NECWA News Blog

by Ben Waltz, 2022 NECWA Intern In the early parts of the Summer, when horseshoe crabs are most abundant, volunteers perform surveys to better understand how the horseshoe crab population is faring. New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) is one of the organizations that volunteers to take part in these surveys, organized by Mass Audubon. The data from these surveys is sent to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) who then use this information to make decisions about the best conservation practices for horseshoe crabs. One of the perks of these surveys is that you get to be at the beach, enjoy the nice weather, and learn. When I took part in a survey, I got to see what goes on behind the scenes. One thing I learned quickly was that female horseshoe crabs tend to be much larger than males. Size alone isn’t enough to tell them apart which is why we need to flip them over and check their pincers. Male’s pedipalps have an appearance that looks like a boxing glove ...

During the 2020 stranding season on Cape Cod, NECWA documented the first stranded adult shirttail mola. This is a more tropical species compared to the common mola, the species that typically strands on the shores of Cape Cod each fall and early winter.  On April 16, 2021, Cory Farrelly, a NECWA volunteer, who recently graduated from UMASS Dartmouth in Marine Biology, presented a poster on this stranding in collaboration with NECWA's President Krill Carson and other researchers also studying these unusual species.  Click on the poster below to enlarge. Working with our interns and volunteers on scientific posters and presentations is what NECWA is about. This provides the experience and opportunities that these young professionals need as they grow in the field of marine science.  Please donate to NECWA to help us continue this important mission. NECWA works with over 60 high school and college interns each year as we train the scientists, journalist, educators, etc. of t...