12 JULY 2019 • FOGHORN FOGHORNFOCUS: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES R ecently, I was asked by Cindy Brown, CEO of Boston Duck Tours, Boston, MA, if I could fill in for her as a volunteer on the Charles River Clean Up Boat the following day. I knew that Boston Duck Tours had been a major sponsor of the Clean Up Boat but I was only slightly aware of their history, mission, and the scope of their work. So I did my research and jumped at the chance to spend a day on the water. The Charles River Clean Up Boat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping a seven-mile stretch of the Charles River free from floating debris and trash. The organi- zation was conceived in 2003 when a group of sailing coaches — fed up with the junk polluting this beautiful stretch of river — decided to take matters into their own hands. Led by its founder, the late Tom McNichol, along with captains Bob Gaffney, Tom Soisson, and later joined by Mitch Lunin and Jim Jadul, the Clean Up Boat first launched in 2004 when Boston Duck Tours purchased and donated a motor for the first Clean Up Boat. Through the generous support of numerous dedicated volunteers along with donations from individuals and busi- nesses in the Greater Boston area, the Clean Up Boat has been operating from spring until fall, four days a week for the last 15 years. As a volunteer, I was committing to a six-hour day of trash collecting. We would be cruising from the Newton/ Watertown Massachusetts line to the Gridley Locks separating the Charles River from Boston Harbor. Along the way I would be using pool skimmers, boat hooks, and my bare hands to scoop up anything that didn’t belong. My adventure began when I stepped aboard the 20-ft SeaArk skippered by Capt. Tom Soisson and crewed by Capt. Tom’s trusty nine- year-old lab mix Sadie. We immediately got to work. I asked Capt. Tom what to expect, and his answer was “anything you’d come across in a CVS parking lot, or a public dumpster….that’s what we’ll be collecting today.” Tom was right. We collected clothing, shoes, Dunkin Donuts cups, plastic straws, bags, along with plastic soda, juice and water bottles of every size and shape. We collected a multitude of mini airplane bottles once carrying alcohol of all varieties, but especially Fireball. Apparently, Bostonians have a great affinity for cinnamon whiskey. It was at this point I spotted a big piece of trash floating in near the wall at the Museum of Science and I reached for the hook to pull it in. That’s when I realized this was a dead goose. Capt. Tom said, “Stop, if it’s organic we leave it. Fish, birds etc. It’s the circle of life, unless it’s human.” That’s when I asked Tom about strangest thing the Clean Up Boat had ever found? I figured he’d say a body. Turns out I was partially right. Tom said, “One day we saw a black garbage bag partially submerged. We cruised over and got it with the boat hook. It was heavy, so we were very curious. Once we got it on the boat and opened up the bag, we realized we had a human leg.” “Seriously?” I asked. “Yup, a leg,” Tom repeated. “So, we called 911 and got the State Police dis- patcher and told them what we had. They were very appreciative because apparently there had been a gangland style murder where a body was dis- membered, and parts had been strewn throughout Massachusetts. They had recovered everything but the leg.” More recently, Tom and his volun- teers pulled out a Lime Green Bike, one of the new Bike Share companies that tracks you via GPS and allows you to leave the bike anywhere due to the high-tech lock operated from a smart phone app. When they pulled up the bike it immediately started talking to them saying, “Do not move bike, police will be called.” We were both impressed with the water-tight integrity of the security system. During my cruise, I learned that it used to be old Huffy BMX bikes, shopping carts, car tires, and Styrofoam coolers that were discarded in the river. Now volunteers recover high-tech bikes, electric scooters, and stray kayak paddles. It was not too long ago that sewage, industrial waste, and municipal runoff flowed freely into the Charles River making her more well known for her pollution than for her beauty. In a 1955 article in Harper’s Magazine, author Bernard DeVoto described the Charles as “foul and noisome, polluted by offal and industrious wastes, scummy with oil, unlikely to be mistaken for water.” The river’s condition even inspired the 1965 hit song “Dirty Water” by The Standells. The Charles River today is far cry from that polluted eyesore of the 60’s My Day on the Charles River Clean Up Boat By Bob Lawler, PV A President Capt.Tom Soisson is passionate about cleaning Boston’s waterways.