Saving Seafood

Cape Cod, New Bedford fishermen train to survive the winter sea

December 21, 2020 — Temperatures at the Sandwich Marina on Friday morning stood at the freezing mark, with a bitter wind and driving snow. Despite this, 25 crewmen and captains from Cape and New Bedford fishing vessels sat down in slushy snow to wriggle into what could be the most important article of clothing they will ever try on.

They call them Gumby suits, and it’s easy to see why. A survival suit is bright orange with oversized hands and feet and a tight-fitting hood that reveals only a small moon of flesh: eyes, nose and mouth.

The water temperature in the marina was 47 degrees, and Dan Orchard, the vice president of Fishing Partnership Support Services, had the men suit up and jump into the water within a half-hour of arrival. The shock of going from comfort to cold, disorienting water temperatures was about as close to the real thing as could be had shoreside.

Orchard and other staff from the fishing partnership were conducting a day of survival training for fishermen after captains requested it following the sinking of the Emmy Rose. Four crew members and their captain died with the wreck 20 miles east of Provincetown in the early morning hours of Nov. 23.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Texas Organizations Help Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles from Massachusetts

December 8, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On Monday, December 7, 120 sea turtles flew south thanks to Turtles Fly Too. These sea turtles were found on Cape Cod, Massachusetts beaches suffering from hypothermia and other complications in recent weeks. They will continue to receive treatment and care from seven facilities in Texas.

Of the more than 500 cold-stunned sea turtles that have washed up so far this year, the vast majority are endangered Kemp’s ridleys. Green and loggerhead sea turtles have been rescued, as well. Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary responds to all of these cold-stunned turtles. They transport live turtles to two Massachusetts rehabilitation facilities: the New England Aquarium and the National Marine Life Center.

Sea turtles are cold-blooded and rely on heat from their environment to maintain their body temperatures. When water temperatures drop rapidly, they become lethargic and unable to swim due to the cold. Many of the turtles have pneumonia, and some have other medical conditions or injuries from being washed against rocks. They require expert care—but with so many turtles, the rehabilitation facilities are filling up. And it’s only early December. The cold-stun season usually lasts until late December or early January.

Read the full release here

MAINE: Portland fishing community mourns the crew of the Emmy Rose

November 27, 2020 — Members of Portland’s fishing community gathered on the city’s waterfront Wednesday night to remember and honor the four Maine men who were lost at sea when the Emmy Rose sank off Cape Cod early Monday.

Candlelight vigils were held on the Maine State Pier and on the Portland Fish Pier, with roughly 100 people between both sites talking about the men, their lives and their devotion to fishing.

At the Maine State Pier, family and friends placed candles around a makeshift memorial that said, “Family is the anchor that holds us through life’s storms.” At the Portland Fish Pier, candles were placed in front of the fishermen’s memorial that says, “In memory of those lost at sea.”

The 82-foot Emmy Rose, which was based in Portland, sank early Monday roughly 22 miles northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where 30-knot winds were whipping up 6- to 8-foot waves.

The Coast Guard suspended its search for the boat Tuesday evening.

Read the full story at Central Maine

A dead right whale calf found on North Carolina shore bodes ill for species birth rate, according to experts

November 25, 2020 — Scientists with National Marine Fisheries Service found a North Atlantic right whale calf dead on Friday, Nov. 20, at Cape Lookout National Park in North Carolina, boding ill for the birth rate of a critically endangered species.

The newborn likely died during birth or very soon after, according to a government report issued Monday.

The species’ birth and death rates are under extended scrutiny with an overall population decline to under 400 animals, with a possible threat of extinction.

Right whales visit Cape Cod Bay in the late winter and early spring as part of their annual migratory pattern along the Atlantic coastline from Florida to Canada. The calving season for the whales takes place in the winter off Florida and Georgia.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

Portland-based fishing boat sinks off Massachusetts coast with 4 aboard

November 24, 2020 — The Coast Guard was searching overnight for four crew members who were aboard a Portland-based fishing boat that sank off the coast of Massachusetts early Monday.

The Coast Guard cutter Vigorous, which is home-ported in Virginia Beach, Virginia, would search through the night for the crew members of the 82-foot Emmy Rose, and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft based at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod was scheduled to fly over the search area at first light Tuesday, Coast Guard spokeswoman Amanda Wyrick said on Monday night.

The Coast Guard had not released the names of the boat’s captain, its crew, and the boat’s owner by Monday night, but the daughter of one of the crewmen told News Center Maine (WCSH/WLBZ) that she was not giving up hope.

“I just know if he’s out there. He won’t give up,” Reyann Matthews said of her father, Jeff Matthews.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

66 turtles rescued from Cape Cod beaches, New England Aquarium says

November 20, 2020 — More than 60 turtles stranded on Cape Cod beaches have been rescued so far this fall and taken to New England Aquarium’s sea turtle hospital in Quincy, as rescue workers face new challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic, the aquarium said Thursday.

At Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, employees and volunteers scour the beaches for turtles stunned by the cold weather, sometimes suffering hypothermia and malnutrition, and take them to the sea turtle hospital, the aquarium said in a statement.

Though the season has just begun, 66 turtles have been treated so far, including Kemp’s ridleys, loggerheads, and leatherbacks, and more are expected in the coming days, the aquarium said.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: US Rep. William Keating on track to win sixth term in 9th Congressional District

November 4, 2020 — U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Bourne, appeared on his way to winning a sixth term representing the 9th Congressional District on Tuesday.

Keating, 68, fended off challengers Helen Brady, a Republican from Plymouth, and Michael Manley, an independent from Brewster.

The 9th District comprises 46 municipalities that stretch from Norwell to Fall River and includes Cape Cod and the Islands.

With results in from most Cape and Islands towns and several off-Cape towns, Keating had 63 percent of the vote early Wednesday.

This year’s election was quite different from years past, Keating said Tuesday night. A typical Election Day, he said, begins outdoors in the cold and ends with a large gathering of friends and supporters. But such a celebration could not happen this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is much more than sitting around waiting for results coming in,” he said. “You meet people, share stories and share excitement on what is going to happen. It’s impossible to replicate.”

Read the full story at The Enterprise

Heat waves on Cape Cod may be tied to slowing ocean current

October 19, 2020 — We really baked this summer, with the Northeast and the East Coast experiencing intense heat waves.

In August alone, the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton recorded six days with temperatures over 90 degrees, four more than the average for the month. July had five days with temperatures over 90, two more than the monthly average.

While we often seek relief in the ocean, marine heat waves also occur, and those can adversely affect the creatures and plants that live there and have no refuge except deeper, colder water, if they can find it. Marine heat waves can be deadly: Researchers say “The Blob,” a large mass of warm water that extended down nearly 700 feet along 1,800 miles of North Pacific coastline, may have killed off over 62,000 common murre birds.

While most might expect that air temperatures may be driving those higher water temperatures, oceanic currents play a major role.

The Atlantic Ocean right off our doorstep is one of the fastest-warming ocean bodies on the planet, and some researchers say that may be due to a slowdown of what is known as the Atlantic conveyor belt, a massive offshore current that transports cold water from the Arctic south to the equator and returns warm water to the north and to Europe.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Trump’s pitch to Maine lobstermen falls flat

August 7, 2020 — President Trump is struggling to win over Maine voters with his recent pledge to lift restrictions for the state’s lobster industry.

Trump was beaming when he traveled to the state just two months ago to tell lobstermen he was reversing protections for some 5,000 miles of ocean territory in a bid to open it to fishing.

“You’re going to go fishing in that area now that you haven’t seen for a long time,” Trump said at a roundtable with representatives from Maine’s fishing industry. “Lobstermen and seafood producers, I want to just congratulate you.”

But the state’s lobstermen aren’t celebrating. That’s because the area Trump aims to reopen is 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod — far beyond the reach of Maine’s day-boat lobstermen.

“This doesn’t help the Maine fisherman at all,” Leroy Weed, 79, who has had a lobster license since he was 10 years old, said of Trump’s reversal of protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off of Cape Cod.

Read the full story at The Hill

Great white sharks have returned to New England

July 30, 2020 — Maine saw its first fatal shark attack in the state’s history Monday when a shark killed a 63-year-old New York woman off Bailey Island, Maine, northeast of Portland.

“Based on the information I have from the state of Maine, including photos of tooth fragments, this was definitely caused by a white shark attack,” says Greg Skomal, a leading Atlantic great white shark expert and senior scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Maine officials invited Skomal to consult on the investigation into the attack.

The return of great white sharks to New England over the past two decades is both a conservation success story and an emerging public safety concern. Though it is extremely rare for a shark to attack—much less kill—a human, incidents are on the rise in New England. Since 2012, there have been five attacks in the region, all in Massachusetts. Only two have been fatal: Monday’s, and the death of a boogie boarder off Cape Cod in 2018. Before 2012, the most recent attack occurred in 1936. (Read about how Cape Cod has grappled with becoming a great white shark hotspot.)

It’s not known precisely how many great white sharks are in New England waters, but a tagging program Skomal started in 2009 suggests the number is growing steadily. Data from a five-year population study he launched in 2014 is still being processed, but he tagged a record-breaking 50 white sharks off Cape Cod in 2019.

Read the full story at National Geographic