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New England Aquarium offsite link in Boston, Massachusetts, aims to provide an underwater experience for visitors while connecting them to the city’s waterfront. This institution is one of 25 aquariums and marine science education centers across North America that make up the Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers (CELC) network. Together this network engages the public in protecting coast and marine ecosystems and work on shared priorities, including youth engagement.
Teens from New England Aquarium look for green crabs at Belle Isle Salt Marsh in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of their Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers action project. (Image credit: New England Aquarium)
The network worked with a team of high school aquarium volunteers to plan the 2021 CELC Virtual Youth Summit, which brought together more than 60 aquarium high school volunteers from the CELC network to hear from over 25 speakers on how to make a difference for the ocean through art, writing, advocacy, and more.
A group of teens from New England Aquarium attended the summit and received funding from NOAA and the North American Association for Environmental Education offsite link to take what they learned to design and lead an action project in their local community. The team chose to focus on researching and monitoring a marine invasive species impacting their local environment: the green crab. We asked the teens to reflect on their project and what they learned through their experiences. Read what they shared below!
Tell us the story of your project!
Through many iterations, ideas, and a big change in the planning team, we landed on a project focused on green crabs and their impact on a local salt marsh and the surrounding neighborhoods. We researched information on the importance of salt marshes as an ecosystem, the devastation that green crabs can cause to salt marshes, and how they would impact the neighborhood of East Boston and the towns of Winthrop and Revere in the face of climate change. With all of our research, we put together a presentation that was delivered at the Boston Latin School’s Youth Climate Action Network Summit on May 21, 2022, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stata Center. We also created data sheets and met with the Department of Conservation and Recreation to implement a green crab monitoring project at Belle Isle Salt Marsh, which is the only remaining marshland in Boston. The green crab monitoring is now an ongoing project at the Belle Isle Salt Marsh.
What are some of the challenges you faced with the project?
It was challenging to get other teens involved and on board with the project. This was most likely due to the fact that the original team that attended the summit did not continue during the school year and because our meetings were still 95% virtual due to COVID-19 safety restrictions. Getting teens to make decisions and stay involved was probably the largest challenge to this project this year.
There is no project too big or small to tackle as a young person.
What impact did your project have?
We have continued to monitor green crabs in the Belle Isle Salt Marsh, engaging with the Department of Conservation and Recreation as well as with the Friends of Belle Isle, a nonprofit organization working to protect the salt marsh. We presented our project to both of these groups, which informed them to make further decisions on what to do with the green crab populations in this marsh that will remain a threat to the marsh and the surrounding communities. Also, through our presentation at the Youth Climate Action Network summit, we hope to have inspired more young people to get out to the Belle Isle Marsh to enjoy it as well as raise awareness about the dangers of this invasive species.
How did the project impact you?
There is no project too big or small to tackle as a young person. You can research areas that you are not as familiar with and help to pinpoint a specific need in a specific community or ecosystem. We learned more about the environmental impacts of green crabs not just to a salt marsh ecosystem, but also to the communities that surround the marsh. We also learned about budgeting, project planning, public speaking, and field science. It was an incredible learning experience!
