Saving Seafood

Hope After Tragedy: New Stranded Marine Mammal Plan Coming After Humpback Whale Euthanized

February 7, 2017 — Hope was born from tragedy at a community meeting to discuss the stranding, and eventual euthanization of a humpback whale in Moriches Bay that left hearts broken and fueled residents to ignite a fire for change.

More than 100 residents turned out Tuesday at a community meeting organized to present information related to the November 2016 stranding of a humpback whale in Moriches Bay, which took place at Brookhaven Town Hall in Farmingville.

“We were really pleased to see such a strong turnout and to hear from so many people. We look forward to working with the passionate Long Island community and our local stranding partners to develop new resources and new capacity for marine mammal stranding response,” said Jennifer Goebel, media relations, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Westhampton Patch

NEW YORK: Community Meeting On Stranded Humpback Whale Takes Place Tuesday

February 6, 2017 — An agenda has been released for Tuesday’s community meeting organized to present information related to the November 2016 stranding of a humpback whale in Moriches Bay.

According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region division, a community meeting will take place on Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Brookhaven Town Hall, located at 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville.

The meeting is free and open to the public. The goal, organizers say, is to “provide an overview of the incident, lessons learned, and plans for future responses in New York for community members. Panelists will also receive comments and questions from the community.”

The agenda will include a welcome from Congressman Lee Zeldin’s staff, presentations, an event timeline, history and challenges of large whale response, a discussion of humpback whale biology and an overview of current research initiatives, lessons learned and an overview of planning initiatives and new collaborations, and comments, questions and answers with panel members.

Read the full story at the Westhampton Patch 

Whale visit good sign for healthier Hudson

December 5th, 2016 — When a humpback whale swam all the way to the George Washington Bridge last month, it became a brief media spectacle, with the creature’s massive tail breaching the Hudson River while skyscrapers loomed in the background.

But for some,  the whale’s presence also signaled that the Hudson is slowly coming back from decades of pollution. The waterway is indeed healthier than it has  been since scientists began recording its demise a century ago from sewage, street runoff and industrial pollution, all of which have been curbed substantially in recent decades.

“People need to change their perception of these waters,” said Debbie Mans, executive director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, a clean water advocacy group. “It has taken a lot of time, but it has slowly improved.”

Most experts think the whale, nicknamed Gotham, was  probably drawn up the Hudson in late November by schools of small bait fish called menhaden, or bunker, whose numbers along the Eastern Seaboard have soared in recent years.

Cleaner waters allows plankton to flourish closer to shore. That, in turn, provides a food source for fish like menhaden. And whales like nothing more than to munch on menhaden.

The fish have been so abundant this summer and autumn in the Hudson that Tom Lake, a consulting naturalist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said he saw schools of the fish 128 miles north of Bayonne.

Read the full story at The Record 

NEW YORK: Why researchers think humpback whale swam up the Hudson

November 22, 2016 — The whale spotted in the Hudson River Thursday in Friday was likely led there by food, the head of a local whale research group said.

Photos of the humpback whale showed it “lunge feeding,” said Paul Sieswerda, president of Gotham Whale.

“That’s when they come up and break the surface and consume these bait balls of menhaden,” he said.

Predators drive menhaden, sometimes known as bunker fish, into tight balls. This allows whales to open their mouths and eat them all at once.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Whales, sea turtles, seals: The unintended catch of abandoned fishing gear

September 29, 2016 — There are less than 500 North Atlantic right whales left in the world. And now, one less: This weekend, one of the 45-ton creatures was found dead off the coast of Maine, completely entangled in fishing line — head, flippers and all.

This was not an isolated incident.

In late June, an endangered blue whale wrapped in fishing gear was seen struggling off the coast of Dana Point in Southern California. Rescuers were unable to extricate it before it swam away. And earlier this month, rescuers unsuccessfully tried to free an entangled humpback whale near Newport. Spotters say they believe the humpback eventually found its way free of most of the gear, though they’re unsure if there’s anything still trapped in its mouth.

While any kind of fishing gear can be lost or abandoned at sea, gillnets, crab pots and traps are the most common types that continue to “ghost fish” — entrapping marine animals like whales, seals, sea lions and sea turtles.

Last year, the West Coast saw 61 whale entanglements — a record number that is nonetheless likely to be broken this year. So far in 2016, there have been 60 reports of entanglements as of late September. Why it’s happening is unclear. Researchers say there’s more derelict gear in the water today, and more reported sightings, but population numbers and migratory patterns of whales have also shifted.

What happens when a whale becomes entangled is grim.

“The gear is really, really heavy and when a whale comes in contact with it, it thrashes around to shed the gear,” says Kristen Monsell, attorney, Center for Biological Diversity. Sometimes that works; sometimes it entangles the whale even further.

Read the full story at SCPR

MAINE: Marine officials investigate dead whale

RYE, Maine — Crowds gathered Monday morning to witness a 45-foot humpback whale that washed onto rocks outside of Rye Harbor State Park and Foss Beach. Marine investigators quickly identified the whale as an 18-year-old female named Snow Plow.

The whale, which lay on its back, was guessed to have been dead for days before the tides pushed it to shore.

Fisherman had reported seeing the corpse floating 20 miles out at sea Sunday.

“A once in a lifetime experience!” said Rye resident Denise Levin after witnessing her first beached whale. Levin has been living in the area for almost 50 years and had never seen a whale so close.

Marine scientists responded to the scene and were working to determine the cause of death and scientists said a necropsy would be necessary to determine the cause definitively.

Jooke Robbins, senior scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies, said it would be unusual if Snow Plow had died of natural causes at her age.

Diane Schulte of the Blue Ocean Society was able to identify Snow Plow, who had been observed by scientists since she was a calf in 1998 in the southern Gulf of Maine.

Snow Plow’s mother, Fern, is still alive and was seen as recently as two days ago in the Gulf of Maine, Robbins said.

“There’s no obvious signs for reasons of why the animal is deceased,” said Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh. State officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service have already determined that the cause of death was most likely not caused by a boat or entanglement in fishing line.

Mike Henry, a special agent for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said it will remain to be seen if a necropsy will be conducted.

See the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

Fishermen free humpback whale from tangled net off New Jersey

May 24, 2016 — BRICK, N.J., — A group of fishermen rescued a humpback whale tangled in fishing gear off the coast of northern Ocean County in New Jersey.

Fisherman Sal Gatto posted a video to Facebook showing the whale slowly swimming off Saturday after the boat’s crew cut through ropes and nets to rescue the 40-foot sea creature from some abandoned fishing equipment.

“I was out looking for some bass during the early morning and spotted a 40 foot humpback whale tangled in a large fish net with rope near the Manasquan Inlet,” Gatto told JSHN.com.

Read the full story at UPI

Inflatable vessel to help Maine improve disentanglement efforts

December 24, 2015 —  With recent funding from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, the Maine Department of Marine Resources has taken another step forward in its ability to lead whale disentanglement efforts.

The $20,000 grant will be used by the DMR to purchase a soft bottom inflatable boat that can maneuver more safely and effectively when Maine Marine Patrol, along with key DMR staff, respond to entangled whales.

“Often, responders have to pull alongside an entangled whale which might surface underneath the boat,” said DMR Scientist Erin Summers, who is coordinating the purchase. “A soft bottom boat will move and form to the body of the whale, making injury to the whale less likely. A hard bottom boat is also more likely to tip when hit from below, which could endanger the responders.”

Read the full story at Wiscasset Newspaper

 

Maine to acquire soft-bottom boat for whale entanglements

December 20, 2015 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The Maine Department of Marine Resources is getting a $20,000 grant that it will use to help make it safer for its staff members to respond to whale entanglements along the coast.

The grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund will be used to purchase an inflatable, soft-bottom boat that will be used by Marine Patrol to help free whales from ropes in the ocean, the state agency announced in a prepared statement released this week.

The agency currently uses one or more boats with rigid, v-shaped hulls to deal with entanglements, but such boats can pose a hazard both to whales and the people in the boats if the whale should surface underneath the vessel, according to Department of Marine Resources staff. The hard bottom is more likely to injure the whale, which already could be sick or injured, than a soft-bottom boat. A hard-bottom boat also is more likely to tip or capsize if the whale pushes it up out of the water.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

 

Drones for Good: Tiny Flying Robots Help Protect Endangered Whales

August 7, 2015 — A crowdfunding project called Snotbot, which aims to fund quadcopter-enabled research of whales by collecting their projectile exhalations, has been getting a lot of attention.

It hasn’t hurt that Snotbot has a high-profile fan and patron: Patrick Stewart, the actor best known for helming the Starship Enterprise and leading the X-Men on small and big screens worldwide, appears in the project’s fund-raising video.

But Snotbot is not alone. Since 2013, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been using multi-copters to collect whale snot and high-resolution full-body images of endangered great whales.

After testing multiple iterations of drone hardware and software designs on expeditions off the shores of New Zealand, Chile, and New England, the team has arrived at their current flier of choice: a six-propeller multi-copter 32 inches in diameter, equipped to collect both images and breath samples from endangered humpback and right whales while the creatures are swimming at sea.

Read the full story from TakePart