Nantucket Harbor update:
from the Inquirer and Mirror web site and from updates from the Nantucket Marine Mammal Stranding team
dolphins and green turtle
a small fuel spill by docks in the harbor, with the current slim scallop harvest pickings, adding insult to injury.
The Town of Nantucket is starting to develop the Shellfish Management plan with the help of a local committee and the Urban Harbors Institute. The creation of a SMP is one of the many action items in our state approved Harbor Plan. I am the chair of the harbor plan implementation committee; come join us for our meetings, the next one is 500 November 18th.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
It's fall on Nantucket
Which means I finally have time to do some blog updates......
this week we have some common dolphins who have wandered into the harbor perhaps as a result of last week's storm. Our area stranding team under the direct guidance and oversight of the new England Aquarium is monitoring their behavior from afar. Please do not attempt to go find or bother these animals while they attempt to figure out how to get back out into their normal habitat.
more about Common dolphins which do strand here (in fact one did last February here at the Nantucket Field Station- pictures tomorrow)
COMMON DOLPHIN (Delphinus delphis)
Physical Characteristics:
• Hourglass pattern on side • Yellowish patch in front • Black stripe from lower jaw to front flipper
and from eye to base of melon • Dorsal fin tall & pointed • Prominent beak
Size:
• Adult: Length up to 8 ft. (250 cm)/ Weight up to 300 lb •
Juvenile: Length 5 – 6.5 ft. (150-200 cm)/ Weight up to 175 lb
Behavior:
• Residents of New England year round • Extremely social, found in schools of 50-1000
• Found mostly offshore, infrequently near shore • Common in mass strandings
an article I wrote last year regarding dolphins and The Cove:
http://www.yesterdaysisland.com/archives/science/8.php
a video posted on Plum from a common dolphin stranding in the Hither Creek/Madaket harbor area a couple of years ago:
www.plumtv.com/videos/nantucket-dolphins-stranded-madaket-harbor/index.html
this week we have some common dolphins who have wandered into the harbor perhaps as a result of last week's storm. Our area stranding team under the direct guidance and oversight of the new England Aquarium is monitoring their behavior from afar. Please do not attempt to go find or bother these animals while they attempt to figure out how to get back out into their normal habitat.
more about Common dolphins which do strand here (in fact one did last February here at the Nantucket Field Station- pictures tomorrow)
COMMON DOLPHIN (Delphinus delphis)
Physical Characteristics:
• Hourglass pattern on side • Yellowish patch in front • Black stripe from lower jaw to front flipper
and from eye to base of melon • Dorsal fin tall & pointed • Prominent beak
Size:
• Adult: Length up to 8 ft. (250 cm)/ Weight up to 300 lb •
Juvenile: Length 5 – 6.5 ft. (150-200 cm)/ Weight up to 175 lb
Behavior:
• Residents of New England year round • Extremely social, found in schools of 50-1000
• Found mostly offshore, infrequently near shore • Common in mass strandings
an article I wrote last year regarding dolphins and The Cove:
http://www.yesterdaysisland.com/archives/science/8.php
a video posted on Plum from a common dolphin stranding in the Hither Creek/Madaket harbor area a couple of years ago:
www.plumtv.com/videos/nantucket-dolphins-stranded-madaket-harbor/index.html
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