Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Here’s why thousands of squid washed up in Provincetown

June 9, 2026 — Beachgoers in Provincetown experienced a surprise Friday when thousands of squid were found washed up on the shore. The legions of dead cephalopods sparked ample discussion on social media and plenty of rumors, but experts say the event was perfectly normal.

Facebook user Jeff Krehely posted a video clip online last Friday morning showing a copious amount of squid strewn about the sand, one of multiple clips circling the internet that garnered confused and shocked reactions.

The next day, the Provincetown Harbormaster’s Office cleared the air in a statement posted online.

“The squid are NOT dying from a toxic event, red tide, or pollution. This is a completely natural process!” the harbormaster wrote.

Read the full article at Boston.com

Thousands of dead squid wash up on Provincetown beach

June 8, 2026 — Thousands of dead squid washed up on the beach in Provincetown Harbor on Saturday, sparking wild speculation on social media.

Officials, however, said there’s no dangerous substance floating in the water for bathers to be concerned about.

“The squid are NOT dying from a toxic event, red tide, or pollution,” read the statement from the Provincetown harbormaster’s office. “This is a completely natural process!”

The phenomenon is a natural part of the life cycle for the Atlantic longfin inshore squid, officials said. Squid migrate close to shore to spawn offspring, and like many species, die shortly after spawning.

Usually, the “mass spawning die-off” happens underwater, where the bodies are quickly eaten by fish, crabs, and other marine predators. In this case, the wind and tide pushed the dying squid up onto the beach, officials said.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

Two New Bedford-area fishermen mourned as Coast Guard investigates capsizing

March 11, 2026 — In the last few days, Sherry Holcomb has gotten a few packages. Sunglasses, a pair of flashlights, and a Q-tip holder embossed with a skull. They were ordered by her late husband — a mostly retired commercial fisherman — before he died at sea last week.

She’s also gotten visitors — announced and unannounced — there to help her navigate what comes next, ask questions or offer up a lasagna.

But she hasn’t gotten many answers.

Why did the fishing vessel that Truett “Gene” Holcomb was captaining last week capsize just three miles off of Provincetown? How could that happen when the water was like “glass,” as Holcomb told Sherry in a phone call late Thursday morning — the last time they spoke?

By 11:58 a.m. that day, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report from two witnesses of a capsized vessel. It was the Yankee Rose, the boat Holcomb had recently called from. The 46-foot dragger is painted forest green, but what Coast Guard rescuers saw on scene was her rusted keel.

The federal agency dispatched rescue boats, along with a Jayhawk helicopter and fixed-wing plane.

By about 12:30 p.m., responders from the Coast Guard and Massachusetts Environmental Police recovered a man from the water, 37-year-old Angel Nieves of New Bedford. They brought him to the pier to Provincetown Fire Rescue, where they determined resuscitation was not possible, according to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office.

By around 3:45 p.m., the vessel sank.

And by 1:27 p.m. the next day, the Coast Guard called off the search for Holcomb, who might have been in the wheelhouse when the vessel capsized. His body has not been recovered as of Tuesday.

The Coast Guard and the Massachusetts Environmental Police are investigating the accident.

“Screamin’ Gene,” as Holcomb was known by fellow fisherman, had escaped possible death last month, just days before the capsizing. He found Nieves unconscious on the Yankee Rose from apparent carbon monoxide exposure on Feb. 26 and called 911, according to Nieves’ fiancée, Danielle Jeffrey. The fumes were so strong that they sent six first responders to the hospital for evaluation.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘He was my rock’: Widow mourns New Bedford fisherman lost off Cape Cod

March 10, 2026 — When Sherry Holcomb first heard Truett Holcomb’s Southern drawl, a single word was all it took.

“The first thing he said — ‘Hello’ — he already had my heart,” she recalled of her husband’s accent, which never faded after he left Virginia for New England.

Sherry Holcomb is now mourning her husband of nearly 10 years and hoping his body will be recovered from the fishing vessel Yankee Rose, which sank off the coast of Provincetown last week, killing Truett and Angel Nieves, 37.

Truett Eugene Holcomb, 61, was a longtime commercial fisherman. For his family, his loss has left an aching void.

“It’s going to be hard to do this without him,” Sherry Holcomb said Monday.

Truett Holcomb, who was at the helm of the Yankee Rose, spent most of his life on the water, she said. He began fishing as a teenager and eventually became a boat captain.

The job suited him, she said, describing her husband as a man who felt most at home when at sea. Fishing was not just Truett’s calling, it was his “bread and butter,” she said.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe

Rare Right Whale Sightings Reported Along New England Shoreline

May 24, 2022 — Several people have reported rare sightings of North Atlantic Right Whales this month along the New England coastline from Provincetown to Portsmouth.

“It is pretty rare to see them that close to shore,” Heather Pettis of the New England Aquarium said.

With its bristle-like baleen plates and distinctive callosities decorating its head to its massive size and characteristic tail flukes, the North Atlantic Right Whale has been entertaining New Englanders this spring with some shoreline shows.

“Sure enough, there was a right whale skim feeding right off of Route 1A,” Pettis said. “This time of year whales sort of leave Cape Cod Bay, where they’ve been feeding over the winter. They disperse and we have these opportunistic sightings pop up.”

Read the full story at NBC Connecticut

MASSACHUSETTS: NPS provides $368k to Coastal Studies

September 8, 2021 — The Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown has received $386,000 from the National Park Service and $75,000 the state of Massachusetts to establish a new Shark Ecology Research Program.

The foundation of the program is an ongoing study conducted by Bryan Legare, a seascape ecologist in the Center’s Marine Geology department.

Legare is examining the relationship between white shark behavior and habitat use in the shallow nearshore waters off the Cape Cod National Seashore to understand how sharks use the environment.

For the last three summers, Legare has deployed a dense array of acoustic receivers in a study area at Head of the Meadow beach in North Truro; he added a second array off Nauset Beach in 2020.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

 

GoFundMe raises over $83K for fishermen presumed lost at sea

November 30, 2020 — Four fishermen lost at sea last week when their fishing vessel, the Emmy Rose, sank off the Massachusetts coast, were “honorable men” who loved their families and the sea, according to a GoFundMe page organized for their grieving families.

“These four men were the best out there. They will be deeply missed, but they will never be forgotten,” the organizer of the page wrote.

The Coast Guard on Tuesday night suspended the search for the four men whose boat sank in eight-foot waves off Provincetown. Crews searched more than 2,000 square miles for 38 hours.

The page, created Wednesday, had raised nearly $83,000 of its $100,000 goal as of Saturday morning. The money funds will go to the families of the Emmy Rose crew who held a candlelight vigil Wednesday night that included about 100 people.

Read the full story at the New York Post

Coast Guard suspends search for missing fishing vessel crew

November 25, 2020 — The Coast Guard said Tuesday it called off the search for the four-member crew of a Maine fishing boat that sank off Massachusetts.

The Coast Guard searched an area of approximately 2,066 square miles for more than 38 hours, Capt. Wesley Hester said in a release.

“The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one,” Hester said. “We extend our condolences to the friends and loved ones of these fishermen during this trying time.”

The 82-foot (25-meter) Emmy Rose, based in Portland, Maine, went down about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, around 1:30 a.m. Monday. It was heading for Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Read the full story at ABC News

Coast Guard searches for four fishermen whose boat sank off Provincetown

November 24, 2020 — The Coast Guard was searching early Tuesday for four fishermen whose boat sank off the coast of Massachusetts, authorities said.

The hunt for signs of the fishermen from the Emmy Rose, an 82-foot commercial fishing vessel that sank early Monday roughly 20 miles off the coast of Provincetown, restarted Tuesday “at first light” by sea and air, Coast Guard officials tweeted.

A crew on USCG Cutter Vigorous searched for the fishermen throughout the night Monday and an aircraft was launched just after dawn Tuesday to continue the search, authorities said.

The Coast Guard in Boston was alerted by the ship’s radio beacon at about 1 a.m. Monday as it sank northeast of Provincetown. The owner of the vessel said four people were on board and calls to the fishing boat’s satellite phone were not answered, Coast Guard officials said in a statement.

Read the full story at the NY Post

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