Windy Kayak Adventure
by Lucas Chen
We took off for the kayak trip. The winds were blowing southwest at about 16 kts, but if felt more like 20 kts. The white caps were tough to maneuver in. First we went to Alewife Creek, Conscience Point, and then the beach.
This was at Alewife Creek. Kurt lectured about alewives that migrate through here in the spring to Big Fresh Pond to breed, and then migrate back to the sea at the end of the summer. We also learned about the ospreys that come to Long Island every summer to breed. They come back to the same mate every year and lay about 3-5 eggs a pair.
Pictured here is one of the oyster farms in the North Sea. This was right next to Conscience Point. The oysters are raised here in bags and sold when they reach size. They start out as seeds by the docks where we took off with the kayaks. They must be flipped to prevent biofouling from accumulating. It also helps create a typical bowl shape, which is what makes them more desirable to consume.
The Iconic Big Duck
For this week’s Friday trip, we all went out to Conscience Bay for a kayak day with a couple lectures on the water! One of the places we stopped for a lecture was by a duck blind, where our discussion on ducks began. The discussion drifted from hunters using duck blinds to conceal themselves when hunting to an iconic landmark on Long Island, the Big Duck! We learned that the Big Duck located in Flanders, LI was built in 1931 by Martin Maurer, a duck farmer. Maurer sold ducks and eggs from the shop located inside the Big Duck. It was built with the intention to attract drivers and vacationers traveling down the highway, hoping to encourage them to stop in.
The Big Duck is a symbol of architectural brilliance as well; moved by Maurer’s creation, architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown coined the architectural term “duck” to describe structures that plainly display their function or selling product in the design of the building itself — Maurer’s Big Duck, a building that is in the shape of a duck, was built to sell ducks and duck eggs. If a building is not considered a duck, it is said to be a “decorated shed” — a plain building which relies on an external symbol or ornament (like a sign) to convey its function. Today, the duck and decorated shed theory is taught in architecture courses as a revolutionary way of classifying buildings, and the theory can be traced back to Long Island’s Big Duck.
Here is a picture from a couple weeks ago of me, Nikole, and Clare when we stumbled upon the Big Duck on our day adventure in Riverhead. Sure enough, the Big Duck entices passersby to stop and visit — we did! Unfortunately, we missed the gift shop visiting hours by a half hour, but we decided we would have to come again to explore the gift shop.
Kayaking Trip
by Samantha Aplin
Everyone either hates or loves ghost stories, but our class was thrilled when Dr. Rider and Dr. Bretsch told us that after we filled up on chili and brownies at the marine science center, that they would give us a walking ghost tour of campus. This included the historic windmill on campus, and a few of us had heard that it was haunted. We were thrilled to finally learn if the rumors were true. We all climbed up a hill to get to the windmill and gathered around Dr. Rider to listen to her ghost stories.
This windmill, pictured below, Dr. Rider said was originally in the village of Southampton, but as more people arrived in the village, they needed more room. They were going to tear it down, but instead a woman that initially owned the land that the Southampton campus is on, said it was an important part of the history of the town and she wanted to keep it. They moved the windmill onto the property and turned it into a playhouse for their daughter. Their daughter became friends with the fishermen that would bring fish to her family, and as her playhouse on top of a hill, it could be seen from the bay as well as the ocean. On foggy nights, she would light a candle in the window of the windmill so the fishermen could find their way home. Unfortunately, she dies at the age of 10 due to tuberculosis, and while her family left the estate as there are too many memories there, rumors say that she stayed on campus with us. On a foggy night, you can look up into the window and still see a candle burning. When Dr. Rider said this, the lights around the pathway up to the windmill turned on and I got chills. This was the only rumor that I had heard of about the campus being haunted, so I did not know about the other ghost we have on campus.
Dr. Rider said that after the original family left, other families had owned it until LIU bought the land for their Southampton campus. This campus became well known for its marine biology department, much like it is now, but other than that, most of the students went to the main LIU campus. However, there were still enough student at Southampton LIU to have fraternities and sororities, that engaged in hazing. One fraternity in particular thought it would be a good idea to tied down a guy from Greenport to the blade of the windmill and have it turn. Unfortunately, he did not survive, and Dr. Rider said that if you ever feel a cool breeze walking through the trees on campus, it’s just him trying to get back home. Once Dr. Rider finished her statement, Dr. Bretsch jumped out from the trees and screamed. Half of the class had their backs facing him, including me, and he scared me so bad I just sat on the ground shaking in fear. It was overall a night I will never forget.
West Robins Oyster Farm
Oysters are a very valuable bivalve that lives in our local waters here on Long Island. Not only do they contribute to our region’s most valuable commercial fisheries, oysters also clean our waters and offer food and habitat to many animals. As filter feeders, oysters serve as a natural water filter where they can filter through and trap nutrients and sediments in around 50 gallons of water per day, which greatly improves water quality. With clearer water, more seagrasses can be supported, bringing an increase in oxygen levels. Oysters also create oyster reefs as they have a tendency to attach themselves to hard substrate or other oysters. Oyster reefs can then provide habitat for organisms such as fish and crabs.
Overharvesting, disease, and habitat loss have brought a significant decline in oyster populations, bringing many negative environmental impacts. Many companies and organizations in Long Island are making efforts to increase oyster population numbers and reverse these effects. During our kayak trip, we traveled through North Sea Harbor which contains West Robins Oyster Farm: an oyster farm aiming to increase oyster numbers through sustainable methods. Oyster farming is an aquaculture practice where oysters are bred and raised, not only to sell as food for humans, but also to improve water quality. West Robins Oyster Farm does not harvest wild oysters or seed from open fisheries on Long Island, which promotes raising population numbers instead of dropping them.
Not only do oyster farms provide oysters for our consumption in a sustainable way, they also provide many positive environmental effects. Harvesting the bivalves loosens and disperses sediment which improves the overall sediment quality, as well as adds oxygen to the lower waters and sediment. It is so important to bring back our oysters here on Long Island, and it is so great to see places such as West Robins Oyster Farm who are making the proper efforts to do so.
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| This image shows oysters that have attached to other oysters or oyster shells, creating an oyster reef. This oyster reef has created space for an Asian Shore Crab to hide in from predators. |
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| This image shows the cages of West Robins Oyster Farm. The oysters are suspended near the surface of the water in each cage. Here, their energy is focused on shell growth. |
Kayaking Trip
When thinking about wildlife, and how we treat it nowadays, it is hard to avoid the one little question: “should we preserve, or conserve? Sustain or let it all rot in vain?” “But wait!” You might cry before we can even try, “How are the three even different?! To Preserve, to conserve, or to sustain?” To answer such a question, I must recall a certain quotation, an interesting little point, something I learned past Friday at North Sea Harbor of Conscious Point.
The idea of preservation is perhaps the most simple. “Don’t touch nature! Do not pinch or even tickle. Leave it as it is now, with the only objective being: “Protect what we have left! Stop any new development or usage by any human being.”
Conservation, on the other hand, has a bit more leeway. “You may use the resources here!” They say, ah such music to my ears. But don’t go crazy, like any good deal, there’s a little caveat. The resources must be used, to not only aid you, but the maximum amount of people, the biggest bang for our nature buck. But take care, and beware, you must not snooze. After all, no matter how wisely you use your resources, it will run out one day, which will be terrible news.
Finally, sustainability! The 21st century’s modern trend, “it should be fine to take from nature, if in turn we help it mend.” This might be considered conservation but better. We take what we need and leave the rest for later. And while we leave and are enjoying our catch, we also help mother nature’s wounds patch. Planting trees, releasing fry, limiting hunting and fishing. We give back to nature what we used in our apple pie.
Fish Cove in Southampton
A shot of the Fish Cove I took while the class was instructed to get our kayaks in line. I found the most difficult part to be the spacing and avoiding the foliage along the coast, which is visible on the adjacent coastline in the photo.
This shot shows a wide shot of Fish Cove along with the bridge on Noyac Road we had to cross under. The wind made this task quite difficult, as the waves pushed the kayaks around like they were driftwood.
Once we had gotten ourselves situated in a suitable formation on the kayaks, Kurt gave a lecture on some of the local wildlife. Most notably we talked about ospreys, also known as fish hawks. Contrary to their nickname, they are not hawks, but raptors. During the colder months, they migrate as far south as the Amazon Basin in South America. Their peak migration time is in early October. They are also monogamous birds, meaning they pair for life, but they frequently separate during these migratory seasons. Unfortunately, osprey populations declined due to the use of harmful pesticides like DBT in the 60s. This was especially harmful due to the biomagnification and bioaccumulation of the pesticides as they moved through different organisms up the trophic levels. The pesticides would affect the thickness of the osprey’s eggshells, making them thin enough to where they would crack under the parent osprey’s weight. Luckily, the use of DBT was outlawed in the 1970s, so we are still able to enjoy the presence of this magnificent bird today.
