather, but instead we got to catch crabs and teach the kids about them.  First, we got our crab trap and put a fish head in it to use as bait and then we threw it in and waited a couple of minutes. After a while, the kids eagerly put on their life jackets on to go down to the dock to pull up the crab trap to see if we had caught anything. They all wanted to help pull up the crab trap and as we pulled it up, a couple of crabs fell off on their way up but there were about eight still in the trap. It was nice to see how all of their faces lit up in amazement and curiosity at seeing all the different crabs.

Holding the "Ugly Spider Crab"

There were rock crabs, green crabs, and of course the "ugly spider crabs" as they called them. Many of them were scared to hold the crabs for the first time and others already knew what they were doing. Even though not everyone held a crab, they all touched them... or at least stared at them in fear from 20 feet away... but hey, that was me last year too until I finally got over my fear.

Overall, teaching them about the crabs was a really fun experience and I also got to remember a thing or two about crabs that I had forgotten. They haven't caught any fish yet, so seeing the crabs was at least a good reminder to them that the harbor is still alive indeed and along with crabs, there are plenty of fish in the sea!

Until next time! - Rusenny

Mondays are for Spider Crabs

Hello Boston!

This week, I got to experience Camp Harbor View for the first time. When we arrived, we set up a crab trap and a few fishing rods off the edge of the pier. Throughout the day, groups of happy campers would meet us for what was mainly their first introduction to fishing. We taught them a brief history of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and gave them a quick lesson on the parts of a fishing rod. Because there weren't too many fish biting, we spent a majority of our time practicing our side casts. These kids will definitely be professional side casters in no time! 

Once we got used to the fishing poles, we decided to pull up the crab trap we had set earlier. As we hoisted it up, we were all excited to see that we had caught quite a bounty of crabs. Among the Green and Rock Crabs was a beautiful, slightly slimy spider crab! The kids were shocked by this creepy crab’s appearance, but were eager to learn more about it. Each camper had the opportunity to hold a crap (if they wanted to) and understand their anatomy. By the end of the day, all of the kids were able to tell us if a crab was a boy or a girl and tell us a little more ab out how crabs grow by molting. I had a great time at Camp Harbor View and I look forward to helping those kids practice their fishing skills in the feature.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker