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By Max Jaeger
Brooklyn Daily
As far as summer school goes, this is as good as it gets.
Two dozen kids from all over the city combed Coney Island’s shores for sea life on Aug. 18 as part of the City Parks Foundation’s Coastal Classroom Summer Institute. And students caught a veritable seafood buffet from Coney Island Creek’s fertile waters, an organizer said.
“They pulled up summer flounder, king fish, silversides, sand crabs, grass shrimp, mud snails — the list goes on,” said Kaari Casey, who led the excursion.
One finned floater was so prevalent the kids probably could have opened their own bait shop.
“Silversides, we caught a million of them out there,” Casey said of the popular bait fish.
The free, intensive, three-week program had kids studying sea life for six hours a day, four days a week at Kaiser Park in Coney Island and a shore in Queens, according to the Foundation. The budding biologists net sea creatures and learn to identify their catch before throwing the water-breathers back to the brine. Students learn a little environmental stewardship, too, Casey said.
“We always start with a quick beach cleanup,” she said.