Saving Seafood

Seven right whale calves seen this season

April 17, 2019 — There were no known births in the 2017-2018 calving season for the North Atlantic right whale, so each new calf spotted with its mother so far in 2019 has been greeted with extra enthusiasm.

On Thursday, April 11 the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) right whale aerial survey team spotted two right whale mother/calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay, bringing the number of calves observed off Cape Cod this season to three. In all, seven calves have been seen swimming off the coast.

The mothers have been identified as EgNo 4180 and EgNo 3317.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Endangered right whale experiencing mini-baby boom off New England

April 15, 2019 — The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale is experiencing a mini-baby boom in New England waters, researchers on Cape Cod have said.

The right whale is one of the rarest species of whale on the planet, numbering only about 411.

But the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass., said Friday its aerial survey team spotted two mom-and-calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay a day earlier. That brings the number seen in New England waters alone this year to three.

That’s big news because the right whale population has been falling, and no calves were seen last year. In all, seven right whale calves have been seen so far this year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at CBC

Rare Baby Whale Seen in Cape Cod Bay for First Time in ’19

April 11, 2019 — Surveyors say a North Atlantic right whale mother and calf have been spotted in Cape Cod Bay for the first time this season.

The whales are the focus of conservation efforts because of their declining population. There are only about 411 of the marine mammals, and they’ve suffered high mortality and poor reproduction in recent years.

The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown says the mother and calf were seen Saturday by surveyors from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Surveyors in an airplane saw them again Sunday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Fishing Gear Recovery Project Begins in Cape Cod Bay

April 8, 2019 — The Center for Coastal Studies has begun field work with area lobstermen to remove, document, and properly dispose of lost, abandoned or derelict fishing gear in Cape Cod Bay.

“Mobilizing Diverse Stakeholders to Remove Derelict Fishing Gear from Beaches & Bay” is a project funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. It takes place during the winter season, when lobster fishing is prohibited in the bay to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales who feed here.

The CCS Marine Geology Program will first conduct side-scan sonar surveys in areas identified by fishermen as locations where lost gear likely exists.

Commercial fishing vessels from each area are enlisted to recover the gear by towing grappling equipment in targeted locations.  Once returned to shore, the derelict gear will be sorted for recycling, disposal, or return to rightful owners.

“Who better to help in this effort than the fishermen who have dedicated their lives to understanding the environment?” said Demi Fox, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator.

“They have a critical desire to protect the ecosystem upon which their livelihoods depend, and we are grateful for their expertise. The NOAA Marine Debris Program appreciates the hard work of passionate partners like CCS and the fishing community.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod towns get funds for shark precautions

April 5, 2019 — Ahead of another influx of tourists that comes with summer on Cape Cod, state officials are showering six outer Cape towns with public safety funds following increased shark sightings and a deadly attack last September.

The Executive Office of Public Safety announced Tuesday that $383,000 was being allocated to help buy emergency call boxes in areas where cell service is limited, satellite phones for lifeguards, and all-terrain vehicles that can more quickly reach patients on the beach with specialized medical equipment.

In a press release that didn’t mention the word “shark,” officials said the funds were for “municipal preparedness and response programs.” Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro said called it a “good first step” coming ahead of summer and Rep. Sarah Peake of Provincetown said the funding arrived with “lightning speed.”

“Our administration is pleased to provide funds to address critical infrastructure equipment needs as it relates to the safety of all Massachusetts residents and visitors,” Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said in a statement. “We are grateful to our partners at the local level and in the Legislature for continuing to work together with us to address this important issue.”

Arthur Medici, 26, was killed by a great white shark while boogie boarding last September along a stretch of Cape Cod that’s been a tourist destination for decades, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each summer. It was the first fatal shark attack since 1936. State officials responded to the late-summer attack off Wellfleet by encouraging beachgoers to follow posted warnings and stay in shallow water. Since then, talks about public safety have picked up.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA to cut dogfish quota in half

April 4, 2019 — Federal fishing regulators say they’re reducing the quota for a small species of shark that is fished commercially off the East Coast.

Fishermen catch spiny dogfish off the eastern states, from Maine to North Carolina. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says quota for the dogfish will be cut by nearly 50 percent this year. That will leave the commercial quota at about 20.5 million pounds.

The agency says the quota will climb back up in 2020 and 2021 because the dogfish population is expected to grow. That would bring with it a reduced risk of overfishing the species, which is harvested for use as food.

Dogfish are primarily consumed in Europe. Members of the seafood industry have tried marketing dogfish to U.S. consumers, but it remains an uncommon menu item.

Last year, the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance received a Saltonstall-Kennedy grant of about $37,000 from NOAA for a marketing and promotion project centered on raising the profile of dogfish — including changing the name of the species — to make it more attractive to consumers.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

New England seeing a huge spike in beached sea turtles

March 28, 2019 — At a sea turtle hospital housed at an old New England shipyard, a biologist leans over a table and uses a needle to draw blood from a sick loggerhead before tagging its flailing flipper.

These were the first tentative steps toward a return to the ocean for this juvenile nicknamed Honey Bun and hundreds of other loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley and green turtles stranded this winter on Cape Cod beaches.

The number of warm water turtles stuck on beaches here has risen dramatically in the past decade, according to the Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. This year, volunteers recovered 829 helpless turtles washed up on the sand — about half of them dead including some frozen solid. That’s nearly twice what they found in 2016 and 10 times more than in 2008.

Cape Cod is believed to have one of the largest annual turtle strandings in the world. There are occasional strandings in Florida, Texas and as far north as the Chesapeake Bay. But those tend to be isolated events connected to cold snaps involving a few dozen to a couple of thousand turtles.

Some experts think New England’s spike in cold-stunned turtles is a climate change story with a twist: the hook-like projection of Cape Cod into the Atlantic helps trap turtles drawn there by warming waters but weakened when the ocean cools down. Most rescued turtles suffer from compromised immune systems and pneumonia due to hypothermia. Exposed to cold water for prolonged periods, they become lethargic and can’t move or eat. The ones that survive take months to recover.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Warming oceans cast a chill over New England’s sea turtles

March 26, 2019 — If we ignore the dangerously shifting global climate system, there will be consequences: more extreme rainfall, more intense hurricanes, drier and longer wildfire seasons, and continued sea level rise all loom on the horizon. In fact, extreme weather changes are already being seen around the globe.

But one of the lesser known, already visible impacts of climate change is on sea turtles. A recent paper, led by UMass Amherst doctoral candidate Lucas Griffin, links a rapidly warming Gulf of Maine to increased sea turtle strandings on Cape Cod.

“We were surprised the results suggested this increase was linked with warmer sea surface temperatures,” Griffin says. The scientists originally thought the strandings might be associated with how many young sea turtles hatched. But turtles, it turns out, are just one of many Gulf of Maine species “exhibiting a similar shift in both habitat distribution and in phenology patterns.”

The Gulf of Maine is in crisis: The region is warming faster than 99 percent of the global ocean. Fish stocks are moving north, key food web events like the spring plankton bloom are occurring earlier in the year, and regional waters are staying warmer for longer. Griffin’s team used both machine learning and Bayesian statistical methods—using existing data and probability to quantify uncertainty in inferences—to analyze the relationship between water temperatures and the number of cold-stunned turtles, the potentially lethal turtle equivalent of hypothermia. The innovative approach confirmed what local naturalists and wildlife biologists had been observing for years: Warmer waters in the region actually lead to an increased threat of cold-stunning.

Read the full story at Massive Science

MASSACHUSETTS: Right Whales Begin Seasonal Migration to Cape Cod Waters

March 22, 2019 — Cape Codders know that tourists come with the warming weather.

So do the whales.

Researchers say North Atlantic right whales and their newborn calves have been arriving off the shores of Cape Cod.

The endangered and very rare species of whale makes the yearly migration from waters off the coasts of Florida and Georgia to feed in cooler waters off the Cape.

“We have quite a few whales here, especially considering that this is a pretty small bay and these are very rare animals,” said Charles “Stormy” Mayo of Center for Coastal Studies.

“We had 61 whales sighted on our last aerial survey.”

The North Atlantic right whale population is seen by researchers to be at great risk of extinction, with only an estimated 411 remaining in the world. Statistics show the mammal’s steady decline in numbers from 2010 through 2017.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Lawmakers take up threats to North Atlantic right whales

March 11, 2019 — The sound of an air horn echoed through a Congressional subcommittee hearing Thursday, set off by U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., to mimic what critically endangered North Atlantic right whales might experience during seismic testing for oil and gas.

The loud demonstration occurred at a hearing focused on permits that could soon be issued by the U.S. Department of Interior to five companies to explore oil and gas reserves off the mid- and southern Atlantic states. Critics of the move argue that the North Atlantic right whales, many of which visit Cape Cod Bay to feed, could be harmed in the process.

“We must reduce exposure of all whales but particularly females to stressors that can slow or stop reproduction,” said Scott Kraus, an expert witness with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, who appeared during a hearing before the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times