#boston-harbor

#boston-harbor

For the first time in a century and after a multi-billion-dollar, decades-long clean-up, parts of the once toxic Boston Harbor waters meet water quality standards that will allow for direct harvest and human consumption of shellfish. The announcement came from the state's Division of Marine Fisheries at the start of the year. DMF said that water quality has improved significantly enough that both commercial and recreational shellfishers will be allowed to harvest shellfish for personal use or direct sale to consumers.

On a stunning late August afternoon, researchers from the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium set out on a small boat to write the next chapter in that story. Their mission is to implant tracking devices in juvenile sand tiger sharks. Their mood is buoyant, perhaps even giddy. That atmosphere is largely the product of Ryan Knotek, the shark researcher leading the tagging efforts. Most days, his work involves sitting at his computer writing proposals, he explains.