NECWA News Blog

Spring Marine Wildlife Cruise Sunday, June 13 th  from 8 am until 4 pm. Join us for our all day marine excursion to view seabirds, whales, dolphins, basking sharks and ocean sunfish along the Mass coast. Our upcoming Seabird & Whale Tale excursion is scheduled for Sunday, June 13 th from 8 am until 4 pm. This marine adventure is an annual fundraising event for NECWA and supports marine wildlife education, research and conservation in the New England area. This fundraising event receives as sistance from Capt. John Boats, Mass Audubon South Shore Sanctuaries, Natural History Services and Bridgewater State College. Enjoy our guided wildlife commentary by David Clapp (Natural History Services), Jim Sweeney (South Shore Bird Club) and Joanne Jarzobski (Capt. John Boats). Travel aboard the “Tails of the Sea”, a 110’ luxury commercial whale-watching vessel owned and operated by Capt. John Boats ( www.captjohn.com ).  Leave from the Plymouth Town Pier at 8 am and return by 4 pm. While of...

Today, NECWA staff members, Patrick and Krill headed down to the beaches of Manomet to check out a report of a dead, stranded Atlantic white-sided dolphin. Atlantic white-sided dolphins are common to our area in the spring, summer and fall, but tend to head further offshore and south in the wintertime. Dolphins are very social and travel in pods or family units. But often a single animal will wash ashore along our Cape and New England beaches.   This carcass was reported by a local resident of the area, Donald, who had found the carcass the previous day. When Patrick and Krill arrived on site, it was clear that this animal had been dead for a long time. And the numerous cuts and scars on the animal's body were probably the result of the carcasses being moved up and down the rocky beach. Body measurements, photographs and teeth were collected and this information was sent to researchers at the Marine Mammal Rescue Department associated with the New England Aquarium (NEAq) in Boston....

NECWA would like to thank Wayne Petersen for the following trip report and sightng list from our recent Seabird & Whale Tales excursion. Wayne once again is able to capture the essence of the trip making you feel like you are back on the boat once again!   Thanks also to our passengers (birders and whale folk alike) who helped to put together the sighting list.  This trip was a success due to the tremendous group effort of many people including our captain and crew, NECWA staff, interns, guest naturalists and so many others. Thanks to all for making this trip as memorable, fun and as exciting as our previous all day trips.  Also, thanks to marine biologist and CJB naturalist Fred Wasti for creating an online gallery of his images from this trip.  Click HERE to view Fred's amazing photo gallery. And thanks to Patrick Farah for providing a GIS map that shows our path offshore. This map is at the top of this blog report.  Hope to see you this season for our June and September Sea...

October 25, 2009 Beach Cleanup on Scusset Beach NECWA staff and friends had a very successful beach cleanup this morning and had a lot of fun as well. Starting at 9 am, everyone met at Scusset Beach State Reservation to begin a two hour cleanup effort. Present were NECWA staff, student interns and their families both young and old.  This cleanup effort was part of the COASTSWEEP program. Volunteers throughout Massachusetts turn out in large numbers each year for COASTSWEEP, 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.  COASTSWEEP is part of the International Coastal Cleanup organized by The Ocean Conservancy in Washington, DC. Participants all over the world collect marine debris and record the types of trash they collect. This information is then used to help reduce future marine debris problems. To learn more about Coastsweep and their ...

NECWA staff, interns and friends returned to Sandwich Beach to find the ocean sunfish that had stranded on the beach just the other day. When any marine animal strands and then washes onto a beach, it is a very sad event and one that we try to prevent whenever possible. In fact, NECWA had responded to this same ocean sunfish the other day when it was still alive but was in danger of stranding on this beach. Although we were not successful in saving this fish, the carcass can still provide valuable information to us so in an sense, their death is not a waste.  So starting around 10 am, Krill, Nick Schromburg and Cory Heston began a 5 hour long process of conducting an external and internal examine of this animal. They were assisted by other NECWA staff members and friends including Belinda Rubinstein and Rick. Many people walking the beach were very curious as to what was going on, and this also provided an opportunity for NECWA to educate and involve many members of the general public,...

Around 3:00 pm, a call came into NECWA about a live ocean sunfish ( Mola mola ) that was in danger of stranding on Sandwich Beach, a public beach just over the Sagamore bridge on Cape Cod. The MA Environmental Police were alerted to this possible stranding and called Krill for assistance. When Krill arrived on the scene, the sunfish was still alive, but was not fairing well since it was very close to the beach and was getting pounded by the crashing waves. This animal had been in the surf for over 2 hours and was in great danger of stranding on the beach.  Krill was introduced to Terry, the gentleman who first notified MA Environmental Police of this potential stranding. As Krill donned her was dry suit and got in the water with the animal, Terry headed down to a local scuba shop to see if their staff could provide assistance. The plan would be to push the ocean sunfish out into deeper water and past the surf line. This was not going to be an easy feat given the size of the waves and t...

UPDATE: Rescheduling of Cleanup Effort on Scusset Beach to raindate! Beach Cleanup at Scusset Bea ch Sunday, October 25th from 9 am to 11 am Due to the rain that is predicted for this coming Saturday, October 24th, we have reschedule our beach cleanup for Sunday, October 25th from 9 am to 11 am.  We hope you can still join us for this very important event. Participating in a beach cleanup is one small way that we can tackle issues related to marine debris. NECWA is partnering with Capt. John Boats for this cleanup effort that will be part of Coastsweep, the beach-wide cleanup effort by the State. Participants all over the world collect marine debris and record the types of trash they collect. This information is then used to help reduce future marine debris problems. Hope to see you on Sunday.  Sincerely, Carol "Krill" Carson krillcarson@mac.com 508-566-0009 Please join  NECWA  staff and working members for a beach cleanup at Scusset Beach this Sunday, October 25th. This clea...