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Workshop on Alewives Inspires Hope Within Downeast Fisheries Community

Optimism filled the room last month during a Downeast Fisheries Partnership (DFP) workshop on alewives—an unassuming little fish unknown to the average consumer, but possibly the key ingredient to the revival of fisheries in Eastern Maine.   Alewives live in the ocean, but spawn in freshwater and are an important component of the nutrient cycle that connects terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Also known as ‘river herring,’ alewives have been a staple of the economic and cultural fabric of Downeast Maine, for hundreds of years. However, as one participant remarked during the workshop, “Kids in East Machias don’t even know what alewives are anymore.”   The workshop was full of enthusiastic visionaries who represent different facets of the community, including...

115 Years of Counting Birds: What Have We Learned?

National Audubon’s 2015 Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the longest running citizen science project in the world, came to a close last week.  The event, which initially began in 1900 as an alternative to a traditional holiday hunt, drew tens of thousands of volunteers this year who collectively counted over 20 million birds across the Western Hemisphere.     Manomet’s Banding Director, Trevor Lloyd-Evans, was the coordinator for the count in Plymouth, MA, a tradition he has led for 40 years.   “The Christmas Bird Count not only provides ornithologists with valuable data about wintering bird populations, but has continued to be a great opportunity for us to keep in touch with our local birding community,” said Lloyd-Evans.     The CBC occurs every...

Red knot gains threatened status

This article was originally published in The Cape Codder on December 21, 2014. It was written by Rich Eldred. View the original article here.     Move over piping plover. There’s a new federally listed bird on Cape Cod.   On Tuesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated red knots as threatened. Specifically, just the rufa subspecies was so designated but that happens to be the one subspecies that visits Monomoy Island and nearby towns each summer.   “There’s a staging area Chatham, Orleans, Eastham that’s very important for red knots migrating south, far less important for northern migrants, but very important for southern migration from July to October,” Stephanie Koch, a biologist at the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge, which oversees Monomoy Island. “They have a short breeding season (in northern Canada)....

Red Knot Subspecies Receives U.S. Federal Protection

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing of Red Knot as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act has come at a crucial time for this rapidly declining subspecies.    Manomet has a long history in Red Knot research and conservation. In the early 1970s, Manomet Senior Scientist Emeritus, Brian Harrington, began ground-breaking discoveries about knot migration that contributed to the vision and creation of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). Manomet’s Shorebird Recovery Program, currently directed by Stephen Brown Ph.D. continues to lead significant partnership-oriented efforts in the study and conservation of Red Knots.   Red Knots of the Atlantic Flyway, (subspecies rufa), one of longest-distance migrants in the animal kingdom, have experienced over a 75% decline since the 1980s and as...

Red Knot Subspecies To Receive U.S. Federal Protection

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's listing of Red Knot as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act has come at a crucial time for this rapidly declining subspecies. The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences (MCCS) has a long history in Red Knot research and conservation.  In the early 1970's, MCCS Senior Scientist Emeritus Brian Harrington, began ground-breaking discoveries about knot migration that contributed to the vision and creation of The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) and Manomet's Shorebird Recovery Program (SRP).  Currently SRP is led by Director, Stephen Brown, Ph.D. and continues to lead significant partnership-oriented efforts in the study and conservation of Red Knots. Red Knots of the Atlantic Flyway, (subspecies rufa), one of longest-distance migrants in the animal...

Downeast Fisheries Partnership Releases First Founding Document

Recent assessments indicate that cod stocks are at 3% of the level considered necessary to sustain the iconic New England fishery. In eastern Maine the problem is especially acute as the local population has been too low for any cod fishing in the region to have occurred for 20 years.   Downeast Fisheries Partnership (DFP) is a new initiative that is taking a novel approach to tackle the immense challenge of rebuilding and sustaining fisheries.   By empowering local fishermen to participate in management, the partnership looks to bring their knowledge of local conditions to bear on the problem of protecting local spawning grounds and associated sub-populations.   The goal is to create a future where communities in eastern Maine can sustain...

Manomet Conservation Success Highlighted in 2014 State of the Birds Report

According to the 2014 State of the Birds report, over half of North American shorebird populations are imperiled.    Despite this grim outlook, the authors of the report declared that “conservation works” and highlighted the recovery of the American Oystercatcher to illustrate this claim.   While many shorebird populations are declining, the American Oystercatcher population in the United States has increased by 10 percent since 2009.   The report attributes the strong recovery of the species to the first-ever Business Plan for Conservation that was launched in 2009 by Manomet and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.     Shiloh Schulte, the coordinator of the Oystercatcher Recovery Campaign, said that “this conservation story is all the more impressive because the species was...

Boston Globe: In Manomet, a focus on shorebirds’ plight

This article was originally published in the Boston Globe on September 04, 2014 and was written by Jaclyn Reiss. View the original article here. As the population of coastal birds declines both worldwide and in Massachusetts, a conservation group in Plymouth will lead a day-long event celebrating the migratory birds and discussing ways to help stabilize their numbers. The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences will join various countries to mark the inaugural World Shorebirds Day on Sept. 6, which seeks to raise awareness on the plight of the world’s endangered migratory birds. “There are over 200 species around the world, and 60 to 70 percent of them have been showing major declines in recent decades,” said Brad Winn, director of shorebird...

World Shorebirds Day Celebration Set For Sept. 6

Manomet will host a celebration of the first annual World Shorebirds Day on Sept. 6, including morning birding outings and an afternoon event at the headquarters campus.   "It is very encouraging to see the energy and interest growing for World Shorebirds Day,” said Brad Winn, director of Manomet’s Shorebird Habitat Management project. “We will be scanning the coastal wetlands in eastern Massachusetts on the same day as others all over the world are counting shorebirds too. This is global recognition for a group of birds showing population declines in every flyway. Recognition and appreciation are the first steps in conservation."   The global celebration was proposed and organized by György Szimuly, a well-known bird conservationist based in Milton Keynes,...

First Ever Geolocator Results for a Semipalmated Sandpiper Show Remarkable Year-long Odyssey

Data that Manomet scientists recovered from a Semipalmated Sandpiper on sub-Arctic Coats Island in June revealed that the bird flew a total distance of over 10,000 miles in the past year, including a remarkable six day, 3,300-mile nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.   The shorebird was equipped with a geolocator by a Manomet research team in 2013 as part of a first time effort to use the devices to understand the migration of Semipalmated Sandpipers.   Manomet researchers Brad Winn and Shiloh Schulte returned from eastern Canada’s Coats Island last week with the first two geolocators for the Semipalmated Sandpiper migration study, which was designed to solve one of the most pressing mysteries in shorebird conservation.   “Surveys conducted...