A lot of fun outdoor programs start up at the Aquarium during the summer. One is the Dock Program, which aims to connect visitors to the ocean habitat right outside the Aquarium's doors. Boston Harbor is a beautiful and fascinating environment, with lots of animal life living just out of view. But not everyone even knows the Harbor is a harbor and not a river. So, to help our visitors get to know the harbor, we have placed a crab trap and other pieces of equipment into the harbor just off of our dock.

From left: Teen interns Alex Rojas, Kenneil Toney and Adora Thompson set up for the dock program

Throughout the week (especially on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays) we pull these up to see what kind of animal life we find. But we don't just look at the animals; we try to learn something about them as well. Our teen interns (and visitors who want to participate) take observations on the time of day, the weather conditions, the tidal heights and the turbidity of the water (or the water transparency) to learn more about the conditions under which our animals live. This also serves as an introduction to basic marine science.

In the photos below, you can see our teen interns setting up for the Dock Program and gathering data, and you can see a couple of the animals they found during that day's program.