Aquarium researches dolphin rescue successes

New England Aquarium marine animal rescuers and researchers, along with other collaborators, have recently published some very promising results in the journal Marine Mammal Science. The paper reports on the believed successful release of dolphins that were reintroduced into the wild after surviving a mass stranding event.

File: Atlantic white-sided dolphin seen during an Aquarium Whale Watch (Photo: M. Rocha)


The two dolphin species in the study are found locally in Cape Cod, Massachusetts: the Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) and the short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis).

The specific rescue events examined in study range over the course of seven different mass stranding events occurring between 2005 and 2010. Using blood samples and the data results of tracking the satellite tags fixed to the dolphins during the stranding, it is believed that at least 10 of the 11 dolphins were likely successfully reintroduced into the wild!

Celebrate seafood with our seasonal guide

Spring is well underway, and it’s time to enjoy some delicious, ocean-friendly seafood! Our seasonal seafood guide highlights three choices: Dungeness crab, farm raised striped bass and long-fin squid. These selections are delicious, sustainable and available right now. Look for your guide on the Celebrate Seafood page.

If you’re wondering how to prepare squid, be sure to check out the fabulous recipe included with the guide from Armand Toutaint, chef de cuisine at Turner Fisheries. As the chef at one of Boston’s leading restaurants, Armand knows a thing or two about squid. His calamari fried rice recipe is quick, delicious and ocean-friendly.

By choosing ocean-friendly seafood you can have an impact on ocean health and ensure that we will have plenty of seafood for years to come. So take a look, and then head to the store for some seasonal, ocean-friendly seafood – it’s the most delicious way to live blue™!


 
Click on the image to be linked directly to our Celebrate Seafood page, where you'll find this helpful and delicious seasonal seafood guide.

If you'd rather leave the cooking to experts, join the New England Aquarium and Turner Fisheries for a Celebrate Seafood Dinner!

June 7, 2012 

6:30 pm

Turner Fisheries restaurant

located at 10 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA

In addition to a reception, dinner and wine pairing, guests will enjoy informative cooking demonstrations on how to cook and serve ocean-friendly meals.

Featured Chefs: Christopher Masco, Executive Chef, The Westin Copley Place and Armand Toutaint, Chef de Cuisine, Turner Fisheries

Species: US Farm raised bay scallops, Wild Alaska salmon and Pacific halibut

Price: $99 for New England Aquarium members and $109 for non-members�

Please RSVP to Wayne Wood by June 1, 2012, at wayne.wood@westin.com or 617-424-7309.

Dramatic perks for Aquarium members

We're excited to let our members in on a special offer to save 20 percent on tickets to Cirque du Soleil's TOTEM! Beginning June 10 under the big top at Boston Marine Industrial Park on the waterfront,  TOTEM traces the fascinating journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly.

Click here to save 20 percent on select performances! Use promo code: LP20*

 The characters evolve on a stage evoking a giant turtle, the symbol of origin for many ancient civilizations. Inspired by many founding myths, TOTEM illustrates, through a visual and acrobatic language, the evolutionary progress of species. Somewhere between science and legend TOTEM explores the ties that bind man to other species, his dreams and his infinite potential.

*Some restrictions may apply. Discount is valid on select seating locations and dates only. Not to be combined with other offers. 

Tough Mudder: Tough Turtles and Elasmo Mutters

This is a post from a team of Aquarium staff and supporters who are participating in an extreme obstacle course event called the Tough Mudder this spring. They have been posting about their training methods, animals that inspire them to work hard and they will be raising funds to support the Aquarium. You can help them out by donating to support their efforts.

Today's post comes from Deb Bobek, Director of Visitor Experience for the Aquarium. You may remember her by her Team Tiburon alter ego Flame.

Anyone who is a regular follower of Aquarium blogs knows that we have an active Rescue and Rehabilitation program for sea turtles and other marine animals. (Check out the Rescue Blog here.) Each late fall and early winter, anywhere between 20 to more than 100 sea turtles strand along Cape Cod beaches, found suffering from hypothermia, and often dehydration and pneumonia. 


Four Kemp’s ridley sea turtles rescued by the New England Aquarium in a rehabilitation tank

Now, Team Tiburon was willing to risk hypothermia to take on the Tough Mudder challenge, but we didn’t expect to have something else in common with these sea turtles. Sadly, many of the stranded sea turtles come in with various injuries – and injuries have plagued our team as well. Chrys has been suffering a sore tentacle (okay fine, knee) and like the invasive species he is, Lion has faced a multitude of aches and strains.

Some of the most serious injuries that the sea turtles arrive with are broken bones or broken shells. And one of Team Tiburon’s members has experienced something similar. That’s right, Elasmo, our fearless originator of Team Tiburon, has suffered a stress fracture of his left tibia leaving him unable to compete in this Saturday’s Tough Mudder challenge.


(L) Photos of a rescued Kemp’s ridley sea turtle named Route showing both a broken flipper and shell at a follow-up exam in 2009 (R) X-ray of Elasmo’s tibia

But fear not Team Tiburon followers!  Just as our rescued sea turtles can be treated and rehabilitated, so too will Elasmo follow a treatment and rehabilitation program and then Team Tiburon will reunite to do a second Tough Mudder challenge in July with Elasmo leading the charge!


Top: Route with a metal bar holding his bone in place and wires holding his shell together 
Bottom: Elasmo’s air cast

We hope to keep you updated as Elasmo completes his rehabilitation and we get ready for a second Tough Mudder challenge, but in the meantime the rest of Team Tiburon: Cuddle, Lion, Flame, Chrys, Mudskipper, and Hawk will participate in this weekend’s Tough Mudder challenge with Elasmo cheering us on. So wish us luck and remember – your support can help fund our new Giant Ocean Tank where many rescued sea turtles (like our loggerhead turtles Carolina and Retread) make their home.  So make your donation today!


A happy ending for Route as he is released back into the ocean in May of 2009. We expect a full recovery from Elasmo as well!

~ Flame

Please contribute to their fundraising efforts for the New England Aquarium and share this post to spread the word. Catch up on previous posts here.

Little fish with a big impact starting comeback?

New England Aquarium biologists are cautiously optimistic about a rite of Spring that could be on the rebound. River herring are returning to the Back River in Weymouth and other coastal New England waters in encouraging numbers this year!



Alewife and blueback herring are species of herring that can be found in New England waters.
(Photo credit: Jim Nagus, TN Wildlife Resources)

For centuries each spring, the diminutive river herring returned from the sea to spawn in the freshwater streams and ponds of coastal Massachusetts. Despite pollution and development, hundreds of thousands of the fish still returned to suburban South Shore communities well into the 21st century. Then throughout New England, the river herring numbers crashed. The natural spectacle of the spring migration up coastal streams suddenly became much more quiet. In 2006, the state of Massachusetts imposed a ban on harvesting the river herring from coastal waterways. The federal government is currently in the process of evaluating if river herring merit protection under the Endangered Species Act.


Aquarium biologist Scott Dowd (in green) teaches teen volunteers about fish ladders during a herring run clean up in Weymouth in 2010.

However, over the past two weeks in Weymouth, Mass., dedicated volunteers and local officials are abuzz about the number of herring that have returned to the built-up Back River. Nearly a quarter million of the fish have been counted with weeks to go in the spawning season. In 2005, there were only 80,000 during the entire spring. This positive trend has been reported in many other coastal rivers throughout New England. Biologists are cautiously optimistic.

New England Aquarium biologists hope that we might be at the beginning of an environmental success story, but they warn that that the numbers are far from their peak. They also emphasize the importance of herring ecologically to all kinds of local marine animals and the people who enjoy them. For sport fishermen chasing striped bass and bluefish, river herring are what bring these migratory fish species to New England. For commercial fishermen and restaurant diners, herring are an important food source for such popular table fish as haddock, halibut and cod. For whale watchers, river and Atlantic herring are staple foods for the Big Three whales most commonly seen locally – the acrobatic humpback, the enormously long finback and the pretty, little 30 foot minke. For beach walkers and boaters, the sight of a seal or dolphin is a lifelong memory. Healthy herring populations make those sightings possible.

Herring are the backbone of the Gulf of Maine food chain. This little fish plays a very BIG role in maintaining healthy marine wildlife populations and directly affects the ability of New Englanders to enjoy the wonders that the ocean brings to our shores.





Look for herring at the Aquarium's Schooling Exhibit. Learn more here.