Teaching aquaculture to Boston high schoolers
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Hi all. My name's Jay Esty and for the last half decade or so I've run a summer (and sometime school-year) program for Boston public schoolers at Thompson Island Outward Bound, in Boston Harbor. It's a hybrid summer-job-meets-Outward-Bound experience for the young people, who work at ecosystem restoration, natural resource management, carpentry jobs and stewardship and climate-related projects mixed with a short expedition, lots of teambuilding and other equipping for post-secondary academic and professional lives.
During this pandemic we've evolved what we do in various ways, most importantly emphasizing youth empowerment through social and environmental justice work over land management. And last summer, we were the beneficiaries of a NOAA grant to learn some introductory aquaculture and aquaponics. We seeded around 10,000 hatchery-reared softshell clams in experimental tidal flats off Thompson Island and grew abundant leafy greens and koi in two recirculating aquaponics systems ashore. Our young people learned much and some ate clams for the first time (though not the ones we grew, which were still way too small and were living in contaminated Harbor sediments). We're proud that a few our our Green Ambassadors will be presenting a poster detailing their work at the NACE event in Portland, ME next week. Stop by and introduce yourselves if you'll be there!
So, once we knew we were hooked on aquaculture, we researched, not solely to learn what we might grow in the ocean that could be eaten. We got interested in sugar kelp and met with wonderful, generous aquaculturists out of Hurricane Island, ME, who are combining serious marine science and scalable growing with science education and engaging young learners. Encouraged and inspired, we kept learning and researching until we realized we might be able to experiment with combining ocean farming and coastal resilency. We're now seeking to experiment with a couple ideas in the year(s) ahead, to see if we might grow ocean products that are legally and healthily consumed by humans (kelp, scallops...) AND learn whether we might grow them in such a way that they protect our urban and island shorelines from impacts of sea-level rise and extreme weather. We'll need to learn a lot, be patient, and hear what experienced folks know that can guide our thinking and doing. We're fortunate to have some excellent potential partners who are local and whose interests align with ours, but WE will be the farmers.
It motivates me enormously to imagine our extraordinary, diverse, bright, and action-oriented young BPS students out on the vanguard of both sustainable food production AND nature-based solution-finding to protect their own neighborhoods and futures. Am interested in meeting any and all who might feel similar inspiration and a desire to help the vision materialize. Onward!
@jay_esty - Oh wow what a small world! My dad grew up in Charlestown (a section of Boston) and participated in Outward Bound as a child!! It was what made him want my sister and me to go to summer camp, as it was one of his absolute favorite experiences growing up, and truly shaped the way all of us feel about nature. I'm thrilled to hear of these latest developments in the organization, and can't wait to tell my dad to hear his reaction as well
@izzy_oconnell -Hi Izzy, So cool that Thompson Island has a special place in your family lore! I see in another post of yours that you're moving back to these parts. Let me know if you're ever interested in visiting the island and seeing what our Green Ambassador crews are up to. And bring your dad!
@izzy_oconnell -Hi again, Izzy! I was showing these posts to our Chief of Education here at TIOB and she read about you and your dad and asked me, "Think Izzy might want to work with us and advance ocean farming with our kids?" If you do, or you want to learn more, let me know!...
@jay_esty - sorry for the delay in my response, I just got my wisdom teeth out a few days ago
But oh wow, I would LOVE to hear more!! I will send you an email shortly to connect further. My dad also sent me some of his pictures from his time at Outward Bound in 1983 this morning, so I'll be sure to send them along too. So exciting!
@jay_esty - What a wonderful experience for students! I'll definitely stop by your poster at NACE
@michelle_stephens -So fun, Michelle! Look forward to meeting you next week!
@jay_esty -Wow! I am so inspired by your post. I am new to Managing College Internships and Youth Programs at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT but have a strong background in informal STEAM education. We are working to combine efforts with a new outward bound focused educator on site as well as a newly constructed low ropes course. I'd love to visit your program and learn from what you've experienced thus far, and how you might be looking to grow. Being right on the water, and have access to many boats, I feel creating an educational ocean farm would be a bright step forward for our organization.
@christopher_bresky -Hi Christopher. Mystic Seaport is a magical place! I taught wooden boatbuilding to high schoolers in the 1990s and we displayed a couple of our skiffs at the annual WoodenBoat Show, hosted at Mystic one June weekend in 1997 or '98. Fabulous! Let me know if you want to visit Thompson Island this summer or next fall, when we hope to get some sugar kelp planted. My email is jesty@thompsonisland.org. Good luck getting things off the ground in your new work.
@izzy_oconnell -Hi Izzy, So cool that Thompson Island has a special place in your family lore! I see in another post of yours that you're moving back to these parts. Let me know if you're ever interested in visiting the island and seeing what our Green Ambassador crews are up to. And bring your dad!
@michelle_stephens -So fun, Michelle! Look forward to meeting you next week!
@christopher_bresky -Hi Christopher. Mystic Seaport is a magical place! I taught wooden boatbuilding to high schoolers in the 1990s and we displayed a couple of our skiffs at the annual WoodenBoat Show, hosted at Mystic one June weekend in 1997 or '98. Fabulous! Let me know if you want to visit Thompson Island this summer or next fall, when we hope to get some sugar kelp planted. My email is jesty@thompsonisland.org. Good luck getting things off the ground in your new work.
@izzy_oconnell -Hi again, Izzy! I was showing these posts to our Chief of Education here at TIOB and she read about you and your dad and asked me, "Think Izzy might want to work with us and advance ocean farming with our kids?" If you do, or you want to learn more, let me know!...
@jay_esty - sorry for the delay in my response, I just got my wisdom teeth out a few days ago
But oh wow, I would LOVE to hear more!! I will send you an email shortly to connect further. My dad also sent me some of his pictures from his time at Outward Bound in 1983 this morning, so I'll be sure to send them along too. So exciting!