Live from Rhode Island

We trawled for 15 minutes to see what types of sea creatures were in the area. I'm holding one of two sea stars of the almost 1,000-fish catch.

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — Greetings from the Ocean State. For the past couple of days, I have been attending a workshop to acclimate reporters to covering coastal environments. And, honestly, the best way to do that is to get them a little wet.

So far, the one-week program sponsored by the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting (a program of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanograpy) has been hands on. I flew in Sunday, and since then I have helped sort fish on a fishing vessel, measure water quality and kayaked around an inland lake. The purpose of the program is to build a network of sources for journalists who report on the environment — as well as teach them a little about the complex ecosystems that we find near water.

I was one of 11 journalists selected to participate in the program. For more about the program, visit Metcalf’s Web site.

I applied for the program because I have always had an interest in aquatic environments. Growing up, I loved the swamp, and it was my favorite part of going duck hunting — just looking around at the scenery. With all of this knowledge, I will need to report about the environment more.

At the end of the week, I will write a follow-up post that will go more in-depth of what I’ve learned. Tune in next week!

We collected water samples to measure the levels of nitrogren (and other possibly harmful nutrients) in the water.

A view of Narragansett Bay.

Pulling up the net of fish we were going to count and weigh.

We caught 1,000 fish total. There were about 10 different species.