It’s the first outing of the new school year and we had one of the best gatherings ever! We went into the outing full of questions about weather, water quality, and how many planned on coming but came out with nearly twenty kids, a great collection of juvenile critters, and so so much fun!
Read more: The Estuary Ambassadors Meet at Emerson!The marine science club at my school has been conducting collection outings at Emerson Point Preserve for the past three years. Our club members are students who love the ocean and want to explore the marine world in their own backyard! Through outings like this, they get to learn how to connect science with the world around them and then be able to discuss the importance of these ecosystems with their friends and family to better become stewards for this vital community.
Emerson Point Preserve is at the tip of Snead Island leading out into Tampa Bay. Emerson Point is home to beautiful mangroves on the shoreline, seagrass beds a short walk off the beach, and full of amazing opportunities to spot animals big and small! This year, we were able to start the year off with one of these trips to help populate our classroom estuary tank with local fishy residents! After a couple week’s worth of rain and with an outgoing tide on our hands, we weren’t sure how well our collecting would work out. The water was tannic and lightly murky and didn’t look the most appealing, but the kids were thrilled to get in and start fishing!
So after a short safety briefing discussing the importance of close toed shoes, the stingray shuffle, sunscreen, drinking water, and of course the best spots and techniques for catching our critters; they grabbed a dip net and started searching! Almost immediately I started hearing the call of “What is this?!” I didn’t even have a chance to set up our collection buckets before kids were loading it up!
Armed with nets and boundless curiosity, our estuary ambassadors ended out into the shallows to discover all the estuary’s secrets! In Tampa Bay, and especially at Emerson Point, there’s such a variety of unique and interesting animals! There’s even a different variety at different seasons of the year! One of our most common finds is the pipefish, these little guys look like a stretched our seahorse and hide super well in the seagrass beds! Between the pipefish and various shrimp species, it felt like we caught a billion between all of our nets! While some of our ambassadors love shrimp, it was also great to show the others one of the building blocks for this crucial ecosystem and the snack for many of the residents here!
But pipefish and shrimp weren’t the only treasures we found! With nearly twenty nets in the water we found so many amazing critters! From two massive toadfish to a beautiful speckled sea trout. From dwarf seahorses to mangrove snappers. Several adorable blennies, and the most amazing FIVE adorable, perfect, bean-shaped burrfish!!!
While of course all of the catches of the day were such a highlight and a great start of the new school year, the biggest takeaway is getting to show my students that the estuary is connected. The crabs and shrimp feed the fish, the fish use the estuary to grow in safety before some make their way out into the gulf, and the seagrass and mangroves shelters them all while also giving our shorelines protection! Having beautiful, healthy, seagrass beds means a beautiful and protected culture, community and ocean!
Healthy estuaries mean healthy oceans, and healthy oceans mean a thriving coastal community. Estuaries are so underrated as a marine environment, when people think of the ocean, estuaries are not usually on the top of their list but they are the real heartbeat of the coast. From the mudflats to the mangroves to the seagrass beds, this is where the important action for beautiful oceans happens. So take some time to visit your local estuary and see what secrets you can discover in your own marine backyard!
To support more programs like this, consider getting a Tarpon License Plate from Tampa Bay Estuary Program! We are so thankful for their support and excited to continue bringing kids out into the estuary!
