NECWA News Blog

Beach Cleanup at Ellisville Harbor State Park This morning, Captain John Whale Watching and Fishing Tours joined with the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) and students at Northbrook Academy, to conduct a beach cleanup through the Coastsweep program. The is the second annual beach cleanup conducted by this trio that represents a local business, a volunteer nonprofit organization and a local private school. Coastsweep is the statewide beach cleanup sponsored by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and coordinated by the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) of the University of Massachusetts Boston. This is the 23rd year of beach cleanups coordinated by Coastsweep. COASTSWEEP is part of the International Coastal Cleanup organized by The Ocean Conservancy in Washington, DC. 201 marks the International Coastal Cleanup's 25 th anniversary. Participants all over the world collect marine debris and record the types of trash they collect. This cleanup even...

On August 1, some of the NECWA interns met at Krill's house for a photo-identification workshop. Attending this workshop included NECWA intern Tammy, Shaya, Kelly, Michael and Theo. Unable to make this meeting was Tobias, Nick and Tiffany. The first order of business was to have dinner and catch up on all the news offshore. Lots of fun chatting over pizzas, hummus, salsa and chips and fresh fruit. Once everyone was full and Michael finished his juggling act (And an impressive one at that!), Krill lead the workshop that reviewed the basics of photo-identification (or photo-ID for short) and how it is applied to research on baleen whales, especially humpback whales. Over the course of the evening, interns learned how to do their own photo-analysis using the photographs they collect when working as research assistants aboard Captain John Whale Watching and Fishing Tour vessels ( www.captjohn.com ). NECWA would like to take this moment to send a special thank you to Captain John Whale ...

NECWA participated in the annual Plymouth Waterfront Festival for the second year in a row on Saturday August 28th. Dedicated staff members, interns and supporters helped make this event fun for all --participants and spectators alike. We would like to thank NECWA staff members Marianne, Pat, Val, Lauren and Art and volunteers Mary Nash. We would also like to send a big thank you to our NECWA interns Nick, Shaya and Michael as well as Lauren's husband Tony. What a great job by one and all. Our booth between Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II was crowded all day with visitors from both the local area and from as far away as France, China, Japan, and Russia. The kids had great fun designing and making their own fossil sharkstooth necklaces with the help of NECWA staff amd volunteers. Many of the children had studied sharks of different types in their school science classes and were eager to tell us what they knew about sharks while making their necklaces. And the design...

Art Exhibit by Magaly Ponce If you find yourself downtown in the Providence Arts District please visit my exhibition, a culmination of two years observing whales off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The artwork will then travel to Cape Verde, Lisbon and the Azores. InSight-s: A Multimedia Installation in Three Continents 65 Eddy Street Providence, Rhode Island. OPENING: Wednesday, September 1, 5-10pm GALLERY HOURS: Wednesday, September 1, 2010 through September 15, 12-6pm CLOSING: Thursday, September 16th, 5-10pm during Gallery Night Sponsors and Support: The work is supported by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, RISCA Center for the Advancement of Research and Teaching, CART Bridgewater State University Cornish Associates New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, NECWA The Whaling Museum, New Bedford MA Cape Verde University, Uni-CV. Magaly Ponce http://resextensa.net/insights.html

June 13th 2010 SAWT Excursion 8 am to 4 pm Tails of the Sea Below are trip reports from David Clapp and Joanne Jarzobski. Enjoy! Trip Report by David Clapp The day started a bit gloomy and it wasn't until we returned to the harbor eight hours later that we saw the sun. It was foggy offshore all day. It wasn’t cold but it was cool and the rain shower about thirty minutes away from the pier was a bit of an eyeopener. The Captain John boat with a group of hardy whale and bird watchers aboard headed east toward Stellwagen Bank. The sands of Duxbury Beach were not visible through the fog but Long Beach (Plymouth Beach) was seen pretty well as we left the harbor. There are few mammal predators on the beach this year so the tern colony that has been on the sandy stretch was solid and even larger than last year. It appears that there are 5000 pairs of Common Terns and a few pairs of Arctic and Roseate terns. The Least Terns are there as well but their breeding numbers are a bit fluid. ...