CHATHAM – The North Atlantic right whale found dead on Monomoy Island last week most likely drowned after being entangled in fishing gear, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists from the Yarmouth-based International Fund for Animal Welfare performed a necropsy on the whale Aug. 30 and documented 11 lesions, including several linear depressions and bruises that are co...

CHATHAM – Students returning to Chatham Elementary School this week might not have noticed anything different about the cafeteria, but for some students, a little-used but well-stocked closet will help ensure that they don't go hungry evenings and weekends. The closet will be filled with non-perishable, nutritious food as well as other essentials, which will be given out to students identified by schoo...

Thanks to cooler waters in parts of the Atlantic and a weaker-than-expected “El Nino” equatorial wind pattern, it’s been a quiet Atlantic hurricane season. Each year, it’s like a turn of the roulette wheel – only when the Cape’s number comes up, it won’t be cause for celebration. While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues a seasonal outlook each May for the upcoming hurricane season, its ...

Chatham and Harwich will receive grants from the state's new Navigational Dredging Pilot Program, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced in Hyannis last week. They are two of 11 coastal communities that will share $3.6 million for dredging projects projected to remove a total of nearly 188,000 cubic yards of sand. Chatham will receive $350,000 to dredge the entrance channel to Stage Harbor, as well as the nearby Morr...

With warm weather persisting after Labor Day, beach officials warned swimmers along the Cape's eastern shoreline to be aware that while the crowds may have thinned, sharks are still prowling the waters. In a strongly worded statement last week, Orleans Natural Resources Manager/Harbormaster Nathan Sears said he was concerned beachgoers aren't taking the situation seriously enough. “Regardless of how much si...

CHATHAM – The popular observation deck at the fish pier was closed Monday after a support post was damaged by a fork lift. Repairs were made Tuesday and the building commissioner authorized its reopening, but the incident highlighted long-standing safety concerns at the popular attraction. Wharfinger Michael Ryder secured the deck and shut down access by the public early Monday after being informed of the inci...

CHATHAM – The body of a rare North Atlantic right whale washed up on Monomoy Island last week. There was no obvious sign of the cause of death, said International Fund For Animal Welfare spokesperson Melanie Mahoney. The body was “pretty heavily decomposed” and appeared to be a juvenile, not a fully-grown adult, she said. The carcass was previously spotted by a recreational boater floating near Martha's Vin...

CHATHAM – The observation deck at the fish pier was closed Monday after a support post was damaged by a fork lift. Wharfinger Michael Ryder secured the deck and shut down access by the public after being informed of the incident by Red's Best, one of the two tenants that lease the packing building. In an email, Ryder said the deck would be closed until the damage can be properly repaired. Plans are in th...

CHATHAM – Chatham Charlie was a “heart dog,” a special dog out of many beloved dogs, who wiggled his way deep into hearts. For Charlie’s “humans” Paul and Robin Litwin and, it turns out, for an awful lot of other people, the beautiful golden retriever with his huge smile and extraordinary personality made each day a little better. In his capacity as unofficial “ambassador” for the town of Chatham, Charlie lure...

Fred Bennett has been a fisherman for about 60 years and he just stared, perplexed, at a graph supposedly showing a halibut, tagged to track its progress, moving in the water column. He shook his head in consternation and looked at fellow captain Mike Anderson who has spent more than 40 years on the water. How is that possible? Bennett wondered. Anderson was laughing. It’s not, he said – unless the st...

CHATHAM – The central portion of the iconic house at the corner of Shore Road and Seaview Street will be saved from the wrecking ball. Peter Polhemus of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Builders Architects told the historical commission last week that the firm has been working “quite intensely” with owners Ronald and Ann Cami on a design that will incorporate the original 1927-section of the building at 233 Seaview St....

What convinced Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, that filmmaker David Wittkower could tell the story of the decline of the New England commercial fishing industry was that he wanted to interview fishermen and let them speak in their own voice. “That never happened,” she said. In most stories in the media about the industry, fishermen's words “are always twisted,” she...