For Interns, River Is Classroom and Lab

 by Barry Owens

The first fish trap was empty, the second yielded only a handful of shore shrimp, most of them no larger than a cockroach. For the students of the River Project's marine biology internship program on Tribeca's Pier 26, this drizzly day looked like a bust for research.

Ofra Biener, left, and Carolyne Moir examine a fish pulled from a trap along the pilings at Pier 26. Both girls are part of the River Project's internship program. Photo: Allan Tannenbaum

"Aw, come on," said Carolyne Moir. "Let's catch something cool."

A few more empty traps and a "gazillion" slimy sea squirts later, they got their wish.

"A fish!" said Jesse Bonamusa, prying open the trap.

"Cool, a cunner," said Moir, dropping it onto a measuring tray. The fish measured in at 6.5 centimeters, large enough to be tagged and returned to the water.

Three times a week at the pier, high school interns and other volunteers go out in boats at low tide to conduct field study. They check for oyster growth beneath the pier and pull up traps hanging from buoys and pilings. They document each finding and catch, noting the species name, the time it was caught, and its size.


For the River Project, the research provides precious environmental data that will be used in its various studies, on subjects ranging from species diversity to plankton ecology to pathogens in the water. For the more than 20 students enrolled in the internship program, the research provides invaluable hours of field study to fuel their interest in science and add to their academic resumes.

On a recent day in an upstairs loft of the old fruit warehouse that houses the River Project's gear, labs and aquariums, a group of interns pored over data. Some of them would be required to give a presentation on their findings before their peers the next day.

"Do you want to know the title of my research?" asked Celine Lueng, a senior at Townsend Harris High School in Queens. "It's 'The Effect of Salinity and Temperature on the Numbers and Biodiversity of Phytoplankton.'"

Lueng explained that according to phytoplankton counts compiled by her scientist mentor, Pace University microbiologist Michael Levandowsky, who studies the East River, the ebb and flow of phytoplankton in the East River waters match those in the Hudson. Even more interestingly, she found the levels in both waters spike in September.

"I think you're there," said Scott Wingerter, head of the internship program. "You've got it."

"Working with students is a new experience for me," said Wingerter, a marine biologist who joined the River Project earlier this year. "I demand a certain amount of independence in them. I'd like them to recognize it as a job, of sorts, so they can get a sense of what is going to be demanded of them in the field."

The program is funded by the National Science Foundation in partnership with New York University's Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education.

When they are not conducting field studies or writing up their findings, the interns help maintain the River Project's aquariums, lead tours and even give talks on the program at city schools.

"It's really hands on," said Anne Troy whose 10-year-old daughter, Zoe, is an intern and who sometimes participates in program work. "She feels like science is something you can do now, not just something scientists do."

And, Troy said, Zoe has lately expressed an interest in science as a career.

"Either that, or as an opera singer."