Exploring Oyster Bay's Estuary - Harbor Habitats

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day when a group of students from the Centro Cultural Hispano (CCH) of Oyster Bay arrived at the WaterFront Center, ready to dive into a day of educational exploration. Their mission for the day: learn about the local sea creatures, and even try to catch some. The students were eager to get their feet wet – literally – and headed over to Beekman Beach to begin their adventure.

Under the guidance of instructors Dan, Joanne, and Karin, the students took turns at three stations. Dan taught the students about saning, a method of capturing critters in which you drag a large net through the water. The students were fascinated by the jellyfish, shrimp, and small fish that they found in the net, and examined them more closely with the help of their educator. The students then headed over to the river, and learned about the American Eel, which swims up the river during high tide to lay their eggs in fresh water and then swims back out to the ocean.The goal
was to catch some of these mother eels, as they made their way

back to the salt water, by using a small net, a dip net, and planting it
downstream.

The students had a blast wading through the river in the hopes of catching something, and worked together to identify what they had found. Finally, they headed to the touch tank, where their instructor, Joanne, taugh them about clams, oysters, and many other animals. The group was most excited, however, to get a chance to hold them, and examine the animals more closely. The students left the Waterfront Center with a new-found knowledge and appreciation for the many interesting creatures that live beneath the waters of Oyster Bay, and a new appetite for discovering the ocean’s many mysteries!