On a glorious sunny day in early May, students from Watershed School and Camden-Rockport Middle School gathered at Camden Harbor dock with members of S.E.A. to learn about the environment of the harbor. Joee Patterson set the context with a talk at Watershed School drawn from her experience in Antarctica. Later, Watershed students went out with Alison McKellar, Select Board Member and Captain Dominic Gioia aboard his boat Periwinkle to explore underwater using a Remotely Operated Vehicle.
For the next two hours, CRMS students and Watershed students in small groups rotated between four different stations. Alison McKellar and Advisory Board member Des FitzGerald discussed elvers and alewives, while Board member and Director of Camden Public Works Dave St. Laurent gave a talk supported with photographs and graphs about challenges of climate change to our infrastructure including storm drains. Diver Matt Doudera brought up animals including large Star Fish, while this wife Sarah Doudera, who is on the S.E.A. Board, talked with students about diving and the equipment divers use. Joee Patterson and Dottie Yunger, Education Division Director for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, talked with students about the animals from the harbor. We think everyone, except possibly the sea creatures, had an interesting and good time.
