| Today we welcomed aboard 19 students from
the New Bedford School district’s Sea Lab
Program. This well-established program, overseen
by Arthur Dutra, Principal of the Hannigan
School, is a selective marine sciences summer
program for New Bedford-area youth. Program
leaders Jack Crowley, (who also serves as
Executive Director of the Massachusetts Marine
Educators), and Trina Crowley, who teaches at
UMASS/Dartmouth, were accompanied by Erin, who
will begin teaching Barbara Belanger’s
marine sciences classes at Fairhaven High School
this September as Barbara retires. All hands helped raise the Fore and
Jumbo, and we broke right into three learning
stations. With Jack Crowley, students used GLOBE
water testing equipment – hauling a water
sample aboard, they measured the salinity,
dissolved-oxygen levels, and temperature of the
waters in the northeastern areas of Buzzards Bay.
Their data will be uploaded into the
world-wide-web network for student data
collection, the Global Learning by Observation
for the Betterment of the Environment. With
crewmember Frank Calascione, students towed our
plankton net to observe larval crabs and various
early-stage sea life forms under Ernestina’s
microscopes. And Erika Boulware guided students
through introductory principles in underway
navigation.
Following a brief introduction
to the otter trawl net, students assisted in
setting the net, preparing aquariums for viewing
the creatures, and gathering up our field guides
for observation learning. Our haul was full of
interesting creatures: 1 4" mantis shrimp
(we carefully avoided providing it fingers to
slice!), 2 4" squid, 2 2" yellow-tail
flounder, 4 4" scup, numerous hermit crabs,
a jelly fish of undetermined species, a 5"
conch shell, ctenophores, a small collection of
algae, kelp, and codium. Identifying and getting
to know the relationships among these creatures
engaged the students until it was time to strike
sail. We reached the dock by 1PM and bid the Sea
Lab contingent farewell.
Captain: Sophie Morse
Program Coordinator: MaryHelen Gunn
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