NECWA News Blog

13th Annual Herring Festival at Oliver Mills Park, Middleboro, MA. Article by Will Singe r.  This weekend was the 13th Annual Herring Run Festival at Oliver Mills Park in Middleboro, MA. For years, I’ve heard legends about this event for it brings the community together to have fun, eat and drink all the while listening to live music by local musicians. Everyone was here to witness a fascinating natural phenomena that happens every spring, river herring migrating from their ocean home to freshwater ponds and lakes in order to spawn.   River Herring refer to two different species of fish that are very similar in appearance and often difficult to tell apart: alewife and blueback herring. They are anadromous fish for each spring they migrate from their ocean. home to freshwater ponds and lakes to breed. This phenomenon typically begin in March, peaks in April, and ends in June. R iver herring travel miles upstream to reach the place where they were born. On this journe...

Yesterday, March 21, 2026, NECWA was once again part of Cooler Middleborough, a community festival that brings together different organizations all focused on making the world a better place for us and for the organisms that also call it home. NECWA brought our 40' inflatable whale model and set-up 6 tables with lots of educational material available to festival participants.  Kids and adults had a great time viewing our inflatable model of Salt, the Humpback Whale. Not only could you view Salt from the outside, but you can also go inside her and view inflated organs, like the heart, lungs, and digestive tract.  NECWA also set-up our Song Tent where we play and discuss humpback song. Kids and adults can go inside and listen to humpback song as they learn about its purpose and changing musical structure.      NECWA also provided 6 tables filled with various educational activities. Some tables displayed marine artifacts like whale bones, whale baleen, shark j...

On Saturday, March 7th, NECWA staff members Kathy Miller and Deb Munson presented a poster on thresher shark strandings on Cape Cod. This conference was sponsored by Mass Audubon and held at the Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable. This poster was put together by Krill Carson, John Chisholm (State Shark Biologist), Deb Munson, and Kathy Miller. The poster was very well received by conference participants. NECWA responds to strandings of various species of marine wildlife, esp. those that are overlooked by other organizations. We call them the "Marine Misfits." NECWA has been rescuing and documenting strandings for over 20 years which has created a very important long-term database for many marine misfits, including the ocean sunfish, torpedo ray, and various species of sharks. Please donate to NECWA to keep us in the field conducting rescues and research activities. We are a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and studying New England's unique coastal marine w...

Due to the recent Blizzard, DMF is extending the public comment period for Horseshoe Crabs harvested in the waters of MA. The second and last remote public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 4th, starting at 6 pm. Please register and attend this Zoom meeting if possible. If you can not attend and comment via Zoom, you can email written comments through Friday, March 6th. Email to Director Dan McKiernan at marine.fish@mass.gov. The Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens has a great page on this species, the issues, and how to help. Go to https://pinebarrensalliance.org/horseshoe-crab-advocates/ . Also check out the Massachusetts Horseshoe Crab Coalition at https://horseshoecrabs.org We need good management of this species to ensure its continued survival in the coastal waters of New England. Your voice can make a difference. Learn the facts and make a statement on behalf of these amazing creatures.

  Dr. McCarthy holding the NECWA tissue samples. NECWA has recently collaborated with Dr. Morgan McCarthy, a postdoctoral researcher within the Department of Population Analysis and Monitoring at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Dr. McCarthy is a geneticist will be looking at tissue collected by NECWA from ocean sunfish and torpedo rays carcasses that have stranded in the New England area.  Ocean Sunfish tissue samples NECWA values these collaborations for it supports the research of scientists like Dr. McCarthy, a dedicated and passionate researcher working to better understand these unusual species. In this photo, Dr. McCarthy is just back from the US, holding the tissue samples that NECWA provided. Can't wait to hear the results of his analysis

The marine wildlife stranding season is not over yet! This afternoon, NECWA received a call about a stranded torpedo ray just north of Bay View Beach, Dennis, MA. Laura and Jim, both members of a community walking group, Dennis Beach Walkers, rushed down to the beach and found that the ray was still alive. NECWA volunteers, Krill and Finn were on the way down from off Cape. Once on-site, Krill did her annual polar plunge and walked the fish back out to deep water. Due to the extensive tidal flats in that area, the fish washed back in, so Krill did another round of polar plunges to finally get the fish into deeper water. This fish had been stranded out of the water for over 45 minutes and was very weak when the team arrived on-site. But when they picked up the tail stock to get it on the sled, it wiggled and tried to pull its tail back which are all good signs. Fingers crossed that this animal makes it. Please the NECWA stranding hotline (508-566-0009) if you come upon a stranded torped...