Cool Beans - 12 ft female tagged in 2016, first identified in 2015
Detected in Marblehead on September 1st and 6th
Gillie - 15 ft female tagged in 2015, first identified in 2014
Detected in Marblehead on October 13 and 21st
Marianne - 14 ft female
Detected in Marblehead on August 10, 2017
Marblehead Charter School’s Shark Club, in conjunction with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy “AWSC," have been tracking Great White Sharks in the waters off the coast of Marblehead for the past three years.
Through a generous grant from the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools, the Marblehead Shark Club was able to fund an acoustic receiver buoy in 2016, joining the AWSC network of receivers. The buoy detects Great White Sharks that have been tagged by the AWSC. The buoy is named “MH1” and is located 1/4 mile south of Children’s Island.
In 2018, MH1 had two separate detections. The first detection was Great White Shark “Cool Beans" in September. The second detection was Great White Shark “Gillie” in October. “Cool Beans” is 12ft in length and “Gillie” is an impressive 15ft, both are females.
Back in August of 2017, MH1 detected Great White Shark “Marianne”. Marianne is a 14ft female shark.
This year the AWSC completed a five year population study of Great White Sharks off the coast of Cape Cod. This study offers us a lot info to help to understand migration patterns and the impacts of the increase in population of Great White Sharks in our waters.
To learn more follow Marblehead Community Public Charter School’s educational enrichment; Marblehead Shark Club @MarbleheadShark
This week we focused on climate change the impact that 2 degrees in temperature change can have on a fishery.
‘There’s no doubt things are changing’ The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, dramatically disrupting fishery patterns and creating new winners — and losers.
Check out the story from the Washington Post, click here.
Check out the story from the Washington Post, click here.
July 30, 2018 - Our friends from Mass Oyster Project delivered 50,000 spat to the upweller this week.
The spat are provided by Muscongus Bay Aquaculture oyster nursery located in Bremen, Maine. They have been thriving on the nourishment provided by the waters of Marblehead since. Spat need little attention to keep them healthy. A daily stir is all that is required.
Stop by and check them out. The Upweller is located at 89 Front Street, Marblehead, on the pier next to the boat yard crane.
#MarbleheadShark #massoysterproject #happylittlespat #OysterSmart #fmps
June 30, 2018 - Special thanks to Damon Pignato of Northeast Moorings for helping support the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy MH1 shark receiver buoy.
Last week Damon switched out last year’s receiver with this year’s model. The 2017-18 receiver was in position for a little over one year.
We are excited to learn if the receiver had any pings from the White Sharks tagged by Dr. Greg Skomal and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Dr. Skomal has been conducting a population study and tagging sharks on Cape Cod for the past five years.
This Marblehead Shark Club educational enrichment is generously funded by The Friends of Marblehead Public Schools.
#BeSharkSmart #MarbleheadShark #SharkSmart #friendsmps #atlanticwhitesharkconservancy
May, 15, 2018 - Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has deployed and maintains a network of passive radio receiver buoys on Cape Cod and within the waters of Massachusetts Bay. The MH1 Marblehead Buoy is part of this network.
AWSC offers a Tracking App called Sharktivity. Data is collected from many sources including their buoy array, spotter plane, and App user reporting of in person sightings of Great White Sharks in the area.
As of this morning the MH1 receiver is still on position. It was able to survive the historic storms of 2018. This is a testament to the excellent mooring system installed by our good friend at Northeast Mooring & Salvage! Thank you Damon! Looking forward to what the data will tell us.
Question of the day: What is your guess. Did a tagged White Shark ping in over the last 11 months?
MH1 Receiver buoy, off of Marblehead, MA.
This week our topic was Lobster Fishing. We covered the biology of lobsters, how we fish for them, and some of the regulations around the fishing gear that help minimize whale entanglements. Our classroom presentation is found in this Downloadable PDF, click here.
This week at Shark Club we learned about the North Atlantic Right Whale. Currently we have some local visitors to the waters off Marblehead Neck. Three Atlantic Right Whales have been feeding on the local krill and zooplankton. As soon as the food supply is depleted, they will leave for northern waters. To learn more about of friends, watch this video.
Click video to play. Photo Credit Brian Skerry
In honour of Canada's 150th, we present to you the North Atlantic Right Whale! These extremely rare whales spend the summer in Canadian waters. For thousands of years, whales have provided Indigenous peoples with food and tools. It was of such importance that one of the beliefs of the Mi’kmaq people is that the whale is the master of life in the sea. Once much more common, there are only about 500 of them left on Earth. We all need to work together to ensure this massive marine mammal is around for generations to come.
