INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A group of Indian River Charter High School students working with ORCA scientists to map pollution in the Indian River Lagoon got lucky recently. After a week of gray rainy days, they had picture-perfect weather on their last sampling trip, with bright sunshine, a fresh breeze and sparkling water on an 82-degree December day.
It was a happy end to an upbeat three-month effort in which the 18 students in Nicole Moreaux’s Marine Science II Honors class have taken more than 500 samples of mud and water between the Barber Bridge and just north of the Wabasso Bridge.
What they discovered is not good – high levels of nutrient pollution in the stretch of the lagoon where all the sea grass has recently died.
On the plus side, they added to the body of scientific knowledge about the lagoon and thoroughly impressed the professional researchers they worked with and other observers.
“I am thrilled to see these young people being educated in this way, to see their enthusiasm and their concern for our lagoon,” said Vero Beach Councilmember Pilar Turner, who went out with students Friday morning. “They are very good at what they are doing. When we came to a sampling site, they had their equipment out quickly and they took all of their measurements efficiently. There was no fooling around until they had all their data recorded.”
Two boatloads of students went out on the water that morning and then returned to the lab to analyze the toxic content of lagoon mud and water while the other half of the class went from the lab to the lagoon to take second set of samples.
The two boats worked in concert, mooring together in little coves and backwaters to take five muck samples and one water sample at each location.
Supervised by their teacher and a scientist from ORCA – the Ocean Research and Conservation Association – the students also recorded water temperature, turbidity, salinity and depth at each site along with the longitude and latitude.
ORCA field technician Jerry Corsaut piloted one of the boats and selected the sampling sites.
“We look for spots where you get pockets, little gyres, where you may get an accumulation of toxins,” Corsaut said. “It is no good taking samples along the open shore swept with strong currents that scour and wash toxins away.”
The eight students who went out on Friday afternoon – six girls and two boys, ranging from freshmen to seniors – all said the first phase of their school year- long project been a fun and fascinating experience.
“I like it a lot,” said junior Holly Hensley, who tested water salinity at each stop. “It is fun learning about the lagoon and how we can help it. Being able to relax out here on the water is really nice, but doing microtox is my favorite thing.”
Microtox refers to the procedure students use to test their samples. Mud is liquefied and then passed through a medium containing bioluminescent bacteria. The more toxic the sample the less light the bacteria give off.
“I think that is so interesting,” Hensley said.
Kasia Wake said the lab work is her favorite part of the class, too.
“It makes them feel very important to be working side by side with real scientists,” said Moreaux.
It also gives them a type of science education few high school students experience. Instead of being spoon fed pre-packaged information from textbooks, they are helping create knowledge in the real world.
“The way we teach science is crazy,” said ORCA founder Edie Widder, who went out with the afternoon students Friday. “If we taught baseball the way we teach science, students would learn the rules and history of the game in high school and maybe reenact some famous baseball games in college, but they wouldn’t actually get out on the field and learn to play the game until they were in graduate school. You can imagine what kind of players you would get from that type of training.
“These students are doing actual science and I think it will change the way they think about the world. They learn so much more in the field.”
“Science belongs in the field,” said Moreaux, who just received a master’s in science teaching at Florida Atlantic University, where Widder sat on her thesis committee. “The kids love it.”
The students carried out their fieldwork in addition to their regular Marine Science II class schedule.
They had to make up work they missed in other classes while out on the boats.
The freshmen had to take a special class over the summer in order to participate.
“They have busy schedules and have to juggle a lot of things,” said Moreaux. The students said it was worth the extra work.
“We had a small pod of dolphins come alongside the boat on one trip and swim with us for about 10 minutes,” said junior Leah Hart.
They also have the satisfaction of knowing their efforts will have a significant impact in the real world.
During the next semester, they will use data from their samples to create color-coded maps showing where and how bad pollution is in the lagoon.
They then will put together a public relations effort to influence policymakers and the public to take action to reverse the estuary’s decline.
“Making the pollution visible is so important,” said Turner. “It was ORCA’s map of pollution between the Barber and 17th Street bridges that allowed us to pass our fertilizer ordinance” which restricted the use of chemicals damaging the lagoon.
“When the students make their map I will be able to go to neighborhood groups and other groups and say, ‘This is what we are talking about. Here are the areas of concern and here is a list of things you can do to stop it.’”
The testing and mapping program was funded by a $100,000 grant from Impact 100.
“The health of the lagoon clearly affects the overall quality of life in Indian River County,” said Sue Tompkins, president of Impact 100 when the grant was awarded. “A polluted lagoon will limit our recreational opportunities, damage our fishing industry, and create health issues for our residents, ultimately affecting real estate values if water quality continues to decline. That ORCA can identify the sources of the pollution, and show positive change by implementing immediate solutions speaks to the effectiveness of investing in this type of research for the environment.
“Involving students was a critical component of the project, as the education they will receive from this hands-on involvement in the project will help them understand our human impact on the environment in a way that a classroom never could.”
“It is a great feeling that you can actually do something to help in the area where you live,” said Abby, one of the freshmen who gave up part of her summer for the opportunity to help save the lagoon.
