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Manomet Conservation Sciences Statement on Revisions to the Rules Implementing the Endangered Species Act: Protecting Wildlife Requires Protecting Habitat
For Immediate Release Contact: Ashley Baker, Vice President of External Relations | [email protected] Manomet Conservation Sciences Statement on Revisions to the Rules Implementing the Endangered Species Act: Protecting Wildlife Requires Protecting Habitat Manomet Conservation Sciences is grounded in the science of wildlife conservation and we are deeply concerned by recent revisions to the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that narrow the long-standing regulatory definition of "harm." These changes remove habitat modification and degradation from the regulatory definition of prohibited harm under Section 9 of the ESA. This statement summarizes the legal change and the extensive body of peer-reviewed scientific evidence demonstrating that habitat loss and degradation are among the principal causes of population decline and extinction risk for...
Oystercatchers, known for sharp bills and beady eyes, are making a comeback | ABC NEWS
On a pristine Rhode Island beach teeming with noisy seabirds, a group of biologists armed with nets sneak up on a pair of American Oystercatcher chicks. But just as they move in to capture them, one of the football-size birds, with bright-orange bills and long legs, scampers into a coastal salt pond. The other briefly takes to the air, sending the team running across the mile-and-a-half-long (2.4-kilometer-long) beach in pursuit. “There is a problem. They can fly,” Alan Kneidel, a senior conservation biologist with the environmental group Manomet Conservation Sciences, said as he watched the team go after the chicks. Eventually, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists tracked down both birds. They bundled them each into white pillow cases and gingerly...
An Invasive Species, Deliciously Reimagined
Can an invasive species become a delicious dish? At the Green Crab Working Summit, the answer was a resounding yes. The summit was one of many events during Green Crab Week, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the invasive green crab and building culinary markets for the species. The day-long event brought together harvesters, chefs, and scientists to share knowledge and foster collaboration for the green crab industry. For those unfamiliar with green crabs, they are invasive to North America, and their environmental impact is far-reaching. Not only do they harm the local fisheries by feeding on a variety of shellfish, but they also slice through eelgrass habitats. Those eelgrass beds are vital nursery habitats that support numerous juvenile...
Listening to the Arctic: Acoustic Monitoring on the Tundra
Each summer, Manomet scientists and partners travel to multiple field sites across the Arctic to better understand the factors driving dramatic declines in shorebird populations. Through this research, we are working to unlock the mysteries of these long-distance migrants and generate the science needed to guide conservation efforts across the Western Hemisphere. Manomet Conservation Sciences has been working in Arctic shorebird science for 25 years. In this field blog entry, we head to Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States. Our research Associate in Data Science and Acoustic Ecology Morgan Ziegenhorn spent the 2026 season deploying acoustic monitors to explore whether sound can replace traditional visual surveys for estimating shorebird breeding populations, a method that could change how we count birds across the Arctic. From May...
Perspectives from an Arctic shorebird field camp in the Central NPRA
Each summer, Manomet scientists and partners travel to multiple field sites across the Arctic to better understand the factors driving dramatic declines in shorebird populations. Through this research, we are working to unlock the mysteries of these long-distance migrants and generate the science needed to guide conservation efforts across the Western Hemisphere. Manomet Conservation Sciences has been working in Arctic shorebird science for 25 years. In this first field blog entry of the 2026 season, we take you to the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPRA)—also known as the Western Arctic—a vast 22-million-acre landscape and the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States. Here, researchers from Manomet and partner organizations are conducting breeding bird surveys as part of the...
The Small Sit | Caring for Herring: Stewarding a Sea-run Resource
WEBINAR AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH | WEBINAR DISPONIBLE EN ESPAÑOL E INGLÉS Manomet's Sea Run Fisheries Monitoring Coordinator, Anne Zegers, will introduce you to river herring, a group of small, sea-run fish that play an outsized role in coastal ecosystems, then lead you on a brief tour of the history of river herring stewardship, with stops in Maine and Massachusetts, and discuss Manomet's research into river herring stewards and stewardship. How does stewardship vary from river to river? Who are river herring stewards and what motivates them? What structures support or hinder them? Through a series of interviews with river herring stewards across the coast of Maine, Manomet and our partners at Colby College, the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, and...
From Problem to Plate: Manomet Co-Hosts Green Crab Working Summit During Green Crab Week 2026
When researchers, chefs, harvesters, and seafood suppliers gather in Portland, Maine, this June, they'll be tackling one of coastal New England's most stubborn ecological crises with a fork. Manomet Conservation Sciences will join GreenCrab.org, Eating with the Ecosystem, and NH Sea Grant as a co-organizer of the Green Crab Working Summit, returning to O'Maine Studios in Portland on June 24th. The summit is the centerpiece of Green Crab Week, running June 22–28, 2026, and reflects a growing movement to fight an invasive species not just with traps and monitoring data, but with menus. A Pest With a 200-Year Head Start The European Green Crab (Carcinus maenas) is widely considered one of the world's worst invasive species, and its populations and...
The Green Crab Working Summit
On June 24th, join GreenCrab.org, Manomet Conservation Sciences, NH Sea Grant, and Eating with the Ecosystem for the second Green Crab Working Summit at O’Maine Studios in Portland, Maine! The Green Crab Working Summit aims to support the growth of green crab markets by: Fostering collaboration and innovation among seafood suppliers, harvesters, chefs, and researchers across the Northeast Identifying knowledge gaps and challenges associated with harvesting, distributing, cooking, processing, and marketing green crabs Strengthening green crab supply chains Showcasing green crab markets, products, and culinary efforts The Green Crab Working Summit is hosted during Green Crab Week: a week dedicated to eating green crabs in partnership with restaurants across the US. Summit elements include: Panels and Presentations: Featuring harvesters, product...
Ruddy Turnstone Tagged on Cape Cod Spotted in Brazil After Tracker Signal Is Lost
We have an exciting update to share, fitting perfectly into the celebrations of World Migratory Bird Day. Last spring, on the tidal flats of Cape Cod, a Ruddy Turnstone paused to rest and refuel as many thousands of shorebirds do in Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Researchers from Manomet Conservation Sciences carefully fitted it with a tiny satellite transmitter, a numbered band, and a pale green leg flag with the code >C0, and released it back to the wind. Below, you can see a slow-motion video by biologist and videographer Benjamin Clock capturing the very moment >C0 receives its leg flag and transmitter. What followed was extraordinary. Signals from the transmitter revealed that >C0 flew north to breed in the Canadian...
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...