Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Whale Rescued in Cape Cod Bay a Decade Ago Spotted with Calf

December 29, 2020 — A right whale rescued in Cape Cod Bay a decade ago was recently spotted with a newborn calf in the waters off of North Carolina and Florida, a good sign for the critically-endangered marine animal.

The Center for Coastal Studies said that the calf was one of the first two right whales of the 2021 season, and the mother is right whale #4040, Chiminea.

Chiminea was found entangled in Cape Cod Bay by the Center’s aerial survey team in April 2011, in the waters west of Truro.

The Marine Animal Entanglement Response team cut the entangled then-juvenile whale free of a long line caught in the mouth, after which she swam away free.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Provincetown team disentangles humpback whale off Chatham

August 19, 2019 — The Marine Animal Entanglement Response team (MAER) from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) disentangled a humpback whale yesterday afternoon off of Chatham, MA.

A charter vessel discovered the whale early yesterday morning; they reported it to the CCS Hotline, then stood by the whale until they were relieved by a crew from USCG Chatham. USCG Chatham stood by until the CCS team, accompanied by trainees from Cascadia Research Collective and SR3, arrived on scene.

The female humpback, identified as the 2015 calf of Jabiru, had a buoy line lodged in her mouth and wrapped over her head; the trailing end of the line extended about 40 feet behind her flukes.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

CCS Team Frees Minke Whale from Entanglement, Shark

August 7, 2019 — The Center for Coastal Studies’ Marine Animal Entanglement Response Team freed an entangled minke whale last Thursday off Rockport and saved it from a great white shark.

The 18-foot whale was anchored by gear with rope through its mouth and around its tail.

The whale had a deep cut from the rope and minor bleeding had attracted a great white.

A video showing the extent of the entanglement can be viewed below.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Provincetown rescue team frees entangled right whale off Cape Cod coast

August 7, 2019 — On Friday, Aug. 2 the Marine Animal Entanglement Response team (MAER) from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), in collaboration with the Northeastern Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) partially disentangled a North Atlantic right whale, one of only about 400 individuals left, east of Cape Cod.

The entangled whale was initially discovered in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, on July 4, 2019 by Transport Canada. Despite a horrific entanglement, the whale was highly mobile. On July 19 it was spotted again by an aerial survey team from NEFSC and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. A response team from New England Aquarium (NEAQ) was in the area and succeeded in attaching a telemetry buoy to the whale to track its movements for disentanglement.

Over the next two weeks the whale traveled east, out of the Gulf, then south, past Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. During that time Canadian disentanglement teams made several attempts to free the animal and were able to make some cuts to its entanglement.

Read the full story at Wicked Local