A North Atlantic Mystery: Case of the Missing Whales by Rebecca Kessler: Yale Environment 360

A North Atlantic Mystery: Case of the Missing Whales by Rebecca Kessler: Yale Environment 360:

Endangered North Atlantic right whales are disappearing from customary feeding grounds off the U.S. and Canadian coasts and appearing in large numbers in other locations, leaving scientists to wonder if shifts in climate may be behind the changes.

by rebecca kessler

Every summer and fall, endangered North Atlantic right whales congregate in the Bay of Fundy between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to gorge on zooplankton. Researchers have documented the annual feast since 1980, and well over 100 whales typically attend, a significant portion of the entire species. Only this year, they didn't. Just a dozen right whales trickled in — 

New England Aquarium

Right whales were not found in their usual numbers this summer in the Bay of Fundy.

a record low in the New England Aquarium's 34-year-old monitoring program. And that comes on the heels of two other low-turnout years, 2010 and 2012. 

Numbers of the critically endangered marine mammal have been ticking up in recent years just past 500 individuals, so no one thinks the low turnout in the Bay of Fundy augurs a decline in the species as a whole. The right whales must have gone elsewhere. But where? And more importantly, why? 

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Thanksgiving in Maine

Back River

Elwyns wharf, Salt Pond Road

Elwyn's traps

More on "The Mortal Sea - Environment, Law, and History

Another review of Jeffrey Bolster's The Mortal Sea - which restructures the ecological history of the north Atlantic in a sophisticated and careful analysis of the ideological and material matrix that led to the disastrous state of our ocean fishery. - GWC
More on "The Mortal Sea - Environment, Law, and History:



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Buzzards Bay - G 1 Can - Pescadotes

The latest from Joe Warren at Pescadotes. The tide rips in Buzzards Bay, throwing up a steep chop when the ebb meets the summer sea breeze.  Joe Warren captures that here.  My boat - a Buzzards Bay 14 - has 750 lbs. of lead at the bottom to push the 17 foot sloop through such a chop. - gwc

onecanFINAL.jpg (1600×891):



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Naked female scientist tries to tame beluga whales in the arctic | Mail Online

For the advancement of science.
Naked female scientist tries to tame beluga whales in the arctic | Mail Online:

Who is studying whom?

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The Costa Concordia Parbuckling in Pictures [24 High Quality Photos] | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News

The Costa Concordia Parbuckling in Pictures [24 High Quality Photos] | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News:

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Seamus Heaney's - Favorite Songs for a Desert Island

A week ago we went to Favorite Poems: In Tribute to Seamus Heaney, presented by the Irish Arts Center at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn.  The evening began, as the crowd gathered, with songs the great poet said he would want to have with him if he were a castaway stranded on a desert island.  The original was broadcast in 1989 on BBC's Desert Island Discs.

Paul Brady – “Arthur McBride”

Joe Heaney – “Roisin Dubh”

Luke Kelly/Dubliners – “Raglan Road”

Declan O’ Rourke – “Galileo”

Lisa Hannigan & the Chieftains – “My Lagan Love”

The Wailin’ Jennys – “The Parting Glass”

McGarrigle Sisters – “Hard Times Come Again No More”

Paul Brady – “The Lakes of Ponchartrain”

John McCormack – “Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms”

Joni Mitchell – “Both Sides Now”

Planxty – “My Heart is Tonight In Ireland”

Iarla O’Lionaird  – “Taimse Im’ Clodladh”

Cat Power – “The Greatest”

David Hammond – “My Aunt Jane” can't find it so try Ardboe Heritage

Gillian Welch – “April 14th Part 1”

Julie Feeney – “Just A Few Hours”

The Cake Sale (Gary Lightbody & Lisa Hannigan) – “Some Surprise”

Joe Heaney – “An Buinnean Bull”

Iris Dement – “Our Town”

Cara Dillon & Paul Brady – “Streets of Derry”

Readings from Favorite Poems in Tribute to Seamus Heaney

Intro: Gabriel Byrne IN A FIELD

1. Elise Paschen, BLACKBERRY PICKING

2. Meghan O'Rourke, MID-TERM BREAK

3. Colum McCann, MOSSBAWN (SUNLIGHT and DIGGING)

4. Colette Bryce, A SOFA IN THE FORTIES

5. Conor O'Callaghan, CLEARANCES #4

6. Alice McDermott, ST KEVIN & THE BLACKBIRD

7. Bernard O'Donoghue, AT THE WELLHEAD

8. Marie Howe, from SEEING THINGS

9. Matthew Sweeney, THE TOLLUND MAN

10. Nick Laird, STATION ISLAND Sec VII 

11. Kevin Holohan, SINGING SCHOOL #4 SUMMER 1969

12.  Henri Cole, OYSTERS

13. Craig Morgan Teicher, SQUARINGS

14. Mark Doty, from FROM THE REPUBLIC OF CONSCIENCE

15. Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, reading her own poem newly written for Seamus

16. Enda Walsh, CLEARANCES #3

17. Paul Muldoon, KEEPING GOING

Gray whale dies bringing us a message — with stomach full of plastic trash | Realnews24.com

Gray whale dies bringing us a message — with stomach full of plastic trash | Realnews24.com: "July 29, 2013, a sperm whale was stranded on Tershelling, a northern island in the Netherlands. A rescue attempt was attempted, but unfortunately the whale died. A young adult at 13.5 meters was taken for a necropsy at the port of Harlington. The sperm whale had plastic in its stomach, an increasing common phenomenon say researchers at the Biodiversity Centre Naturalis. In  March of this year, a 10 meter long sperm whale washed up on Spain’s South Coast. This whale had swallowed 59 different plastic items totaling over 37 pounds. Most of this plastic consisted of transparent sheeting used to build greenhouses in Almeria and Grenada for the purpose of tomatoes for the European market. The rest was plastic bags, nine meters of rope, two stretches of hosepipe, two small flower pots, and a plastic spray canister. Cause of death was intestinal blockage."

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Farm fish are part of the overfishing problem - video

Why is fish farming part of the problem?  Because farmed fish eat harvested wild fish.

Classic Video: Fishing Boats Battle Grey River Bar During Flood | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News

Classic Video: Fishing Boats Battle Grey River Bar During Flood | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News:

Here’s a classic video showing fishing boats attempting to cross the Grey River bar during an epic flood. The bar, which located near the city of Greymouth on the northwest coast of New Zealand’s South Island, is notoriously dangerous during flood stages such as this, particularly for those fishing vessels forced to battle the white water in order to reach Greymouth’s port.

No word on if these guys eventually made it across.

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