NECWA News Blog

This coming week, NECWA will be shipping out the last box of ocean sunfish vertebra to a fisheries scientists in Taiwan. Dr. Ching-Tsun Chang is going to use the vertebra for an aging study. This tissue was collected over the past 20 years that NECWA has been rescuing and researching ocean sunfish in New England waters. Ocean sunfish feed off Cape Cod and surrounding waters each spring and summer. In the fall, this species migrates south to warmer wintering areas. Last season, NECWA rescued and documented over 90 ocean sunfish strandings in the New England area. We rescue the live animals and necropsy the carcasses.  All tissues and data collected from carcasses is shared with other researchers in the US and around the world to support their research and to support our understanding of this very unusual species. NECWA is an all-volunteer nonprofit and the only organization that rescues this unusual marine misfit. Help us do this very important work. To support this and other marine...

Happy Happy!  Horseshoe Crabs are vital to our health and overall well-being given the use of their blood products in our medical industry. We encourage everyone to learn more about horseshoe crabs and to become involved in their protection and conservation.

Local wildlife artist, marine biologist, and educator, Nick Mayer, and his wife Amy recently visited the Mattapoisett Central School to conduct a series of painting workshops with teachers and students. Teacher Ben Squire has been part of NECWA's Southcoast Terrapin Project's Headstart Program for many years and has involved the school in this very important activity. After the workshops, Nick and Amy joined NECWA staff and interns, as well as Ben Squired and family. as NECWA worked-up the 2 diamondback terrapins that were part of Ben's Headstart program for the school's he oversees. This gave NECWA interns a great opportunity to train with a live terrapin as they start their summer internship program with our Southcoast Terrapin Project. Then the group headed to Marion to release these cuties in the marsh close to where they emerged from their nest. Saying goodbye to our Headstart terrapins is always difficult but so fulfilling when you think about how this program i...

          June marks the beginning of NECWA’s season of assisting diamondback terrapin turtles as they attempt to nest comfortably within sandy areas of Massachusetts. Since diamondback terrapins typically return to the same location each year to next, this task has become increasingly perilous for the turtles as they must traverse new roadways and avoid being struck by vehicles in order to reach their nesting areas.  On June 7 th , NECWA volunteers located one diamondback terrapin nest in a Marion turtle garden and surrounded it with a protective cage to dissuade predators, such as foxes and raccoons, from consuming the eggs within. Furthermore, NECWA volunteers assisted three adult female diamondback terrapins spotted in Wareham.  Unlike the populations of land-dwelling turtles during the spring, which typically include sizable numbers of both male and female turtles, semi-aquatic turtles discovered on land, such as terrapins, are predominantly ...

  We wish you a very happy World Ocean's Day. Keep fighting for our oceans and the amazing life that calls it home.  One way to support World Ocean's Day is to write your congressmen/women and the President to encourage them to stop the Trump Administration's dismantling of the ocean-floor observation network. This network collects critical climate data on coastal environments, marine ecosystems and powerful global ocean currents. These arrays also help scientists measure and track biogeochemical cycles, marine food webs, and coastal dynamics, and fisheries. This network has provided continuous, real-time climate data to researchers around the world for over 25 years. To learn more, check out these websites: CNN The Guardian

Yesterday (May 18, 20926) NECWA intern Natalie Hartley joined NECWA volunteer staff members Seth Cohen and Kathy Miller for a horseshoe crab survey sponsored by Mass Audubon at Wellfleet Bay. These spawning surveys help scientists at the Div. of Marine Fisheries estimate population size and status for this very important, key stone species. NECWA provides these type of activities to all interns to support their professional growth and development. This type of field and lab work allows high school and college interns interested in marine biology and marine science to grow in their field of choice and to build their resume.  Hopefully these types of experiences will help our interns move on to the next internship, job, or degree program. NECWA works with over 60 interns each year and we feel that this is a very important mission for our organization. Often there is no other way to get the experience needed than to do. This type of hands-on learning is essential for our intern's grow...

Here are 2 of NECWA's Headstart terrapins filmed this week in the Bourne Elementary School. This beautiful pair is getting a late afternoon bite to eat under the supervision of STEM teacher Ms. Toni Perry. Ms. Perry has been a long-term participant in NECWA's Headstart program and does an incredible job with the kids, the terrapins, and this conservation mission. Click HERE to watch the TikTok video clip. 

Hot off the press! "This week we're heading to New England to get to know its very large, blobby, thick-tailed electric ray that's super cool but not well-understood. In this episode, we get a peek into the torpedo ray's personality and deep dive into the how-tos and value of rescuing and necropsying stranded fish. Guy ponders if anyone has used uterine "milk" to make a cheese and Katrina wonders about historical accounts of these fish being used to cure migraines and gout. Our guest is Carol "Krill" Carson from the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance." To listen to the podcast with NECWA President and Founder, Krill Carson, click HERE .