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Staying On Top of the Mud | From the Ground Up
I grew up in a fishing family in a small coastal community in Maine called Georgetown. One of my most vivid memories as a child was going clam digging with my family in Sagadahoc Bay. The Bay is massive. On a low draining tide, you walk for over a mile to get from the beach at the head of the Bay to the low tide line at the mouth. We would Tidal mudflats may seem like a bare and desolate landscape, but they are teeming with life: Clams, worms, snails, crabs, amphipods, and many other species thrive here. At high tide, when the flats are covered with water, they are an important feeding ground for fish, ducks, and other marine...
The Red Knot That Flew to the Moon and Back
"On April 1, 2026, humans launched Artemis II toward the Moon. But one small bird had already logged that journey on its wings. In February 1995, on a beach at Río Grande on the Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, scientists banded hundreds of Red Knots (Calidris canutus rufa), each with a small, numbered flag. One of them—B95—would become a legend. Banded by Argentine biologist Patricia González, it was resighted many times over the years, from Lagoa do Peixe in Brazil to Delaware Bay, and recaptured at least three times. In 2007, when at least 14 years old, it was described as “as fit as a three-year-old.” Every year, rufa Red Knots travel nearly 9,000 miles from the southern tip of South America to the Arctic—and back again. B95 kept going. Year after year. Through storms, across continents, in a...
New Tools Track the Return and Future of River Herring
Each spring, river herring begin a remarkable journey from the ocean back into freshwater rivers and streams to spawn. Tracking that movement and understanding what happens next are critical to rebuilding populations that have declined across much of their range. To support that effort, Manomet and partners in the Gulf of Maine River Herring Network have developed two new data platforms that bring together monitoring efforts across the region, offering a clearer picture of both returning adults and the next generation of fish. The first platform, ECOFISH, compiles data on adult river herring returning to freshwater habitats each year. By aggregating counts from monitoring sites along the U.S. East Coast, it helps track migration patterns and population trends over time....
A Transformative Nine Weeks on the Bluff: a Reflection from Intern Julia Beyer
I’ve been incredibly lucky to work as the Education and Outreach intern at Manomet in the summer of 2025 through my Smith College Praxis internship. I’m double majoring in Environmental Science and Policy and Latin American Studies, and I spent nine weeks immersed in conservation outreach, environmental education, and fieldwork. One morning during those nine weeks, I woke up before dawn to accompany banding intern Grace Whitten to MAPS banding at Myles Standish State Forest. We walked the net lanes at precisely timed intervals, moving quietly through the morning, talking with Grace and Andrew Single about banding experiences, plant evolution, and whatever else our slightly foggy brains drifted toward while we waited for the next net run. At the end...
Zoey Chapman
Zoey Chapman is a Research Specialist at Manomet Conservation Sciences, where she provides data analysis and logistical support for long-term monitoring of shorebirds across the Arctic. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from Clemson University, and has spent several field seasons collaborating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on shorebird and waterfowl breeding ecology projects across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Zoey is passionate about using emerging technology to advance conservation science, with a particular interest in developing computer vision models to monitor nesting birds. At Manomet, she is excited to support long-term data collection that deepens understanding of arctic breeding ecology. When she’s not in the field, Zoey can usually be found with...
From Failure to 400,000 Quahogs: A Breakthrough Season for the Fisheries Team
At the end of the 2024 field season, the Fisheries Team was in a bit of a pickle. We had just spent the entire summer testing a method for growing quahog seed (also called hard clams), and the experiment completely failed. All the quahogs, 200,000 of them, died. We think it was likely due to environmental conditions that were out of our control, but it left us feeling defeated and unsure what our next step was. Quahogs are an important fishery along the East Coast of the U.S., but are relatively new in Maine where historically cold ocean temperatures kept abundance low. However, in recent years, warming waters have created more suitable habitat for quahogs along the coast of Maine...
The Push To Get Invasive Crabs On The Menu | Noema
For chefs and fishermen in Maine, green crabs’ proliferation along the coast brings both a challenge and an opportunity. Sarah Mafféïs for Noema Magazine FeatureClimate Crisis By Kirsten Lie-NielsenNovember 11, 2025 XBlueskyEmailLinkedInFacebook Kirsten Lie-Nielsen is a writer focusing on issues of climate and food. Her work can be found in The Guardian, Civil Eats and The Boston Globe. She lives in Maine, where she is currently working on a memoir. CASCO BAY, Maine — It’s a humid summer day on an island off the coast of Maine. Thick air seeps into the cabin, making everything feel damp, even the white bedsheets that smell of salt and mothballs. Down by the cove at the forest’s edge, the dogs sniff along a strip...
What to do about Maine’s green crab problem? Some see opportunity. | The Maine Monitor
In Milbridge, a former farmer is grinding invasive green crabs into fertilizer. In South Portland, a Cambodian food incubator is incorporating them into seafood dishes. To make his fertilizer, Sam Cheeney hauls green crab traps, feeds the crabs through a grinder, lays them out to dry on homemade screens, and then grinds them into smaller pieces before bagging them for distribution. Courtesy Sam Cheeney/Green Kraken. Share: Editor’s Note: The following first appeared in The Maine Monitor’s free environmental newsletter, Climate Monitor, that is delivered to inboxes every Friday morning. Sign up for the free newsletter to stay informed of Maine environmental news. The first time Sam Cheeney saw a green crab was in the early 2000s, as part of an ecology class at...
New England Lobster Fishers Sound the Alarm on Ocean Change
For Immediate Release | Contact: [email protected] | 917-287-5643 New England Lobster Fishers Sound the Alarm on Ocean Change Manomet Conservation Sciences Tap Fishers’ Insights to Uncover How Warming Waters Disrupt Marine Food Webs Plymouth, Massachusetts, October 16, 2025: Manomet Conservation Sciences plays a critical role in strengthening coastal resilience. With rapid climate change threatening coastal ecosystems, scientists are turning to local fishers for critical insights. In a September 2025 study in Fish and Fisheries, scientists conducted interviews with lobster fishers, finding that their knowledge can be invaluable in enhancing our understanding of the diverse impacts of warming waters on coastal ecosystems. "As a result of warming waters, species are moving poleward and have the ability to disrupt food webs, increasing...
The First Tracking Data for Juvenile Hudsonian Whimbrels
A new study led by Manomet scientists is shedding light on one of the most remarkable journeys in the bird world: the migration of the Hudsonian Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus), hereafter referred to as Whimbrel. The paper draws on satellite transmitter data from juvenile Whimbrels tagged on Cape Cod to trace their first southbound flights. By fitting these young shorebirds with small devices that transmit their locations via satellite, researchers established migratory connections between Cape Cod and key stopover and wintering sites across the Americas. Where do these juveniles go—and why is it important to find out? The Whimbrel population along the West Atlantic Flyway has been shrinking by about 4% each year, earning it a place on the...