Young Humpback Fouled In Fishing Gear CHATHAM — Thanks to a cooperative effort from two marine conservation groups, a young humpback whale has a chance at growing old. Shark spotters with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy are credited with reporting the whale calf in trouble off Chatham last Tuesday. The calf had a black rope caught in its mouth and a large tangle of rope around its tail when rescuers fr...

CHATHAM -- ‘Tis the season for lights, wreaths, inflatable Santas and other traditional holiday decorations. But a pod of whales? Chatham is the latest Cape community to get on board with the holiday giants. The larger-than-life -sized metal sculptures have become a unique fixture in the region, helping bring an added dose of holiday cheer to the region. “Peop...

CHATHAM — For researchers hoping to understand the death of a stranded whale, sometimes the answer is simple: There is no answer. That’s not yet the case with the young humpback that stranded on shoals outside Stage Harbor earlier this month, since researchers are still waiting for lab results from tissue samples taken during a postmortem exam. But absent any indication of illness, they don’t have much to go o...

Following Ambitious Rescue Attempt CHATHAM — Despite a valiant rescue effort, a young humpback whale stranded outside Stage Harbor early Saturday died before it could be moved from the shoal where it had beached itself. The 31-foot male, estimated to be three or four years old, stranded on a sand bar about 200 yards south of Crescent Beach, off Morris Island, and was first spotted early Saturday morning. Ha...

CHATHAM – Seals have been a common sight in Aunt Lydia's Cove for years, popping their heads above the water and swimming about as they wait for a snack to tumble over the side of a fishing boat. But this summer it was different. Beginning in July, gray seals, sometimes numbering in the low hundreds, began hauling out on sand flats on the inside of Tern Island, opposite the fish pier. And instead of a few s...

EASTHAM – The results of a 100-page shark mitigation study were released to the public last week and among all the compiled data there was one clear message: There is no solution available that can guarantee the safety of beachgoers determined to venture into the water during peak shark season. The report, and its primary message, was the subject of a public forum held Oct. 16 at Nauset Regional High School, duri...

BREWSTER – When it comes to living with white sharks, there are many options: stay out of the water, move inland, or, if you're Greg Skomal, a marine biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, you do all that you can to learn as much as you can about the creatures, and ideally save a life or two in the process. Skomal has been doing just that—studying everything possible about white sharks—for more...

WELLFLEET — With emotion still raw after a fatal shark attack on Newcomb Hollow Beach less than two weeks earlier, there was a spirited discussion in Wellfleet last Thursday evening about how to keep beachgoers safe. There were renewed calls for reducing the number of seals off the outer beach as a means of deterring sharks. Most such measures would be prohibited by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, ...

CHATHAM — Conflicts between people and seals are nothing new on the Lower Cape, where fishermen have long faulted them for depleting fish stocks and fouling the water. But with two recent cases of people being bitten by seals in Chatham – and naturally with last weekend’s fatal shark attack in Wellfleet – there are renewed calls to examine the issue. Chatham resident Elaine Gibbs asked the board of selectmen...

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 – Before her family boarded a charter boat for a day of fishing last Wednesday, 17-year-old Beth Fineberg rinsed her hands in the water off the float at the Ryder's Cove town landing. She'd seen seals swimming about 20 feet out and thought nothing of it. Then she felt a sharp pain in her hands. “It came up from under me and bit a couple of fingers,” she said. She immediately pulled her hands away from ...

CHATHAM - Each year, it seems that there are more protected piping plovers nesting on area beaches than the year before. Ospreys, once on the brink of extinction, can be seen everywhere. And don't even start with seals, which can be found by the tens of thousands on Monomoy but are protected by federal law. If you’ve ever wondered why, you’re not alone.   Piping plovers Given the number of times they s...

CHATHAM — Federal officials are issuing a familiar warning to boaters and beach goers. Seal pups are on the shore, and getting too close is dangerous – and illegal. Local police departments get scores of calls from well-intended citizens each spring about young harbor seals on the beach. The pups are often left alone on the shore for as long as 24 hours while the mother feeds just offshore. That behavior is ...

CHATHAM — Officials say a minke whale that spent last Thursday in Stage Harbor before dying in the Oyster River apparently had an underlying health condition that caused it to become stranded. The 18-foot long whale was first spotted in the area of the Eldredge trap dock before 6 a.m. Thursday, and onlookers watched in amazement as it swam under the floats at Old Mill Boat Yard. When it emerged from under th...

CHATHAM — Two young humpback whales that died on Monomoy Island last week are being tracked as part of what researchers call an “unusual mortality event” that includes five dead humpbacks in Massachusetts and 46 around the region in the past two years. On Monday, June 19, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) was alerted to a dead humpback on the island, and notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser...

HARWICH ─ Dissections are a typical part of most high school biology classes, but thanks to a special partnership between Monomoy Regional High School and the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, students in Adriana Picariello's Marine Science class recently had the unique opportunity to necropsy a quartet of Kemp's ridley sea turtles. “The Audubon rescues the stranded turtles and sends them off to...