Tides of Change

The Fall Run

As the Fall begins to creep into the northeast, the underwater landscape along our coastline begins to change. Macroalgae and seagrass recede and the entire underwater environment transitions dramatically. Just like the transition we experience above the water, the underwater landscape changes and prepares for the cold winter months that often come sooner than you think. Chris McGuire, the ocean program director for The Nature Conservancy’s Northeast Division explained the process quite well, “as the fall rolls in, the water temperature starts to cool, we see less light, we see less growth and macroalgae begins to recede just like the garden in your yard.”

There are other ample signs seen among the animals as well. One of the harbingers of the changing seasons that can be seen along the Southern New England coastline are menhaden. These commonly overlooked forage fish are integral for many of our oceanic ecosystems and have gone through some challenging years from overfishing. Many other species rely on these integral fish to survive, many that follow the menhaden south for the winter…

Many sportfish will seek out and predate menhaden. Striped bass are among the favorites for many anglers. Striped bass participate in the “fall run” and large schools of these charismatic fish can be seen along the northeastern coastline. 

Another large animal that feeds on menhaden is significantly larger than any striped bass: the humpback whale. These common yet fantastic marine mammals can be seen opportunistically feeding on menhaden throughout the northeast. In shallow waters, humpbacks will lunge feed, a behavior that Sutton Lynch, one of the project’s talented drone cinematographers, was able to capture for Tides of Change.

New England's Deep Freeze

As fall gives way to winter, New England enters the deep freeze. Many bird species fly south for the season. No longer are our skies filled with osprey and our shores peppered with shorebirds. The northeast can be a desolate place. 

This can be a challenging time for many bird species that overwinter here. We saw dead geese and ducks scattered on the ice, some succumbing to bird flu, others dying from a mix of starvation and other diseases. However, there are birds that arrive from much farther north. Brants breed in the high Arctic, and fly south for the winter to the much more hospitable climate in the northeast. For them, the climate here is temperate! Brants often flock close to shore and have to tough out large, frigid waves, all the while foraging for sea lettuce and other macroalgae. 

Harlequin ducks are another species of waterfowl that we can see in the winter. Like the brants, they can be found close to the coastline, but more often they are seen in “rafts” with other duck species. Harlequins are diving ducks, hunting fish and invertebrates beneath the waves. Some of the other species of wintering ocean-faring birds include common eider, long-tailed duck, black scoter and many others!

While these birds migrate though the northeast, another animal has started shifting their congregation areas around New England, an iconic ocean mammal that can be seen in most regions around the world.

Sarah and the Seals

It is hardly any secret that New England has a robust seal population. Harbor seals can be seen in many inshore environments, sunning themselves on rocks, while gray seals can be spotted in many different regions around the outerlands. It was not always this way. Seals are an easy target, and an aggressive, state-sponsored bounty hunting program was designed to eliminate what commercial fishermen viewed as competition for prized fish. This movement led to seal populations to almost go locally extinct and it wasn’t until the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and heavy NOAA intervention that the population to slowly began to increase.

Even though populations are recovering, the work is not done yet. Like many other marine mammals, seals still fall victim to human-related pressures that often lead to fatalities. Entanglement is a common risk, and one that the Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue Team monitors along the Southern New England coastline. The work of Mystic Aquarium’s seal rescue program unfolds quietly but with remarkable dedication during the winter months. At the center of much of this effort is Sarah Callan, whose tireless work ethic and calm leadership have become a driving force behind many of these rescues and rehabilitation efforts “Seals play a vital role in maintaining a healthy ocean ecosystem and are important indicators of overall ocean health. While their numbers have rebounded, many still face preventable human-caused threats, including entanglement in marine debris and pollution,” Sarah explains.

Every year, seal numbers on Block Island slowly increase as many gray seals birth pups. The herd can be seen from a distance, when approaching the island by boat and air, almost appearing to be hundreds of dark logs breached on the shoreline of Sandy Point. As the population grows, so does the probability of finding sick or injured seals. The Mystic Aquarium often collaborates with local volunteers on Block Island who play a critical role, helping monitor the animal and assist the rescue team as conditions shift along the shoreline. Watching the response firsthand revealed not only the complexity of marine mammal rescue work, but also the deep connection many island residents have with the wildlife that surround them.

The rescue effort is only one part of a much larger mission. Each year, Mystic Aquarium rehabilitates and releases numerous seals while continuing to monitor the health and movement of seal populations throughout the region. Organizations including Block Island Maritime Institute, Save The Bay and The Nature Conservancy conduct annual seal counts and, at times, assist with rescue operations, providing valuable data that helps scientists better understand changing marine ecosystems. Support also comes from Atlantic Shark Institute, which has helped secure research tags used in ongoing seal studies. Together, these collaborations reflect a growing regional effort to better protect marine mammals and the waters they depend on, one rescue at a time.

The Race to Save Disappearing Giants

Another mammal that has experienced a challenging past is one that has not yet been able to rebound. The North Atlantic right whale, once plentiful, was decimated by whaling endeavors in the 1800s and now falls victim to boat strikes and entanglements. There are fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, and without serious help, the species is at a high risk of going completely extinct. Like the humpback, right whales are migratory and every year travel down to the mid-Atlantic to birth calves before moving back up the coastline to feed in areas such as Cape Cod Bay, one of the major hotspots for these whales in the winter and spring.

At the very tip of Cape Cod, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, there is a world-renowned research organization that studies North Atlantic right whales. The Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), founded in 1976, is a science leader in New England and is the only organization that does year-round research on North Atlantic right whales. CCS is led by Dr. Daniel Palacios, a sharp-witted and thoughtful scientist from Colombia who has worked with whales all around the world, and Christy Hudak, a committed and organized whale scientist who has worked on this right whale population with numerous research projects. The organization kindly let me into their world to film and showcase some of their research and field work involving the hard to find whale. 

Ironically, studying the whales often involves studying some of our smallest organisms. The Center for Coastal Studies routinely takes plankton samples from around Cape Cod Bay. The samples taken here are being added to an ever-growing data pool that will help scientists understand where the whale populations go and why. It can also help predict where whales might end up in the future. If you follow the food, you will find the whales!

Lab time is often spent examining the plankton samples. It would be far too time consuming and unrealistic to examine entire collections, so CCS staff often take subsamples, peering through a microscope and counting plankton. The filters used to determine which plankton the whales feed on is modeled after real North Atlantic right whale baleen that the team keeps in-house. Baleen is collected from the tragic ship strike and entanglement victims that occasionally occur in the area. Every right whale death is significant, but no loss ever goes to waste.

As the season progresses, so does the change in weather. The sun shines brighter, the leaves begin to form on the trees. The skies begin to fill up with birds migrating from the south, the signs of spring. Meanwhile, in our streams, a different harbinger swims up the freshwater pathways: the river herring have arrived. River herring is a term used to describe alewife and blueback herring. These species are a marker of spring for many coastal communities as these fish are heavily present in many of the rivers and tributaries as they move upstream to lay their eggs. But this will be a story for another episode of our series!

From North Atlantic right whales to menhaden, this episode includes a wide variety of wildlife that I hope you will enjoy. It was very enjoyable for me to film it, even though there were times when it was a bit chilly when working in the water! Stream Ocean State: Rhode Island’s Wild Coast on PBS Passport or tune in on WSBE. You, too, can witness New England’s “tides of change.” 

For more information:

• Ocean State: Rhode Island's Wild Coast
• Tomas Koeck
• Sutton Lynch Creative