A starfish! At McDonough?!

First starfish at McDonough

At the McDonough Sailing Center this week we actually had a starfish in our touch tank- which I find quite exciting because we never caught any here before! One of the staff members from McDonough took some of the kids out to search for some starfish, and came back with one starfish, a few hermit crabs and many Asian shore crabs! Making our mini touch tank complete, we made it more lively by adding a few pieces of seaweed, muscles with a few tiny shrimp, and a small sculpin fish! All of the kids were intrigued because for the first time our touch tank had something other than green crabs.

Our mini touch tank!

Fishing and crabbing seems to never get old for the kids here at McDonough. They get equally excited everyday when my team and I arrive to the site. They run towards us and start asking "whats for bait for today?" and grab the rods and start fishing right away! They sure make my job much easier and fun, and for that I feel pretty lucky. 

Well till next time!

I'll catch you guys later,

Nhu

Little visitors!

At McDonough Sailing Center Save the Harbor has been getting new little visitors. Some of the kids at McDonough having been going home and telling their siblings how much they have fun hanging out with us, that they invited their parents and siblings to come and join in on the fun! The best part about it is, that they have actually returned and their mom told me that her kids were so eager to come to McDonough to pick up their siblings so they could see the crabs and lobsters. It automatically puts a smile on my face when I see how happy and excited they look when they get to actually touch and hold one. They enjoy it so much to the point where they ask their mom to stay.

 It makes it even better when I encourage a kid to try something new. Such as being to scared to hold a crab, I actually never expect or force the kids to do it, but they somehow always have enough courage to hold them. The new little visitors would definitely have to be one of my highlights this week.


Catch you later,
Nhu

Columbiano!!!

Once again, Somtoo is here with a story to tell. So my transition from The Children's Museum to Piers Park turned out to be quite lovely. Not that anything was bad with Children's, but Piers Park just has so much more for us to do, we get to play with the kids, then look for fish and actually bond with them.

After Piers Park we went to McDonough and I met a new friend! I walked over as they were playing Irish step music and asked him,"are you Irish?" After getting to know him better he told me he was half Columbian and was fluent in Spanish. Immediately I began to take Spanish lessons from him and nicknamed him Columbiano. I immediately noticed his obsession for crabs and that he had a habit for trying to carry crabs on his shoulder.

Somtoo

Seas-ing the day at McDonough!

Today at McDonough Sailing Center I got to do something very exciting- sail! I went out with some of my favorite campers- Mae, Lauren, Chloe, and Allie- and their favorite sailing instructor, Katie! 

nervous but excited!

I took sailing lessons as a child in Connecticut, but I remember always being extremely nervous on the small Optis we learned on. I even remember crying some days before camp because I was too afraid to go! Ever since then, I have never been fully comfortable on a sailboat- the keeling over feels very unnatural to me, and my instinct is usually to jump off if it keels over too far! However, I absolutely love water activities and all other kinds of boating, so I decided I would use my time at the McDonough Sailing Center this summer to conquer my fear. After about a month of thinking about it, I finally asked the girls if they thought it would be okay for me to join them on their next sailing lesson. It was an overwhelming 'yes'- they were all really excited to bring me on board and show me their knot tying and tacking skills! 

Mae, Lauren, Chloe, Allie, Katie, and I about to push off!

I was nervous at first, but the girls assured me that it would be a lot of fun, and that we wouldn't capsize- so I strapped on my lifejacket and climbed into the boat. It was an exciting feeling to become reacquainted with a sailboat- I realized it's like riding a bike, even after all these years I still remember exactly what to do with the tiller, mainsheet, centerboard, and jib! While I wasn't allowed to sail the boat today since it was pretty windy, I'm hoping that by the end of the summer I will get another chance to get out on the water and test out my skills! 

-Kelly Randall-

Amazing Moments

Alex Holding His First Crab Ever

This week at Piers Park I had the chance to be part of what I think was a really important part of a young child's life. I had been working with a boy named Alex for the past two weeks and he has never touched a crab, so this week I made it my mission to show Alex that crabs are not harmful if you hold them the right way. After we had caught a few crabs there was one that had no claws and I thought, "that's going to be the first crab that Alex will hold!" After a few seconds of playing with the crab and showing him that it was harmless, Alex worked up the courage and he held the crab all by himself. I think I was more excited then he was to see him holding his first crab. Since then Alex is now able to hold the little crabs with ease, and he is slowly getting more comfortable holding the bigger crabs- I'm fine with that because Rome wasn't built in a day!

The Lobster We Caught

McDonough has been really amazing this week because most of the kids that never touch the fishing rods or the crab trap are all now active and involved. I really love it when I see all the new kids working together and doing something for the first time. Before they try fishing or crabbing they say it's difficult but once they start there's no stopping them. This week we have been fortunate enough to catch lobsters. This attracts even more kids because most of them have never held a lobster before and when they do they are always ecstatic and can't hold their excitement in!

Jazeel Mendes

New Experiences

I had a pretty interesting past two days. Although yesterday there was some ugly weather, we made the best of it. At McDonough there were very few kids to fish with so as Kelly took some of the kids on a beach walk we took turns kayaking. I've never gone kayaking before so it was really exciting and a bit scary. I can't swim too well so I was a little scared of falling into the water even though I was wearing a life jacket. Jazeel made me feel a bit better when he said he'd save me if I fell in. After a few minutes I got the hang of it and was going pretty fast and could control where I was going. I hope I get to go kayaking again some time in the near future!

Me and Jazeel on the kayaks! 

Today I was at a different site in the morning which was pretty cool. Instead of being at Piers Park I was at Constitution Beach which just so happens to be right next to my house. It was really different from Piers Park; I went in very curious about what I was going to be doing and wondering if we'd be catching anything and how that would happen. We didn't do any fishing or anything remotely related to what I do at Piers Park. Most of the kids from the YMCA went for a swim, the boys who didn't want to swim played soccer with Carlos and the girls who didn't want to do that did some sand art and walked on the beaching looking for shells. They were very calm and cute, it was definitely a nice change of what I am used to and it was great to see what is done at other sites, I wouldn't mind being placed at other locations so I can experience more new things! 

Esmeralda Mendez

We caught our first skate today!!

As soon as we arrived at McDonough Sailing Center, Vinh and Andrea set off with two of our campers to collect the lobster traps and see what we caught over the weekend. We were eagerly awaiting their return hoping we would have some giant lobsters to look at. However, when the boat pulled up next to the dock we saw two slimy, stingray-looking fish in the middle of the hull! Everyone scurried over to see the new creatures- so many kids crowded around that the dock started to dip into the water! Once we asked everyone to step back, I got a good look at the fish- they were skates!

While most of the children were certain they were stingrays and were quite nervous to be around them, I reassured them that they were harmless. Skates and stingrays are very different- a skate gives birth to its young through egg cases (also known as mermaids purses- you can see them on the beach) while a stingray gives birth to its young live. Their bodies are also different- skates do not have stinging barbs on their tails, and they have two lobed fins whereas a stingray has one. Another fun fact is that skates are very closely related to sharks, they both have cartilage in their bodies instead of bones.

Once we braved picking up the skates out of the boat, we placed them in our touch tank for the whole camp to see. They immediately attracted attention from the campers, staff members, parents, and lifeguards. We allowed everyone to touch their backs to feel the spikes along their spines, then flipped one over to point out the gills, mouth, and nostrils. Everyone was fascinated by the skates and ecstatic that we caught something new- I can't wait to see what else we'll catch this week!

Andrea and some campers checking out the skate!

-Kelly Randall-

TGI Friday Fun at McDonough!

Vinh, Jazeel, and Andy with our lobsters!

Friday at McDonough Sailing Center was a blast! We started the afternoon off by checking our lobster traps out in Pleasure Bay.  Everyday, one of the McDonough sailing instructors takes us to the traps in their trusty motor boat. Naturally, the campers fight over who gets to go on the adventure of pulling the heavy traps onto the boat. We chose two campers to come aboard and zipped out into the bay. To our surprise, in addition to the three huge lobsters we caught, we spotted a juvenile Bergall (otherwise known as a Cunner) flopping around! We quickly filled up the bail bucket with sea water and put the Bergall in. When we got back to camp everyone was incredibly excited to see what was retrieved from the traps. We had three brave campers pick up the lobsters and bring them over to the floating crate, then asked one of the kids to bring the bucket with the Bergall to our touch tank. The kids were overjoyed to see our first fish of the summer! I pulled out the guide book and asked a few of the campers if they could use it to identify our catch. After flipping through page after page, they finally found the Bergall. It was great to see the kids get so interested in the little fish- everyone wanted to touch it and couldn't wait to show all of their friends around the sailing center.

The campers using a guide book to identify the fish

Josie with our Bergall

Later on in the afternoon I took a few of the campers out on a beach walk to see what we could find. It was low tide, and the kids were begging me to take them so they could look under the exposed rocks for Asian Shore Crabs. As expected, we found plenty of crabs and jellies, but my favorite findings were spotted on a natural jetty near the causeway bridges. As we gently stepped through the cold water over the broken shells, one girl spotted something reflecting in the light. I reached in to pick it up and pulled up a huge piece of sea glass. This wasn't just any piece of sea glass, it was an entire bottom of a bottle marked "Chicago". The girls thought it was very cool that a bottle from Chicago made it over to Boston waters! Next, I spotted two large shells in the water- one oyster and one clam. They were definitely very old creatures when they died because their shells were covered in craters and looked very rugged. We then made our way over the beach back to the camp to show off our findings and check in on our lobsters and baby Bergall!

Me and the girls with our sea glass and awesome shells!

-Kelly Randall-

Lobster for dinner

This week at McDonough we caught more lobsters in the lobster trap. I got a chance to take three lobsters to my aunt's house for dinner on her birthday. At first no one wanted to take the lobsters home, but then Sam suggested to take them home because I told him it was my aunt's birthday. She had me cook the lobsters for the family and they were easy to cook. I grabbed a big pot and boiled water in it, then put butter in the pot. After a while I put one lobster in and let it sit for twenty minutes to cook. Then, I did the same with the second and third lobsters. The lobsters fed five people in our house out of nine- the other four didn't want to try them. This all happened last minute, I didn't expect to bring back dinner for my aunt and my family but the day ended well and the meal was great.

-Andy Gomez

Gulf of Maine Lobster Regulations Explained!

Since we have been catching lobsters like crazy at McDonough Sailing Center, I thought it would be a great idea to learn about the regulations that are set on catching lobsters in our waters! Here in the Boston Harbor, we are part of an even larger body of water- the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf reaches from Cape Sable of Novia Scotia to the North, and Cape Cod, MA to the south.  

The Gulf of Maine lobster fishery has fairly strict regulations. This is to prevent a decline in populations- something that has had a detrimental effect on the Massachusetts fishing industry in the past. Without regulations, people are free to catch as many lobsters as they want. This becomes a problem because if you extract a resource quicker than it can be replenished (in this example, pull lobsters out of the water at a faster rate than they can reproduce) the resource will eventually become depleted. To prevent this from happening, the amount of lobsters that can be taken out of the Gulf is limited. In addition, the size, gender, and method are also regulated. Ever since these regulations have been implemented, lobsters have been abundant throughout the Gulf- this means the regulations and fishermen are doing a great job! 

To start with the basics in lobster landing (catching and keeping) regulations, we will talk about size limitations. In the Gulf of Maine, you are not allowed to land any lobsters that are smaller than 3 1/4" or larger than 5". This is to allow the juvenile lobsters to live and reach maturity so they can reproduce and create more lobsters, and to protect the breeding stock of larger lobsters. The 3 1/4"- 5" measurement is taken from the carapace of the lobster- meaning, the eye socket to the beginning of the tail. 

Another important regulation is that you cannot land any females with a V-shaped notch cut out of her right tail flipper! This means that at one point she has been caught while bearing eggs- now anyone else who catchers her will know that she is an actively reproducing female, and should be left alone. This is to protect the breeding stock by ensuring that there are plenty of egg-bearing females in the Gulf. You can tell if a lobster is female by looking at their first pair of swimmerets on the underside of the body. If it is a female, they will be small and soft; if it is a male they will be larger and bony. 

An egg-bearing lobster with a V-notch in her tail

The rest of the regulations are fairly easy to understand:

- Trap Limit= 10 Traps

-Bag Limit= 15 Lobsters per day

-Escape Vents on the Trap= One rectangular vent 1 15/16" x 5 3/4" or two circular vents of 2 7/16" in diameter

It is important that all fishermen, including ourselves over at McDonough, follow these rules so that there will always be plenty of tasty lobsters in the harbor for us to catch! 

-Kelly Randall

McDonough sailing center

This week was really intense at McDonough, we caught so many crabs this week. I think the kids caught over 80 crabs plus one big spider crab. Everyone was going crazy when the little boy caught the spider crab with the fishing pole. The kids were so excited to see the huge crab, some of them were very scared to pick it up but faced their fear and did it.

 

Yesterday I went to go pick up the lobster trap and there were four of them, we let one go because it was a baby so we brought back three big lobsters to the dock. All of the kids were going crazy when they saw the lobster, they didn't expect us to bring some back, they were really happy to see them up close and pick them up. It was my first time seeing a lobster up close and picking it up so it was a great time for me as well. Some of the kids wanted to bring them home and keep them as pets. The parents were also surprised by how big the lobsters were and took pictures. At the end Sam took all three lobster home to eat them for dinner. 

                                         

-Andy Gomez

The Mother Load Of Lobsters

When it comes to catching Lobsters, McDonough never fails to disappoint. Whenever we go out to check on the trap we always return with at least three Lobsters. I don't really eat Lobsters, but when we catch them I'm always so interested to figure out if it's a boy or a girl and whether it's pregnant or not. I really love McDonough because of the kids, but more because everything there is plentiful. We are always catching a lot of Crabs and Lobsters and all of the kids really love playing with all the sea creatures we catch. When we first bring in the lobsters the kids are afraid to touch them but once they learn how to hold it and see that they are generally harmless they each line up to hold the Lobster. This week for example it's only been two days and we have caught four Lobsters and someone is going to be having an amazing dinner because I hear that Lobster tastes really good.

Our Second Biggest Lobster Yet

Unfortunately, the weather has not been the greatest this week but we never fail to use our imagination to make the most out the situation. We found a bunch of dried up crabs shells and legs and claws on the beach, so we had an great idea to see if we could rebuild one of the crabs. We were actually able to piece together two Green Crabs and they looked as if they were whole again- just not breathing. This was also a great learning opportunity for many of the kids because we were able to show them how many legs a crab has, which claw went where, and what purpose each of them served. The kids also learned how to tell a Green Crab apart from the rest of the other crabs, you simply count the spikes on the crabs shell and it should spell out Green.   

The Crew Piecing Back Together a Green Crab 

-Jazeel Mendes

 

Lovely adventures at McDonough

I did something completely new and a little scary yesterday, I held a pretty big spider crab. I'm ok with the smaller crabs because they are tiny but the big crabs are a bit scary to me. When we are at McDonough a lot more crabs are caught so all the kids get really excited and it is cute to watch. The touch tank gets filled with crabs fairly quickly and there is always a circle of kids around it naming the different crabs and wanting to check all of them to see if they are pregnant. There is this one girl that is younger than most of the kids that gets really happy when we arrive and bummed when we have to leave. She saw that one of the female crabs were moving around a lot and decided to name her Feisty Woman. This made her determined to catch a crab since everyone was catching crabs. Close to an hour went by of going to different places on the dock so she could catch something until she did; once she did she was beyond excited. Filled with joy she ran around the dock telling everyone she caught a crab. This will forever be one of my favorite moments of working with these kids.



I really enjoy going to McDonough because the kids immediately line up to use the nets and fishing rods. Almost all of them already know how to use them and those who don't just ask the ones who do. All the kids are so eager to pull up the crab traps that we have there. I say crab traps, plural, because the other day they found one from a year ago so we leave that one  down until we get there the next day. I also like going out to check the lobster traps because, like everything else, this is new to me. It is cool to get on the little motor boat out to where the traps are. The traps are a little on the heavy side but I can still handle pulling it up on my own. Actually today we caught 4 lobsters in the traps but we let go of one because it was a little small. This got all the kids really excited and they all surrounded them wanting to touch them.

The Heat Can't Hold Us Back

Crabs hate NY

A slow start to the week begins with 92 degree weather and lots of sun. This is a funny way to start the week, but in a good way. The day started off slow, but I met a bunch of funny little ones today. The kids were greatly amused when I made the crabs fight. The heat was the only problem. I spoke to a family from Oakland, California and they are new in town. They moved to Boston recently and the kids loved the east coast. They had two kids one child's name is Amadu. He is four and loves fishing. It was a great day, the family was interested in everything we are about at Save The Harbor/Save The Bay. They want to sign up for All Access and loved what we did for them. It was a successful day.

My Pet Crab, Savage!

The walk to Southie's Harry McDonough Sailing Center was horrific. All and all the heat tried to power us down but it didn't work. We powered through it all and stayed strong and determined to enjoy the rest of the day. After arriving at the sailing center we were over populated at the site which is a relatively good thing, but some of us went back to the office and blogged. All and all it was a wonderful day!

-Ahmed Hassan

A Day In Southie!

For the second time this summer, I got to experience a different site from the one I'm used to. To wrap up our last week of summer programming, I was given the opportunity to spend my Monday afternoon down in Southie on Castle Island, meeting new kids over at the McDonough Sailing Center! Not only was it a ton of fun, but I also got to watch the kids catch creatures that I normally do not see on a typical day. After fishing for a bit off the dock, we all decided to take a walk down the beach with a small pail in case anything was caught! After about 30 minutes, the kids admired their findings. The favorites included comb jellies and hermit crabs -- they found well over 10! Another very noticeable aspect of that afternoon was how high the tide was. The director at the sailing center remarked that he had never seen it so high before -- in fact, we couldn't even spot the buoy signaling the lobster pot in Pleasure Bay! Overall, the kids made this afternoon a great one. What truly stood out to me was just how outgoing the kids were at this particular site. They definitely were not afraid to be loud and say exactly what was on their minds, but this was what made the experience so great. On our walk back down the beach to the sailing center, a couple girls and I immersed ourselves into an intense sea glass hunt. We found beautiful green, clear, and aqua pieces, but also an unexpected purple gem that the girls loved. By that time, everyone else had already gone home for the day. Although we could have used more time, we were all happy to end the day on an exciting note!

Fishing isn't the only activity at McDonough!

Fishing!

 

 

-Ashley Wakefield, Senior Harbor Educator at the Boston Children's Museum

The amazing spider crab!!!

Hello everybody! Today at McDonough was a gorgeous day for the kids to participate in a series of fun activities such as: crabbing, fishing, swimming etc... And so my friend Jake insisted that we go check the lobster trap while the others were on the dock having a blast. For the first time, Jake got to go on the motor boat to the lobster traps along with a few people from Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay staff. He was so excited, he even got a chance to help us pull the lobster trap up. As our usual catch we had some lobsters. (4 to be exact) and as we were putting the trap into the water Jake noticed an unusual looking creature in the bottom of the trap "it's an octopus, it's a jelly fish, IIIT'S THE AMAZING SPIDER CRAB!!!" Jake decided that he wanted to go back with it and amaze his buddy's back at the dock. Jake got to throw the crab back in the water and that's how we ended our day.

Keep the energy flowing guy!!!