Week 3 in the Breeze

       Hello everyone,
         Aidan here again wih another blog about week three at Save the Harbor, Save the Bay. This week, my team and I were working out Castle island, an old coastal fortress used in the civil war. There is a pier there that people can fish off of that looks over the Logan airport runway, and a small beach next to the restaurant there, named Sullivan's, where people can swim in, the beach is filled with sharp shells and rocks, but has plenty of animal life, such as crabs, hermit crabs, rock oysters, and small fish. There is also a memorial honoring the fallen soldiers of the Korean war who lived in South Boston.

Soldier of Korean War

        On my first day at Castle island, we spent most of the day fishing off the pier. I ended up reeling up an old fishing rod that was catching my rod and Keren's. It was covered in this orange gunk and sea muck and sea grass, so it must have been there for a long time. Other than that, we didn't catch much, except for a few crabs and a small fish in the crab trap. On the second day, we didn't do much except for exploring the area. On the third day, however, we got plenty of stuff done. I got to swim in the small beach area, and we worked on painting a portrait of Castle Island.
        Climate change is becoming a serious topic of discussion today, and it poses a serious threat to life as we know it. That may sound dramatic, but it really could affect the way we live. if the climate changed in Boston from what it is today, the impacts wouldn't be good. For example, if the weather starts cooling and the land in Boston gets to cold, it impacts the summer, which impacts how long I could work at Save the Harbor for a summer. If it gets too hot, it could be too dangerous to go outside without serious protection from heat sickness and sunburns. From my standpoint, it seems like Boston is getting much warmer than usual, since most days have either been rain or intense heat. The best way for me to advocate awareness about climate change is to keep working with Save the Harbor Save the Bay. The whole point of the job is to keep awareness and maintain the health of the Boston Harbor. Weather and the way it can change is a part of that awareness that must be kept.

Fish Pier @ Castle Island

        

Anyways, that's all I have for today. I liked my site and talking about the problem of negative climate change, so until next time,

          Aidan.

"Careful They Bite!"

Deep Sea Fishing

     Hey everyone,       

    This was a great week of work as I was located at Castle Island on Wednesday and Thursday. I had not been to Castle Island in a few years prior to then and I had forgotten the layout of the island which made it fun when I arrived there. I went and explored the places that I was allowed to venture into which was nice. I ended the week on an all-day deep-sea fishing trip and caught many cool and new fish species that I had not heard of and interacted with. We also saw a few whales and a leather back sea turtle which I didn't realize how big they were until I was up close to it on the boat, it was a great way to end the week!

My amazing Catch

Climate change has affected me in a plethora of ways when it comes to my daily life. One of the most notable ways is that there are a lot more efforts to reduce the use of vehicles and large Co2 releasing machines which is why blue bikes are so common in the city of Boston where people can pay to rent out a bike for the day and ride to their needed destinations opposed to driving and releasing more harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. 

Something that I noticed that climate change has impacted is the type of fish that we catch, although I have only been fishing for about two years now with Save the Harbor I've heard many stories from fisherman and other people that fished in the harbor decades ago that back then there was always an abundance of fish and due to over fishing and climate change those fish have migrated south and off the coast because the water temperatures and pH levels have gotten too high for them to live. I believe change has been detrimental to the marine life in the harbor and all organisms on earth but on the contrary, I think that we as a society and people are headed in the right direction when it comes to making this planet healthier and we are on the up tick.

Exploring

Good morning and welcome back to Piers Park! This Monday morning I spent time kayaking in the Harbor with 3 explorers: Allison, Ken, and Aden. They paddled their way towards the bridge because it was low tide and they wanted to know what kind of life was lurking in the seaweed on the rocks. Motivated by the findings of moon jellies, they were really excited to find something. The waters were calm this morning so it was easy for us to wade around and find sea snails camouflaged amongst the rocks. We were able to find plenty, but we could only reach so far, so we ended with just 3 sea snails along with a side of seaweed and a moon jelly. They were ecstatic to bring it back to the touch tank to share with everyone. The touch tank became a mini aquarium within minutes. We had seaweed, green crabs, baby fish, barnacles, moon jellies, and sea snails! It was so cool to create a tiny environment, the kids insisted it would help give the marine organisms a home-away-from-home feeling. By the end of the day we were all satisfied with our findings and ourselves.

Wonder Ball

Tuesday, I visited Blacks creek for the first time this summer. It was another one of those really hot days but that didn't stop us from beating the heat. We began the day with a game of netball! This wasn't just any regular game of catch, it was trickier. The rules of the game were simple, catch the ball with your net and avoid dropping it into the water. As simple as it sounds, things became a little competitive. We started out with four people, Ariagnna and myself accompanied by Sal and Vanessa. The ball was high up in the air one moment and we raced to catch it the next. It was exciting and fun, which welcomed more people to join us. Eric joined Ariagnna and I had young Zoey join my team. We were all focused on the game that time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes.

During our second group, we did not have as much people so we spent a little time playing netball but more time invested in our crab trap and touch tank. The kids were a little intimidated by the amount of crabs they were seeing all at once but so excited to see them race against each other. I helped give out a few crabs before they lined up and began the race. There was lots of encouragement coming from the tiny crowd to help the crabs get a move on. My favorite part of the day had to be towards the end when we played wonder ball. If you have ever played it, you know how serious it becomes when there is a small amount of people left. It was like another game of netball but much closer and fast paced. We sang, "The Wonder Ball goes round and round..." and as the tempo picked up it got a little more intense. Then again, before we were able to get to a final round we had to pack up and leave. All in all, this hot day did not go to waste. 

Netball

Sand Castle Building Station

I met up with my little friend, Zoey again, who helped my build a sand castle! It was a quiet and cool morning at Blacks Creek. Far too cool to go into the water so the children decided on playing in the sand. With a mini pail, shovel, and rake in hand I picked a spot in the sand to begin building. Zoey walked over and asked if she could join me, she came up with the idea of decorating the castle and the ground around it to make it stand out. We built one main castle and 7 mini ones around it. Zoey added windows and a drawbridge then I added rocks for a finishing touch.  We then joined everyone to make our way up to play a few games of Gaga ball. We played about 5 rounds before it was time to go and each round became more fun than the previous one. Colin explained the rules as everyone surrounded the pit and they all nodded their heads in unison, indicating they understood and were ready for the challenge to begin. Little Zoey was a little shy, but excited, she was a great sport even when she was tagged out. When the final round came around all the kids had a determined look on their face to win but Colin stood his ground and was the champ by the end.

Zoey & K's Castle

 On All Access,we had the opportunity to bring out and serve 430 people to George's Island. I spent the day fishing with different groups of kids but the one's who stood out to me were two kids named Aliana and Yamil. They reminded me of my younger siblings. It was their first time on George's and their very first time fishing. For 7-year olds they were quite patient for their first time. They listened carefully when I told them about the types of creatures they could catch. They helped me pull up the crab trap and counted all the green, spider. and red rock crabs we had. They took turns fishing, if Aliana was fishing then Yamil would be at the touch tank and vice versa.

Diving Into My Second Summer

Holding a Moon Jelly 

Hey there, I'm Briana Scata and I'm excited to be diving into my second year of programming with Save The Harbor/ Save The Bay as a Senior Harbor Educator!

My first fish of Summer 2017

During the fall and winter months, I taught physical education in an elementary school and was able to make lots of connections between STH/STB summer programs and our school! My students participated in many activities and games that I learned over the summer. I also spent my afternoons coaching field hockey in the fall and track and field in the winter and spring. This spring I participated in my first Shamrock Splash and got a taste of working with everyone at Save The Harbor/ Save The Bay again, I knew I needed to be back. After an incredible summer last year it was an easy decision to get on board for Summer of 2018.

Showing our staff and youth what the underside of a skate looks like

I cannot wait to continue to learn about Boston Harbor and see what else I can incorporate into teaching children during the school year. Working for Save The Harbor/ Save The Bay has truly given me a new perspective. 

Over and out for now!
Briana

Fun at Carson Beach!

Warm sunny day, tons of kids, over a dozen activities and hundreds of hot dogs, its the Beach Bash and Splash! Every year the Beach Bash and Splash is one of the most fun events throughout the summer, and this year wasn't any different.

Splash!

 For most of the day I was fishing with kids from many different camps, some of the camps were from Braintree, while others were from South Boston and other nearby areas. Fishing was one of the most popular activities of the day and we always had a large group of kids eager to fish with us. We set up shop about ankle deep in the water, and began fishing. We didn't catch any fish but we did catch crab after crab, and ended up catching over a dozen by the end of the day.

 After fishing came the main event, where we all lined up and ran into the cold water.  First we sang "Haulaway Joe" and took some photos, and after this we were ready for the splash. The Save The Harbor Staff and the campers  sprinted towards the water. Some people like Max dove into the water, while others like me just went knee deep, and some people even got thrown into the water. No matter how far into the water people went, everyone had fun. After drying off, everyone went to go get some hot dogs, which were delicious. After eating and relaxing for a little, we all went back to our activities, and for us at fishing, we caught some more crabs!

Until Next Time, Abel Yohannes

Finally a Skate!!!!!

The campers very first skate

A Skate!! We finally caught a skate. Last year we used to catch skates by the dozens however this year it seemed as if all of the skates disappeared from Camp Harbor View. Personally I was shocked when Ty the LIT caught the skate, I saw his rod bending and him yelling "I got a fish" but I just assumed the line was stuck on a rock (since that his been happening a lot recently). After about minute you could see the skate being pulled through the water, all the campers started gathering Around Ty yelling "We got a fish", Ty made sure to correct them and announced "No , I got a fish." Still the Campers were all excited and Ty of course was just as excited.

Ty finally works up the courage to hold up his skate.

Once we reeled the skate up to the pier, it was Prestons turn. The hook was stuck in the skates mouth, and we had to release the hook from the skates mouth and throw it back into the water as fast as possible. This time everyone was gathered around Preston and it was his turn to get to work. After a few minutes of the fish squirming and the campers saying "that's disgusting", the fish was finally freed of the hooked and thrown back in the water.
Wednesday was a huge success, considering we caught a fish on the very first day of fishing club. And we all hope everyday could be like Wednesday.


Until Next Time, Abel

The one that got away

Have you ever left a fishing pole in a fishing pole holder. Well, last Friday, I did and I basically forgot about it. I forgot about it until I heard this buzzing noise and realized, the reel is spinning out of control and the line is getting looser. I picked the rod up out of the holder and I almost jolted forward, whatever was pulling had a lot of power. I knew I needed to tighten the drag and start reeling in. I kept tightening the drag but it felt useless until it finally stopped the line and I was able to reel. The kids and staff were behind me freaking out. Ali yelled, "thats a striper", he could tell by how hard this fish was fighting. I was getting exhausted, crank after crank, I kept reeling the fish up. The fishing line started darting from left to right in a zigzag pattern, the fish did not want to come out of the water. Finally, it was close enough to see, it was a striper and it was big (at least compared to the bergalls we catch every day)! I told the kids and staff, watch out I'm going to lift it out and onto the dock. Everyone took a step back, I brought my rod up and went to go over the dock and SNAP. The line broke.

I stumbled back and looked at my empty fishing rod. We were in disbelief, we were shocked the whole thing just happened. Out of breath from the reeling battle I said, "bait every hook and drop them in the water". A little girl named Jasmine came up to me and said, "don't give up, you need to keep trying". I told her to give me a highfive because that was exactly what everyone needed to hear, including myself. No matter how let down you may be, you try and try again. I told her to always keep trying, not just on the dock but in anything she encounters. That moment was so much more important than the fish, it so valuable to teach our Harbor Explorers that we don't give up, we keep on trying!

P.S. For the record, Piers Park has never had anyone that close to catching a striped bass on their dock.

On that note: Don't give up!

Spent my lunch break fishing because I wasn't giving up

Briana

Huge Spider Crab? No Thanks!

Hello Everyone!

The female spider crab that the camper caught

It's the last day of the week at Piers Park for me since I will be attending the second MLK Scholars meeting held at Boston University this Friday and I would like to think about what happened this week as a whole. First of, I would like to ignore Monday because of how rainy it was and how it was a terrible start to the camp week. However through the week it has gotten better, with the kids more energetic and happier than they were at the beginning.

For today, it was the most eventful day out of the whole week. One exciting thing that happened today was that one of the campers caught a nine legged spider crab. At first, everyone was going crazy on the dock. The camper yelling that there was a fish on the hook and reeling it in as fast as she could and the staff, trying to stay calm, telling the camper to reel it in slowly. When we realized that it wasn't a fish, but a huge spider crab, some of us looked at it wondering how a spider crab could get to be the size it was and some of us couldn't really look at it because it resembled an actual spider. The kids gathered around the abnormally sized crab. We looked to see if it was a female and to see if it had any eggs (sadly it did not). We then put it back in the water and went on with our experiences on the dock. When the kids that went sailing came back and asked what we caught, the kids told them that we got a humongous spider crab and how it had an extra leg. I showed the campers that weren't there the pictures of the crab and they started saying "Woah" and "Freaky" and "That's so cool". If the kids reacted to the crab like that, I wonder how they'll react to actually catching a fish on the line. The day that happens, I'll be ready to get it down and show their accomplishment to everyone!

The camper who caught the spider crab, holding it

Roger That

Monday was a day for the books at Piers Park! Recently, we have been accomplishing things even the Sailing Center's oldest staff have never seen at their site. After almost landing a Striped Bass fishing from the docks we thought we could not do much else that folks have yet to see until Monday.

Carefully transporting from lobster trap to water

We began our dock time like any other day by pulling the crab traps first. Crab traps are our first activity because they are light, easy for kids to get out of the water, and usually are loaded with things for them to look at. When a few kids look like they're not interested in the crabs, tunicates, and mussels that usually come up with the crab trap we ask if they want to pull the lobster trap, I've never had anyone tell me no!

We have the Harbor Explorers take turns because it is so heavy, they usually pull until they need a break and a friend will step in to help. As it rose to the surface I heard screams, not just from the kids but from the staff too. I thought to myself, we must have so many lobsters! As I took a good look at the trap I realized we did not have any lobsters, just one large creature that looked tangled and gasping for air. We realized we pulled up a skate in our lobster trap!

He was definitely waving to us.

We quickly tried to think of what to do. We knew we had a skate, we knew it was tangled in the trap, but we had no idea how to get it out or what we were going to put it into. Thinking it would be best for the animal to be in water we lowered the trap to buy ourselves some time. We looked for gloves, I've been told to watch out for a skate's tail but I wasn't sure how dangerous it may or may not have been. Finally, we found some thick gloves. I put them on and we pulled up the trap. We had a large plastic wheelbarrow filled with water ready to put the creature in to be able to examine it.

I surprised myself with how willing I was to stick my hands in to untangle this creature that could potentially have hurt me in the process but I knew I had to get the skate out. Finally it was able to curl itself into a ball making it easy for me to pick it up. When we finally got it into the water my team felt so successful, the kids and the Piers Park staff were amazed. We could not stop gawking over the amazing animal in front of us. The kids decided to name him and listened intently as we taught them all about skates. We watched him swim around and it looked like he was waving his pectoral fin at us. He must have been a Jolly Roger because he got out of that trap!

Over and out,
Briana

Comparing the anatomy of a skate to a flounder with our Harbor Explorers 

Ocean Critters

A squirting sea squirt!

In addition to our lovely catch of crabs, one of the children fishing on the dock with us caught a tunicate! We don't see those very often so a rush of happiness passed through me as I showed them what it can do. They giggled as I squeezed it and the tunicate sprinkled water onto them.

Our first week at Georges Island was a blast, each day we caught

Jonah & Green crabs in our
touch tank.

endless amounts of green crabs. We did have a little diversity, though, and

caught a Jonah crab in our crab trap! It was huge compared to the

tiny green crabs we had. All the kids that came over to fish were

intrigued by it and asked all these awesome questions such

as,"What kind of crabs are these?", "Is it a boy or a girl?", and I

enjoyed teaching them all the knowledge I myself have learned while working at Save the Harbor.

In fact I even used a field guide book with the kids to identify the Jonah crab we had caught.

Very similar looking to the Red Rock Crab, the guide book

indicated that the crab was a Jonah crab due to the black tips on

their legs and claws, whereas a Red Rock crab only has

black tips on its claws.

Petting crabs

Here's to many more adventures!

-Khar

First Time At CHV

I spent my first day at Camp Harbor View on Monday. It was  to be at another site other than Carson for a day. I met so many people. Some of them being close friends relatives, such as little brothers and sisters. Some of them whom I haven't seen since they were about six or seven. Seeing them now, they were about 13-15. And it brought back so many memories of them being so little and tiny. On top of the familiar faces, I had a chance to meet a bunch of new people as well. I had a chance to meet the fishing club as well. They are total pros when it comes to fishing and they are all so young. One kid even caught a Skate!




While kids were fishing, I took Abel down to open up one of our crab traps. There were about six crabs in all. We put the crabs on the table so we could put the trap back into the water, and all of the crabs took off! They were running down to the other end of the table. If you were just looking on, it looked like we started a crab race. Here's a picture of Abel and I hold the proclaimed winners. Although it was my first time here at CHV, I had an amazing experience! From the new faces and old ones, to the epic crab race. I had a great day at CHV. Until next time CHV, keep on exploring, Preston.

Mayor by the Harbor

Hi everyone,

Not only was last Thursday an excited day for All Access staffs but also for the kids. It was the last day that a lot of summer camps came out with us which was a surprise because I was not expecting that many groups to come out since a lot of the summer camps wrapped up their summer a little early.

As kids and staffs waited at the Pavillion to welcome our Mayor, we had a few activities going on such as fishing, fish printing, crabbing and coloring. We also had a couple of staffs do a beautiful fish print on a white T-Shirt for our Mayor. As all of the kids gathered in the Pavillion to welcome the Mayor, they all screamed "Good morning Mr. Mayor". Thursday morning, everyone tried getting a selfie with the Mayor and I was lucky to have a picture taken with him as he congratulated me as the fishing tournament winner. I had no idea of what was going on when my boss Bruce Berman called me up next to the Mayor in which the Mayor handed me a brand new rod. It was a great morning having the Mayor there to start off our morning. All of the kids were excited and had a great morning before headed out to Spectacle Island.

Until next time,

Andrea Lopes :)0

At Atlantic Wharf........

At Atlantic Wharf

  Good morning everyone, on Friday July 15 Christian, Bella, Chris, Luke, and I were at Atlantic Wharf, funnest spot of all access. What we do at the Atlantic Wharf is we participate with the kids on fish printing or fishing and talk about a story about the pirate but the most fun part of the day at Atlantic Wharf is that kids enjoy eating burritos. I and the staff help out to give some burrito to the kids but they ask for chicken because they don't like the veggie burrito or spice burrito so they ask for chicken. Also, kids could play a game with a pirate guy to pretend that they jumping of the boat it was so funny because kids really think that they are really a pirate. I was a fisherman at Atlantic Wharf I waiting for a fish to get hook on but I guess it didn't so I could show the kids how to catch one at the Harbor beach but at least we got some crabs. When I was showing the kids the crab I was playing around with there claw so when I was about to show the kids the crabs the crab pitch me so I tossed it on the floor the kids was like I killed it but I was like no it's still alive but make sure never play around with crabs that are really aggressive. Also, when I was taking the spot for fishing and crabs catching i told the kids at the end of the day we could toss the crab in the water or let them have a race but they heard me wrong one of the kids toss the crabs in the air and it the dock i was running towards the kids to tell them not to throw the crabs in the air toss them in the water i was like oh my god these kids are crazy. But it was a great day seeing the kids having fun at Atlantic wharf one of the girl said in the microphone that is the best field trip ever and she wish to come back i felt excited and nervous because the kids are very wild and crazy with the crabs.   

First Week On All Access

At George's Island

  Our first week on all access was George's island. we was excited to go to the island because it's our first week on are sight and excited to bring other camper's from different community to visit George's island. Last week kids was excited to go to the island because it was there first time going on the boat and first time going to an island. Early on the morning when we was heading to the boat some of the kids thought we was going on a big boat, one of the fancy boats but they thought wrong but they enjoy being on the boat. On the boat some of the kids like to play quack delleomack quack quack quack but they don't want to face the king of the game so some of the kids be calling me to have rematch so they could face the champion but they always lose every time they face me, but at the end of the day they beat me because i'll let them win.

  When we got to George's island some of the kids didn't really want to play sports but we found few of them, some of the kids was interesting going on the adventure at George's and going fishing with Andrea. also, my favourite part of the day at george's island was hearing kids screaming at the tunnel because some of the kids ask us if it was scary going to the tunnel but i told them am not sure gotta find out them self so i heard them screaming it was so funny so they came to me that  wasn't scary but eventually i told them i heard them from far away, so i started joking around with them. Some of the kids wanted to play a game so we started football team i was the captain and christian, i pick the kid with the glasses so i started laughing because i had a kid with the glasses and and few girls on my team but they thought wrong so i told christian never judge the book by it's cover so we started beating them but at the end of the day all of us had fun and experience about george's island.    

Rain Rain Go Away

Hello again fellow adventurers!

This week we had our first real run-in with mother nature in the form of a rain storm. When the clouds open up, not too many kids are motivated to stand out in the rain and fish. Therefore, we have to turn to some other methods to keep ourselves, as well as the kids, busy and entertained. One of my favorite pastimes is drawing, and any chance we have to break out the sidewalk chalk, I take full advantage.

Drawing Marty the Marlin

I think everyone of all ages likes to relive the days of filling the driveway with drawings and bringing their imagination to life through chalk drawings. With the help of a few eager kids and even some of the Children's Museum staff, we filled the tent with dozens of nautical drawings, from local fish species to some more tropical ones, such as the marlin that I drew! 

Look at that view!

In the early afternoon the sun finally broke through the clouds and we could once again resume fishing. Although the fish weren't biting, I still had a good time getting to know some of the families that came to test their luck at fishing. One family that was visiting from Great Britain came over to fish for the first time ever! Having grown up near the ocean, I had learned at a young age to fish. Therefore it was almost funny to think that I was teaching a father and son at the same time how to fish, but I was honored to be able to be a part of it. The son was a natural, and was casting as far as me in no time! The father on the other hand, may need a few more practice casts. The best part of the experience was seeing the look of excitement on the son's face when his father told him the first thing they were doing when the got home was buying a fishing rod! Just being able to make an impact on even one family's life means so much to me, and it's a huge part of why I love working here. 

Until next time, keep on exploring!

-Luke C.

My First Day at Piers Park-- And My First Catch!

Hi everyone,

This week, I got to spend the day at Piers Park in East Boston for the first time. I didn't know what to expect since I had never been to the site before, but I had a lot of fun! In the morning, we started the day off with a fun game in the grass as the kids arrived, and then we went into the tent for a lesson on the ocean's ecosystems. As a science teacher, I was excited to see the kids asking questions and sharing their knowledge about the ocean! We talked about kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and of course, coral reefs. We also discussed how humans are threatening these ecosystems, and how some of them may not be around for us to enjoy in the future. While this is certainly not the most uplifting topic to talk about, I was happy to see the kids engaged, curious, and interested in learning what they could do to help.

We went to the dock in the morning and managed to catch a few crabs that appeared to be pregnant! We released them back in the water after snapping a few pictures and spent the rest of the morning fishing and kayaking off the dock.

Pregnant crabs with eggs

After lunch, we went to the park and got to cool off in the sprinkler while playing with the kids. We even got a visit from the ice cream truck! Since it was 90+ degrees outside, it was awesome to spend some time in the sprinkler. After that, we played an intense game of capture the flag, then returned to the dock for more fishing, crabbing, kayaking, and sailing.

At this point in the summer, I have witnessed kids catch fish at Community Boating on the Esplanade, but I myself have not caught anything. At the end of the day at Piers Park, however, I finally reeled up a sea creature on my fishing rod! At first, I had no idea what it was, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a squid! We were so excited to have such a great catch, and the kids were really curious about the squid. It ended up squirting some ink as we tried to take it off the hook, and it even changed colors from white to red as it swam in the touch tank. I didn't even know that squid lived in the harbor until that day!

The squid!

After doing some research, I think the squid was an Atlantic long-finned squid. I think it's really interesting that the squid could change colors and shoot ink as a defense against predators. I also learned that squid are used a lot in neuroscience research because they have very large neurons. We released the squid back in the water after the kids spent some time looking at it, and at the end of the day, many of the kids told their parents that we caught a squid!

The kids checking out a squid

Overall, it was a fun day at Piers Park, and I'm looking forward to hopefully catching another cool sea creature next week!

Until next time,
Grace

Science at CBI

Hi everyone,

This week at Community Boating, we continued catching lots of fish and teaching the kids environmental science lessons. We started each session in the classroom, where we introduced ourselves to the kids and told them a bit about what Save the Harbor does in Boston. We took turns telling the kids lots of fun facts, like that Boston has some of the cleanest beaches in the country, that Spectacle Island was once covered with trash that burned for 10 years, and that the "dinosaur eggs" on Deer Island are responsible for treating wastewater. Andrea told the kids a great fact, which is that the wastewater treatment plant cleans so much water each day that it could fill up the Prudential Center three times!

We also had a really great discussion about recycling and trash, and we had the kids guess how long it takes for certain types of trash to decompose. In addition, we talked about the problem of invasive species, like the green crabs in the Boston Harbor. I was really impressed that the students were thinking like scientists and coming up with all sorts of ways to remedy the invasive species problem. They were starting to understand how complex environmental problems can be, and they seemed eager to help fix them!

After the lessons in the classroom, we spent the rest of our days at CBI on the Esplanade, fishing in the lagoon. With the worms as bait, the kids continued to catch fish after fish, and even started learning how to identify them.

Here are a few pictures of some campers and their catches:

A white perch

A yellow perch

Measuring a pumpkinseed sunfish

We also managed to catch a baby snapping turtle out of the lagoon while we were fishing, which was awesome for the kids to see!

The baby turtle

I'm hoping we can catch even more fish, see more wildlife, and have more great discussions during the science lessons at CBI next week.

Until next time,
Grace

These Skates Must Love Me

Hi everyone,

Its Andrea back again to wrap up the week at Gegorges island. Yesterday, was the end of the week out on Georges island. It was really hot out but Kharlyia and I made it through fishing. We had about five different groups that had signed up for fishing but only two groups showed up. With that being said, the two groups that showed up had more time than usual to fish. They were really small groups too. The first group only had three kids and the second group had about ten. When those groups were fishing, they did not catch anything on the fishing rods but they did catch lots of crabs in the crab trap. Once the groups were done fishing, they went about exploring Fort Warren because many of them had never been to Georges island before.

The last hour or so, Kharlyia and myself were left alone on the fishing pier. That meant that we were fishing just the two of us. We changed it a little bit. Instead of fishing at the same spot we split ourselves. Kharlyiah went fishing on the opposite side by the visitor center and I went fishing in front of the Boston Harbor Cruises dock. Fishing at Georges is very difficult due to all of the boat trafficking of Boston Harbor Cruises and water taxi coming in and out. Somehow where I was fishing, I kept on getting a lot of bites. Every time I had a bite, I would yell out for Kharlyia and she would come running down to me to see if I had caught a fish. Unfortunately, the bites was not what I was expecting. I was looking for some striped bass but I ended up hooking a skate. Kharlyia was brave enough to push down on the spiky skate as I removed the hook from its mouth. At first I thought that the skate did not make it but once we put it in the touch tank, it was alive so we sent it back to the ocean. No mattet which site I go, I always catch skate while aiming for some bass. Its like the skates knows me really well or they just love me. Although its not a bass, I still get excited because I get to tell the kids that we did catch something. The kids finds it really interesting how it looks like a sting rat. ai may not catch what I want but atleast I always end up catching something. I am really loving fishing with the kids. I cant wait to catch more and more stripe bass and skates.

Until next time !!!

- Andrea Lopes

CBI fishing

These past two days I was at Community Boating, and besides the hot and humid weather, it was fun. We caught lots of sunfish, like Pumpkinseed sunfish, blue gill sunfish and lots more. The kids were really excited and having a good time. We started the day with an Environmental  Science class with the kids and Harry (who is part of the CBI Staff). We were talking about what is good for the harbor and the bad things that will make the harbor dirty and polluted. The kids were really engaged during the class. They kept asking lots of question and answering them as well. After the class we got ready to go fishing at the Esplanade. We used worms as bait and the fish kept "Boomin". We caught at least 20-30 fish that day. The kids were competing with each other to see who could catch the most fish. It was really fun seeing the kids enjoy themselves and learn new things at the same time.

This camper caught his 7th fish!

Until next time,

Abdi

Skates in Georges?

Hi everyone,

I am back once again. This week, All Access Boston Harbor is out on Georges island once again for the second time this summer. The first week at Georges was great because we did something very new that we had never done before. We caught some striped bass. This week though, it has been a little different. On Tuesday, we did not catch anything and fishing didn't really go as planned because everyone wanted to fish and there was just not enough time for everyone to fish.

Tuesday was a little hectic but with the help of some of the JPAs, we were able to slow things down.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was our second day on the island. Fishing went really smooth because this time I made sure that it was more organized. I only let the groups who signed up for a time slot for fishing, fish and this time we had five different groups. I made fishing a first come first serve basis just to make it fair for every other group and myself as well so I wouldn't have a chaotic fishing moment. Many other groups that wanted to fish, could not fish because all time slots were already taken. When we got to Georges island, I casted a fishing rod which I call my especial rod and in five minutes I had already caught a skate. I was really excited to catch that skate because in all of my three summers working here, no one has ever caught a skate in Georges. It was not a fish but it was something cool and interesting for the kids. Unfortunately, the skate ended up escaping from the hook as I yelled out for a picture from Kharliya. Guess what though? It's cool because when I casted out one more rod, I ended up catching another skate and this time kids were around so I asked one of the kids to help me reel it in. We were able to bring the skate on to the dock when one of our JPAs whose name is Chris helped me take out the hook from its mouth. I was really shocked that we actually caught two skates out in Georges. We have not been lucky with the fishes at all but we have been very lucky with the skates every where we go. I am really looking forward into catching some more striped bass in Georges sometime tomorrow, next week or by the end of the summer. Fishing is becoming a hobby and I am loving it, especially knowing that I run fishing for All Access Boston Harbor.

Keep on fishing !!!

- Andrea Lopes