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 

Festivals and Tidepools

Hello Boston!

Holding the bass at the Seafood Festival, no fish kisses mom!

This weekend was one I had been waiting for for a long time! On Sunday, August 13th, the Fish Pier served as the location for the Boston Seafood Festival. My mother was visiting from California and I knew this was an excellent opportunity for her to see Save the Harbor in action and enjoy some amazing seafood. Once we entered the festival, our first stop was the Save the Harbor tent. Our tent was filled with everything needed for fish printing! My coworkers were hard at work helping children paint a flounder as well as a large bass. Colorful prints hung from the top of the tent showing just how popular this activity had been throughout the day. My mother and I worked together on a print of the flounder as I explained to her all of the cool flounder fact I learned while working here. My mom was even able to meet Tony the pirate and here a few harrowing tales from the sea. Of course, we did not miss out on the delicious food at the festival. I enjoyed a sushi burrito while my mom ate a few shrimp tacos. This event superseded my expectations and I was proud to show off all the neat things Save the Harbor is a part of.

Lots of life living beneath this rock

On Monday, all of the staff at Save the Harbor enjoyed staff day on Lovell's Island. I had never been to this island before and was eager to cross another one of my list. Unlike Spectacle Island, Lovell's Island was thickly forested and the walking paths were lined with delicious blackberry bushes. As we walked across the island, we all plucked a few berries to snack on. We started our day by tidepooling; one of my favorite activities! As an avid tidepooler in California, I was very interested to see what I would find in these East Coast tidepools. Once we all scattered around the large rocky shore, we began to find interesting critters. Patrice flipped over a large rock and revealed a plethora of life beneath it. There were bryozoa, tunicates, crabs, barnacles, and sponges. We found crabs of all shapes, sizes, and stages of molting. At one point, I found a tube made of small pieces of sand and shells and I knew it must have belonged to some sort of sea worm. I referred to my guide book and discovered that it in fact belonged to an Ice Cream Cone Worm, one I have never encountered before.

After we completed our tidepool adventures, we learned about types of snails on the island and hypothesized about the fate of some snails that had been found under a tree. We scoured the island in search of possible tree snails and clues that would enlighten us on a snails life on the island.

Lovell's Island was interesting indeed was a great new experience to add to my time here in Boston.
Hopefully I will get to check out at least one more island while I am here.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker