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

The Great Catch

Welcome Back !

I hope you have been waiting for this weeks follow-up to my previous blog. Well first things first, I owe you all an explanation of our experiment. I hope your excited. The purpose of our experiment on the rocky beaches of Camp Harborview is to see if we can get sand to return to the beach. That is the catch to last weeks conclusion of my previous post. In our cut off area (pictured to the right) we ask the children, with our assistance, to remove all periwinkles and Asian shore crabs to see if the sand will return in that designated area. Asian shore crabs are invasive and accompanied by periwinkles they are a formula for disaster. It is a long term experiment but we hope to soon have sand back in that portion of the beach and hope to find a solution to obtain sand all across the beach.

Success is better when shared with those who were right by your side

Also, we caught a Striped Sea Bass. Say it with me STRIPED SEA BASS (WOOO!). Atlantic regulations state that the sea bass has to be above 28" in order to keep it. Unfortunately our bass was well below the threshold but watching our phenomenal fishing club work collaboratively to reel in the fish was amazing. The three campers accompanied by their group leader caught their first, collective, fish ever! A great start to the week none the less. 

Its been a great start and now we hope for a great ending. Stay tuned for more amazing stories here for the rest of the summer.

In due time,

Ahmed 

The Great Catch

Welcome Back !

I hope you have been waiting for this weeks follow-up to my previous blog. Well first things first, I owe you all an explanation of our experiment. I hope your excited. The purpose of our experiment on the rocky beaches of Camp Harborview is to see if we can get sand to return to the beach. That is the catch to last weeks conclusion of my previous post. In our cut off area (pictured to the right) we ask the children, with our assistance, to remove all periwinkles and Asian shore crabs to see if the sand will return in that designated area. Asian shore crabs are invasive and accompanied by periwinkles they are a formula for disaster. It is a long term experiment but we hope to soon have sand back in that portion of the beach and hope to find a solution to obtain sand all across the beach.

Success is better when shared with those who were right by your side

Also, we caught a Striped Sea Bass. Say it with me STRIPED SEA BASS (WOOO!). Atlantic regulations state that the sea bass has to be above 28" in order to keep it. Unfortunately our bass was well below the threshold but watching our phenomenal fishing club work collaboratively to reel in the fish was amazing. The three campers accompanied by their group leader caught their first, collective, fish ever! A great start to the week none the less. 

Its been a great start and now we hope for a great ending. Stay tuned for more amazing stories here for the rest of the summer.

In due time,

Ahmed 

Holy Fish!

Hey guys, so these past 3 days at Piers Park have been pretty awesome. Within these days, we caught not one, not two, not three, but six fish. Sadly, none of them were on the fishing rods, but it was still pretty exciting. On Monday we caught two flounders in the crab trap and a Pogie. When we caught the Pogie, it was at the end when we were cleaning up our materials. Amanda was so into it as well, so why not take a picture of Amanda , taking a picture of the fish.

On Tuesday, we caught another flounder and Jake wanted to take a picture with the flounder in his hands because he had never done that before. He was actually really happy to hold it because as he said, "It was a new experience for me that I will never forget!"

Then today we caught another Pogie today. The kids were not that interested because it was the same type of fish and nothing different, but other kids were still quick to get a peep of  the fish that came in. 

 

'Til next time

-Ary 

Finally Fish!

We got fish! It has been a really exciting three days at the Children's Museum. Over the past three days we have caught eight or nine fish. Most of them are choagies, and I'm confident there are more fish to come. I really love seeing how excited the kids and parents get when they catch them. People are always surprised when they come up. It's nice to be able to show people that Boston Harbor has such wonderful biodiversity.

We also caught another purple marsh crab. I talked to an expert on marsh crabs at Brown University, and he said it is completely possible to have found that kind of crab in the environment outside the Children's Museum. Now that we have verification that it's a marsh crab two questions remain : 1) How in the world did it get from a salt marsh to an inlet, where it is surrounded by predators and starved of food? 2) The second crab we found also had a blister-like growth in the hinge of the claw. Is this a pattern caused by it's foreign location, or simply coincidence and circumstance? 

We had a lot of fun the other day. I brought in a live Quahog I dug up on Carson Beach, and we pulled up a lot of wonderful mollusks and crustaceans on our crab trap. We were able to show the kids Mussels, Quahogs, and a variety of Sea Squirts ( I think we also had a Chiton, but since we only had a speculative I.D, we didn't point it out). The kids loved being able to hold them and feel them. The other fact that amazed them was that all of these creatures were alive. To be honest, the more time I spend with sea creatures, of all phylum and family, I continue to feel amazed and full of wonder. 

Until next time,

Mike

Camp Harbor View Fishing Trip

Today the team and I took the kids from the Camp Harbor View fishing club on the annual fishing trip. This year we had about twelve kids who got the chance to take a boat out onto the harbor to fish for a bunch of different types of fish. It's a real step up from being on the dock all day. Each kid took a rod and were already familiar with fishing which was really cool! They were casting and catching fish immediately. Fish were flying every where. Some on hooks, some on the boats floor. We did have to throw a few back but every kid caught a fish at least twice! Of course some more than others, but everyone did  have a good time and that is what matters. I even caught two fish to add to the huge collection of fish. Every kid left with a smile and had an awesome time. That is really what made me happy and I'd love to take them out another time on a fishing trip, they were a pretty cool group of kids.

May I Paint Your Fish?

This weekend has been a very interesting and colorful one. I arrived to the Seafood Festival at about 10:30 AM. People in lobster costumes were roaming around, kids swarming tents left and right and the distinct smell of various seafood filled the air. Me and my team began to set the table by placing numerous painting colors, fish and many pieces of paper on the table to catch the spilling paint. Sam first showed us how fish painting was done and then allowed us to try. It did not seem hard and it really wasn't. It was actually pretty fun. After a trial round, kids began coming up to the tables and asking if they could do some fish painting. Kids were using very nice colors and patterns. Purple base with green fins and golden polka dots. Blue, red and green patterned fish, all different types of really nice colors. The kids really enjoyed making fish paintings and were OK with leaving the beautiful paintings with us to put in a mural for other kids to see. I found that to be pretty awesome.

- Chemar David

Visitors at the Children's Muesum

Today at the Children's Museum, the people from the New England Aquarium brought a penguin to put on display. The penguin's name was "Roast Beef". It was a big African penguin, and it attracted a lot of visitors at the Children's Museum. I got take a picture of the penguin. Roast Beef and I had a lot in common, because we are both from similar places.

We also caught a lot of crabs and little choggies. The first day we tried to fish didn't really go well, because we used bread as bait. Today, we used squid, quahogs, and mackerel as bait, and it was much better. The fish and crabs liked to eat the bait we used. By lunch time, we caught 12 green crabs, 4 spider crabs, and 4 choggies. With the bait that we used, we even caught a big eel. I wonder what we'll catch tomorrow.

Children checking out the eel

Until next time,

Abdullahi Abdi