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WELLFLEET — Agnes Mittermayr, a marine ecologist at the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown, has coined a new term to describe the dark, sludgy material that fills Wellfleet Harbor: “black custard.”
“Initially, everyone called it ‘mayo,’ ” she said.
The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown is presenting “Sea Change Film Shorts 2020,” a short film program available for free streaming through Monday, November 23rd. It includes three shorts: “Spinnaker,” a film about the life and death of a humpback whale, and two films about microplastics. Register at coastalstudies.org.
PROVINCETOWN — One of the Outer Cape’s greatest assets is its proximity to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a federally protected swath of ocean whose southernmost boundary is just three miles north of Provincetown. It harbors a thriving marine ecosystem that supports the local fishing and whale-watching industries.
Yet, to many people, it is little more than “a line on the map,” said Anne-Marie Runfola, program coordinator and visitor center project manager at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA, the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), and the town are working to change the way people see Stellwagen Bank with a new waterfront visitor center to be tucked between the bus parking spots and pump station at the Commercial Street end of MacMillan Pier.
First discovered in 1854, Stellwagen Bank is an 842-square-mile expanse of open ocean. This bank, said Runfola, “is not a financial institution.” It is, she explained, an underwater plateau left when the glaciers retreated more than 10,000 years ago.
It is also a rich feeding ground, supporting many marine species. That’s because “it has steep sides, but it’s also shallow on top,” said Runfola. “That allows for photosynthesis in the warmer water on the top, and then wind and waves help bring nutrients from the bottom back up to the surface.”
When Stellwagen Bank was designated a National Marine Sanctuary in 1992, NOAA took control of regulating what activities are allowed within the area. Despite federal protection, however, Stellwagen Bank is far from an economic dead zone.
“The term ‘sanctuary’ is a bit of a misnomer,” said Pete DeCola, the sanctuary’s superintendent.
It is, he said, part of the “blue economy,” producing a significant amount of economic activity for Provincetown and other coastal communities.
The sanctuary designation “doesn’t mean it’s hands-off and no one can go in there,” said Runfola. “We have marine transportation, whale watching, recreational fishing and boating, commercial fishing, science, research, conservation — you name it. It’s happening out there.”
As a premier whale-watching destination, Stellwagen Bank gets consistent tourist traffic. So, one priority for NOAA is to bring the experience of the place to people on land. In partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA recently took 360-degree images of a number of the sanctuary’s shipwrecks and is putting together “virtual dives” to allow non-divers to experience these sites for themselves.
NOAA is also working on a project to find descendants of those who died in the sinking of the Steamship Portland — known as the “Titanic of New England” — in order to show them images of the wreck and collect family stories.
Those efforts will, Runfola hopes, help people connect to Stellwagen Bank emotionally. Without that, she said, “it’s really hard for them to want to get to learn more, to get involved, and to want to protect the resources.”
The proposed site for the visitor center is near the pier’s whale-watching charters, so it can give people a chance to learn about the marine ecosystem before seeing it for themselves. The plan is for the visitor center to serve as a community space. Architects have included multipurpose performance and exhibition spaces in their initial mockups.
“It’s a great opportunity for Provincetown to have another space that it can utilize for its own programs and activities,” said Provincetown Town Planner Thaddeus Soule. “It’s also an opportunity to refresh our outdated comfort stations.”
In fact, the need to update the public restrooms near MacMillan Pier was one of the factors that got the project off the ground. When updating the restrooms was proposed a few years ago, CCS and NOAA saw an opportunity.
On Oct. 28, representatives from NOAA, CCS, the town, and architectural firm Oudens Ello held a forum on the proposed site. Community members had suggestions, including making room for green space onsite, having multi-use rooms for rotating exhibits, and adding classrooms for schools to use. The project partners will be hosting a webinar after Thanksgiving, though the date for it remains to be set.
“We’re in the fact-gathering mode now, and we’re excited to figure out the feedback,” said Conrad Ello, founding principal at Oudens Ello. Designers will be considering public feedback through the rest of this month. “This project is so much about the public and for the public,” he said, adding, “Provincetown is a community that seems to have a lot of engagement.”
Protecting the Outer Cape shoreline is a continuous project, so much so that “there is no end goal” to the work, said Rex McKinsey, Provincetown’s marine coordinator. “These are living places,” he added.
McKinsey is also project manager for the Inter-municipal Shoreline Management Program. And the group does have a near-term goal: to develop a cohesive approach to maintaining the outermost stretch of Cape Cod Bay shoreline. All four Outer Cape towns are involved.
“For the past two or three years the conservation agents have been meeting to collaborate,” said Provincetown Conservation Agent Tim Famulare. “We face the same issues. We’re all small populations in coastal communities. We’re trying to find a way to pool our resources.”
The program team consists of project manager McKinsey and the four town conservation agents: Hillary Greenberg-Lemos in Wellfleet, Emily Beebe in Truro, Shana Brogan in Eastham, and Famulare in Provincetown. Mark Borelli, Steve Mague, and Sam McFarland represent the Center for Coastal Studies.
The state’s Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) gave the program a $115,000 grant in 2019 for a first phase of work that was completed at the end of June. The team has now requested $248,470 from the CZM for phase two, and they’ll be asking the towns to contribute another $82,960, for a total budget of $331,430.
In the first phase, the group designed an Inter-municipal Shoreline Management Geodatabase (ISMG). The idea was that would serve as a baseline for identifying recommendations aimed at better coastal resiliency on the bay side.
The towns wrote a memorandum of agreement that emphasized taking “a science-based approach” to shoreline protection.
Shana Brogan explained that a geodatabase is a tool for evaluating resources, that is, “beaches, salt marshes, flood zones, and dunes,” she said, as well as human uses of the shoreline, “such as municipal dredging projects, beach sand nourishment, and revetments and seawalls.”
The IMSG plots both existing publicly available information as well as information from recent research at the Center for Coastal Studies. For someone like Brogan, who is working on protecting the coast in Eastham, it will provide a view of coastal processes in Eastham and beyond.
The group’s phase two proposal calls for adding more “layers” to this data. They should show locations of storm-tide pathways in Wellfleet and Eastham, as well as where there is potential for salt marsh migration.
Brogan said that salt marshes can withstand only a certain amount of wave action and saltwater submergence. As sea levels continue to rise, the geodatabase could help identify areas that might be suitable for establishing fringe salt marshes in response.
If all that sounds complicated, McKinsey said, the team would like to work on making the geodatabase accessible for everyone to view and understand.
Other components of phase two of the project include creating a regional sand bank system so that the four towns could get the sand they use to replenish shorelines from the same place. According to the geodatabase, the towns place at least 25,000 cubic yards of upland sand on the shoreline each year.
An inventory of low-lying roads — something Eastham has already started, through a partnership and with separate grant funding with Woods Hole Group — is another objective.
Then there’s the need for educating the public. Listening sessions and seminars for interested town staff, shorefront property owners, the general public, and middle school students are all part of the proposal.
These shoreline issues, Beebe said, “beg to be managed together.”
Brogan agreed. “Regardless of whether the funding comes through, we’re going to continue to work together and manage these things more consistently,” she said.
Big picture, the goal is to be ready for change. So that, “as things change,” Beebe said, “we can adjust and adapt.”
Population trajectory is very simple, so simple a fourth-grader could calculate the formula, according to Center for Coastal Studies scientist Stormy Mayo.
Take the number of animals born and subtract the number that die, and you can determine whether a population is rising or falling.
If that number is negative, as it has been for 10 years for the North Atlantic right whale, the species is headed for extinction.
After a decade of decline, the scientists who have spent years studying the whales and fishermen who have spent tens of thousands of dollars to work around the whales are asking: what more can be done?
The animal had been slowly recovering after centuries of overfishing decimated the population. In 2010, there were an estimated 500 right whales living in the North Atlantic. Now, scientists estimate there are about 400.
“We worry about endangered animals,” Mayo told the Independent, “but this one is really, really endangered.”
A ‘Wicked Hard’ Problem
Over the years, the waters around Cape Cod have been regulated by the state and federal governments in an attempt to protect the right whales’ falling population.
Certain areas around the Cape are closed to vertical line lobster fishing when the whales are in peak season. Restrictions reduce vessel speed to 10 knots to prevent strikes. Gear requirements prohibit the use of fishing apparatus that is more likely to entrap whales when they encounter it in the water.
When entanglements do happen, the Center for Coastal Studies has a 24/7 team ready to spring into action to save a whale.
In spite of all this, the whale population continues to fall. The Independent reported in March that female whales’ birth rates were down and mortality rates were up.
Richard Pace, a wildlife biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center at Woods Hole, said if he could write a headline for the problem, it would be: “Stopping right whale decline is wicked hard.”
Pace worries that with different groups involved blaming each other — the vessel owners blaming the lobstermen, the fishermen in the U.S. blaming the ones in Canada, and vice versa — more reforms that would be needed won’t be implemented.
“There’s too much dependence on too many different people to do too many different things” to solve the problem, he said.
In early July, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature designated the right whale “critically endangered.”
Pace thinks food insecurity might be affecting the whales’ reproduction rates, but if the population was “not beat to hell from running into all this gear,” it wouldn’t be causing an extinction level trajectory, he said.
Starting out with such small numbers, he said, “whenever one of these threats, whether it’s vessels or fishing, kills one right whale, they’ve had a huge impact on the population.”
‘Doing Their Part’
On the other side of the line, many Cape Cod lobster fishermen don’t want to be a part of the problem but have found themselves tied up in environmental red tape.
Rob Martin, a lobsterman who lives in Sandwich and fishes in the waters around Cape Cod, has tried to get a jump start on fishing technology, testing and investing in gear that might be more whale friendly. This includes lines that break under a reduced weight, so that they won’t entangle a whale that encounters them, and gear that reduces the vertical lines running to the surface, to prevent whale-line encounters from happening all together.
Martin and other lobster fishermen have tried out new nontraditional gear to stay one step ahead of regulations so they can continue fishing without delays.
Not sure he’s winning the fight for whales, he says, “I’ll get a good conscience out of it anyways.”
“Everyone is doing their part,” Dana Pazolt, a lobster fisherman who works out of Provincetown, told the Independent.
Delayed start dates for spring fishing and expensive gear to accommodate regulations and prevent entanglements are parts of the job that Pazolt has come to terms with.
He rejects the fishermen-versus-whales narrative — fisherman don’t want to see whales die and the folks at the Center for Coastal studies are friends, not foes, who have worked with the lobstermen to come up with solutions, he said.
A Hotspot for Now
In peak season, from April to May, up to 65 percent of the entire North Atlantic right whale population visits the Cape Cod Bay — but that could change in the future.
“To have that many of a nearly extinct species whose habitat ostensibly spreads across the entire North Atlantic is weird, to be honest,” Mayo said. The bay hasn’t always been the most popular hotspot, he explained, and as the climate changes it won’t always be.
The whales’ choice of location is one of many phenomena that Mayo wants to study further. Among other things, Mayo also wants to learn more about the food the whales eat and how it’s affecting their population, as food quality appears to fluctuate with the calving rate in Cape Cod Bay.
“There are not only many layers,” Mayo added, “there are many, many unknowns.”
As long as the whales still choose the bay for their annual mass congregation, Mayo and his team at the Center for Coastal Studies will continue to watch and collect data that may help preserve the population. The fishermen will continue to work through the regulations the scientists have helped inform.
They will all be counting the whales.
Entries are due by Saturday, Aug. 15 for “Celebration of the Sea Online Photo Contest,” hosted by the Center for Coastal Studies. The two categories are “Marine Mammals” and “Coastal and Marine Seascapes.” Enter images ($10 each; three for $20) by email to [email protected].
The Center for Coastal Studies is presenting “Get to the Bottom of It!” — a beach exploration for kids on Friday, Aug. 7, at 9 a.m. and Monday, Aug. 10, at 10:30 a.m. Group size is limited to 10, and suggested donation is $7. Reserve a spot at coastalstudies.org.
Outer Cape Calendar
An Artist’s Lot
The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is hosting an online silent auction starting on Thursday, July 23, at noon through Sunday, Aug. 9, at 9:30 p.m., featuring art by Traci Harmon-Hay, Sarah Lutz, Pete Hocking, and others. There will also be a live auction, streaming from the Chatham Bars Inn on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 6 p.m., with works by Donald Beal, Cynthia Packard, and more. Visit artsfoundation.org to register and bid.
Into the Woods
The Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is offering a few socially distanced activities. Among them is a kayak trip through Nauset Marsh in Eastham on Friday, July 31, at 8:30 a.m., tickets $70-$85 (call 508-349-2615 to register); and a full moon hike on Monday, Aug. 3, at 7:30 p.m., tickets $14, children free (register at massaudubon.org).
Advice Versa
The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown is hosting a virtual one-hour poetry workshop led by Nick Flynn that is designed to inspire unexpected and surprising new poems on Thursday, July 30, at 6 p.m. Registration is $10 at fawc.org.
Ukulele Lady
The Eastham Public Library is holding a virtual ukulele workshop with Julie Stepanek on Saturday, Aug. 1, at 1 p.m. Ages six and up are welcome. There is also a live-streaming animal show via Zoom on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 5 p.m. Go to easthamlibrary.org to register; both events are free.
Feed Your Ears
The Wellfleet Pearl restaurant continues with live music daily (except Monday) from 3 to 5 p.m., no cover. Featured this week: Catie Flynn Band (Thursday, July 30), Boston Naturals (Friday, July 31), Pitchfork (Saturday, Aug. 1), Bruce Maclean (Sunday, Aug. 2), Brandon Manter (Tuesday, Aug. 4), and Jordan Renzi (Wednesday, Aug. 5).
World Tour
Great Music on Sundays @5 presents “Marimba and Piano Global Rhythms” on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 5 p.m. This free live-streaming concert, with Brian Calhoon on marimba, John Thomas on piano, and Chanthoeun Varon Collins on cello, includes music from Argentina, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, and the U.S. For details, go to ptownmusic.com.
For a Song
Steeple Street Music Academy in Mashpee is running a songwriting competition called Mash-ville. The entry deadline is Saturday, Aug. 1, and you must be at least 13 to enter. The fees: $25 for your first song, $10 for each additional song. The grand prize: two round-trip tickets to Nashville, Tenn. Winners will participate in a songwriting showcase on Aug. 15. Visit steeplestreetmusic.com for details.
Drag Picnic
Marti Gould Cummings in “Picnic in the Park” is coming to Pilgrim House’s outdoor stage from Tuesday, Aug. 4 to Saturday, Aug. 8. Tickets are $35 at pilgrimhouse.com.
Bracelets for BFFs
The Truro Public Library is hosting a virtual friendship bracelet-making class with Sophia and Maggie Prickitt on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. Call 508-487-1125 or email [email protected] to receive the link. Materials will be provided through curbside pickup.
Backyard Boogie
Wellfleet Preservation Hall is presenting a backyard concert series. First up is Zoë Lewis on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 7 p.m. (rain date Aug. 6). Tickets are $15 for adults, $7.50 for children 13 and under. Groups are limited to six people; bring a blanket or lawn chair. Reserve in advance at wellfleetpreservationhall.org.
Puppet Party
The Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet libraries are holding a virtual puppet show, “A Celebration of Imagination,” performed by Caravan Puppets, on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 10:30 a.m. For a Zoom link, email [email protected] with the names and ages of your viewing party.
Painting With Pete
One highlight of the online and on-campus classes offered at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill is “Making Pictures,” with Pete Hocking, which will be held live, from 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, Aug. 3, through Thursday, Aug. 6. The four sessions cost $455. Register at castlehill.org.
Young at Art
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum is offering several live outdoor classes for kids. Hannah Capra teaches “Little Artists Outdoors” on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. for children 4 to 7, and “Young Artists Outdoors” on Thursdays at 10 a.m. for children 8 to 10; both are $40 per session. Grace Emmet teaches “Plein Air Painting” on Fridays at 8:30 a.m. for children 10 to 15, $50 per session. Go to paam.org to register.
Hold the Mayo
The Wellfleet Recreation Dept. is hosting “Virtual Music at Mayo,” an online concert series. The Grab Brothers Band performs on Friday, July 31, at 6:30 p.m., and the Rip It Ups get in the groove on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 6:30 p.m. Visit the Wellfleet Rec’s Facebook page for details.
Outer Cape Calendar
The Pearl Can’t Help It
Music at the Wellfleet Pearl is back! The Aaron Norcross Trio performs Sunday, July 26, at 3 p.m. at 250 Commercial St. No cover. Visit wellfleetpearl.com for the full schedule.
Early Birders
Join Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 291 Route 6 for Early Bird Walks on Tuesdays at 7 a.m. and Thursdays at 8 a.m. Bird watchers will explore the sanctuary’s scenic trails. Group size is limited to eight, and masks are required. The walk costs $22 a person (members $18); purchase tickets at massaudubon.org.
Road Runners
The Wellfleet Recreation Dept. is holding its 46th annual road race virtually this year. Register by 6 p.m. on Friday, July 24, and run the five-mile race anywhere you’d like, as long as it’s before 6 p.m. on Friday, July 31. Registration costs $20 if you can pick up your T-shirt locally, $25 if you want it mailed. Visit the recreation dept.’s Facebook page for details.
A Capella Fellas
Great Music on Sundays @5, normally a staple at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Provincetown, has gone virtual this year, with eight online concerts available on Great Music on Sundays @5’s YouTube channel. The first engagement, featuring the all-male a capella group Hyannis Sound, will take place on Sunday, July 26, at 5 p.m. Find future events at ptownmusic.com.
Call of the Wild
Payomet Early Stages presents a free Zoom conversation on coastal birding with wildlife biologist Danielle Belleny and Jeffrey Ward. They will discuss issues of conservation and climate change, as well as birding tips. You must register at payomet.org to participate before the event on Sunday, July 26, at 11:30 a.m.
Plastic Bagged
The Center for Coastal Studies is streaming the film The Story of Plastic for free from Monday, July 27, through Friday, July 31. It will be followed by a live-stream discussion on Monday, Aug. 3, at 6 p.m. with Madhavi Venkatesan, executive director of Sustainable Practices, and Laura Ludwig, coordinator of the center’s marine debris and plastics program. Register at coastalstudies.org.
Loud and Proud
Drag “screlter” (a portmanteau of “screamer” and “belter”) Cacophony Daniels graces Pilgrim House’s outdoor stage to perform “So Close and Yet So Far” at 7 p.m. nightly from Tuesday, July 28, through Saturday, Aug. 1. Tickets are $35 at pilgrimhouseptown.com.
Hold a Kandall
Amy Kandall, the ceramics and painting teacher at Nauset Regional High School and founder of Green Thumb Ceramics, is having a show of “Quarantine Paintings” at Spiritus Pizza at 190 Commercial St. in Provincetown. Have a slice and scan the walls.
Jungle Fever
The Eastham Public Library is launching a virtual children’s show featuring Jungle Jim on Tuesday, July 28, at 5 p.m. The show, which is free, will be available to screen the entire week following. Register at easthamlibrary.org.
Making the Zine
The Wellfleet Public Library is looking for submissions of poetry, fiction, or prose written during the pandemic for its Quaranzine. Submissions of 1,000 words or less are due by Friday, July 31. Email them to [email protected] or [email protected].
Painters Paired
Through Wednesday, July 29, the Stewart Clifford Gallery at 338 Commercial St. in Provincetown is hosting the show “Colorful Explorations,” featuring work by Nick Peterson-Davis and Bill Chisholm. Get a virtual glimpse at stewartcliffordgallery.com.
Gorey Details
The Edward Gorey House, at 8 Strawberry Lane in Yarmouth Port, is reopening on Wednesday, July 29, with the exhibition “He Wrote It All Down Zealously: Edward Gorey’s Interesting Lists,” including writings, drawings, and musings by Gorey that (mysteriously) never made it to publication. This summer, Gorey House visits are by appointment only: reserve at edwardgoreyhouse.org.
Mazur League
The Fine Arts Work Center is hosting a Zoom discussion on Tuesday, July 28, from 6 to 7 p.m. with poet Gail Mazur and artist Bert Yarborough on the subject of the late Michael Mazur’s New Provincetown Printmaking Project, which brought renowned artists together from 1990 to 1994 to create limited print portfolios as a fund-raiser. Register for $10 at fawc.org.
Outer Cape Calendar
Streaming Readings
The Wellfleet Public Library is hosting a virtual poetry reading on Zoom with Heather Corbally Bryant, Tzynya Pinchback, and Lynne Viti, on Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m. The library will also host a virtual book talk on Zoom with Susan Reverby, author of Co-conspirator for Justice: The Revolutionary Life of Dr. Alan Berkman, on Monday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m. Both events are free. To register, email [email protected] with “Poetry” or “Susan Reverby” in the subject line.
Sliceman Cometh
Wellfleet Preservation Hall is hosting a series of three Zoom cooking classes with Chef Liam. The first, focusing on ceviche and knife skills, will be on Wednesday, July 22, at 6 p.m. and will include a virtual trip to Hatch’s Fish Market. The cost is $30 per class or $75 for all three. Visit wellfleetpreservationhall.org for details.
Seal of Approval
The Center for Coastal Studies is leading a guided seal hike on Thursday, July 16, at 2 p.m. and Sunday, July 20, at 5 p.m. Participants will visit a gray seal haul-out in Truro. Group size is limited to eight and the suggested donation is $5. The center is also presenting “Get to the Bottom of It,” a live beach exploration of the marine life of Provincetown, on Friday, July 17, at 3:30 p.m. Group size is limited to 10 and the suggested donation is $7. Sign up at coastalstudies.org.
Bird’s the Word
Join Mike Faherty, host of WCAI’s “Weekly Bird Report,” for a free, virtual discussion, offered by WGBH. It’s the perfect opportunity to ask all of your burning birding questions and get some tips, and will take place Friday, July 17, at noon. Register at wgbh.org.
Black Women Poets
Helping Our Women will be holding a reading and discussion of poetry written by African-American women on Thursday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. at its outdoor patio at 34 Conwell St. in Provincetown. Masks are required, and due to social distancing, seating is limited: call 508-487-4357 to reserve a spot.
Cyber-concert Series
The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod and TD Bank are presenting a free virtual concert series this summer, streaming live on AFCC’s Facebook page. This week, Zoë Lewis and Roxanne Layton perform on Sunday, July 19, at 11 a.m., and Cape Cod Moonlighters Big Band performs on Wednesday, July 22, at 7 p.m.
The New Norm
Norm Lewis will join host Seth Rudetsky for a virtual concert and conversation on Sunday, July 19, at 8 p.m., as part of the Seth Concert Series. Lewis, who was the first African-American phantom in Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera, most recently appeared in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! Tickets are $23.50 at thesethconcertseries.com.
Music in the Air
Live music at the Pearl, at 250 Commercial St. in Wellfleet, is back up and running, with Charlie Marie performing Monday, July 20, at 3 p.m., and the Rick Lockwood Trio performing Tuesday, July 21, at 3 p.m. No cover. Details at wellfleetpearl.com.
Seen on the Green
Dawn Derow will perform a live outdoor concert on the Eastham Windmill Green, at 2515 Route 6, on Monday, July 20, at 7 p.m. She will be joined by Gregg Sullivan on guitar, Bart Weisman on drums, Ron Ormsby on bass, and guest vocalist Jason Reiff. Admission is free; proper social distancing will be observed.
Mozart at the Met
A performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s exquisite opera Le Nozze di Figaro — a.k.a. “The Marriage of Figaro” —recorded on Oct. 18, 2014, will stream for free on Saturday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. (or later — as long as it’s before Sunday at 6:30 p.m.) at metopera.org. Search online for “Nightly Met Opera Streams” to get to the right page.
Twenty-twenty Vision
The Bakker Gallery, at 359 Commercial St. in Provincetown, is holding a show of “20 Artists/20 Days” through July 30, featuring a singular classic work of Provincetown art each day. The entire show can be seen on Bakker’s pages on Artsy.net.
The Center for Coastal Studies is leading a guided seal hike on Thursday, July 16, at 2 p.m. and Sunday, July 19, at 5 p.m. Participants will visit a gray seal haul-out in Truro. Group size is limited to eight and the suggested donation is $5. Sign up at coastalstudies.org.
The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes investigates a suspicious incident involving a jellyfish in “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane,” a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published in 1926. Today, Cape scientists are caught up in a real-life mystery surrounding this gelatinous sea animal, as masses of the species move into local waters.
The Lion’s Mane jelly, named for its bushy outcrop of amber-colored arms and tentacles, is a common enough sight in New England, experts say, but what is different about it this year is the abundance and size of specimens seen in the waters north of and around Cape Cod — from Nantucket Sound to Pleasant Bay, across Cape Cod Bay from Marshfield to Provincetown, and up into the Gulf of Maine.
The “bloom” of Lion’s Mane in Cape waters was first detected in the late winter, said Owen Nichols, director of the fisheries research program at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, who has been observing the jellies out in the field. In early March, he said, shellfishermen started noticing scores of smaller Lion’s Mane jellies in Wellfleet Harbor and the bay. As the spring progressed, the sightings continued.
The intrigue deepened over the last two weeks, when Lion’s Mane jellies of impressive proportion began to surface off the Cape tip.
“I think the real story right now that everyone is really excited about is the sheer size of the animals that are coming up,” Nichols said in a phone interview on June 26. In Provincetown, a Lion’s Mane photographed by a citizen scientist off the dinghy dock at MacMillan Pier was estimated to be about two feet wide across the bell, with tentacles extending to 10 feet.
Nichols said some of the jellies he’s seen are up to three feet wide. He hesitated to speculate how long the tentacles would be on a creature of that size.
“The maximum size they can get is eight feet across, with the tentacles extending to 200 feet,” Nichols said.
The presence of such large specimens here is a definite head-scratcher. Chris Doller, a jellyfish specialist and supervisor of changing exhibits at the New England Aquarium in Boston, says that Lion’s Manes in New England waters normally measure 10 to 12 inches wide — “about the size of a dinner plate.” The heftier specimens tend to inhabit waters far north of here, in the Arctic Ocean.
“They typically get bigger as you get colder,” Doller said.
Both Nichols and Doller suggested that a “confluence of factors” had caused the giant jellies’ southward shift.
“It’s unlikely that it’s any one thing,” said Nichols. “It could be related to changes in the pattern of ocean circulation. Despite the fact that these jellies are so big, they’re generally passive,” making it possible for swings in currents and winds to transport the jellies in from more northern waters.
Nichols also wondered if food might have something to do with it. Lion’s Mane jellyfish eat plankton and fish eggs — and fish unlucky enough to become entangled in their tentacles — but they’re also known to eat other jellies. In recent months, Nichols said, small comb jellyfish, or ctenophores, have been abundant in Cape waters, presenting a potential feast for their larger counterparts.
The giant jellies, in turn, are a boon to animals higher up in the food chain.
“The best part about Lion’s Manes is they’re a great food source for leatherback turtles,” Doller said. “A big part of [the sea turtles’] diet is gelatinous.”
Like Nichols, Doller believes that a combination of things — “ocean swells, warmer temperatures, and winds causing them to drift a little further south than where they would normally be” — may be contributing to the influx of these sea creatures.
“I’ve been at the aquarium for fifteen and a half years and this is the first time I’ve seen a bloom of Lion’s Mane like this,” Doller said.
Fortunately, Lion’s Manes are not likely to cause serious harm to swimmers who come into contact with them. Though the tentacles can deliver a sting that burns and irritates, they’re not the deadly scourge they’re made out to be in the Sherlock Holmes story, in which (spoiler alert) a man dies after taking a wrong turn in a tidal pool. (Holmes scholars think the jellyfish in “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” was actually a Portuguese man-of-war.)
To researchers like Nichols, the Lion’s Mane brings more puzzles than perils. When wildlife breaks out of its routine in a dramatic way like this, it’s often an indication of an underlying condition that could be rooted in deeper upheavals — such as changes in climate, he said.
“I think it’s really interesting,” Nichols said. “I want to know why they’re here. I want to know what they’re eating.
“I have a lot of questions.”
The immense corpse lay on its back on the upper beach, eyes heavenward, although unseeing. Its full abdomen, up-thrust chin, bristly whiskers, and jowly throat suggested a human quality; if fitted with a bowler hat, from a distance it could have been mistaken for a 19th-century British gentleman at leisure. But this notion was belied by the large gash in its underside and the significant bite marks in its side and flippers. These wounds support the very reasonable hypothesis that this animal, a large bull gray seal, was the victim of a great white shark attack.
The scene is a harborside beach in the East End of Provincetown. Within hours of the dead seal’s appearance, staff from the Center for Coastal Studies and the International Fund for Animal Welfare arrive and proceed to perform a necropsy. Nearby, a group of young people sit, seemingly oblivious to this sad scene, huddled around the tinny sound of the electronic equivalent of a transistor radio. A couple of men in folding chairs sit not far off with their backs to the corpse, sipping mojitos and consciously regarding the horizon. Dog walkers and solitary strollers gaze for a bit and move on. I, too, after a time, go about my business — whatever that is.
I must be careful not to stretch metaphor into meaning until the whole thing doesn’t adhere. But here goes: we are still in the midst of a pandemic of unknown proportions; on top of this, nationwide turmoil in the streets has erupted over continued murders by cops, and police brutality and racial inequality in general.
Yet here we are on the beach on a beautiful day. We know there are sharks out there, but we are (for now) safe on land. We know the virus has not been properly addressed and certainly not resolved; we know our government — especially our president — is woefully and criminally unresponsive to these and other issues; we know that the inequities that feed the protests are deep-rooted and pervasive.
History provides ample and egregious evidence of people turning their backs on horrendous events: ordinary Germans going about their business during the Holocaust while smoke poured from the crematoria; white Americans actively overlooking the dispossession of Native Americans, the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, the mistreatment of migrant children at our southern border, and, of course, the tragedy of the slavery of African Americans and their unequal treatment to this day.
The essential question for each of us is: how much of myself can I devote to these issues? I have just this one life to live and I must live it to the fullest. We — most of us — on the Outer Cape are particularly blessed with a buffer of beauty and distance from the worst of these events. It is easy to be complacent and self-involved.
But there has to be a balance between personal and public life, an uneasy and constantly shifting balance. That means being committed to justice, mercy, compassion, love, care for our environment, and activism. But it also means not being completely overwhelmed by the external world.
As Walt Whitman wrote: “…battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful news, the fitful events; these come to me days and nights and go from me again, but they are not the me myself.”
The following morning the beach had been swept clean by the tide, a tabula rasa. What next will wash ashore?
Outer Cape Calendar
Island Treasure
The Friends of Herring River invite you to take a free virtual tour of Wellfleet’s Bound Brook Island on their website, herringriver.org/Videos. Originally created for a live audience presentation, the video offers a history of the area, its importance to early settlers, and some background on the Herring River restoration.
Musical Preludes
Joe Marchio, music director at the First Congregational Church in Chatham, is hosting a series of pre-concert talks ($10 each) on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. through Aug. 18. On June 23, he’ll discuss Richard Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. To register and get a Zoom link, go to artfuljourneysllc.com/pre-concert.
Square Deal
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum’s annual “12×12” auction is going virtual. Members may submit a work that is 12-by-12 inches, either by shipping it to PAAM by June 27, or dropping it off at the museum at 460 Commercial St. between noon and 2 p.m. on Monday, June 22; Wednesday, June 24; Friday, June 26; or Saturday, June 27. The online exhibition and silent auction will go live from July 10 through Aug. 23. Visit paam.org for details.
One Act Only
Wellfleet playwright Candace Perry is offering a two-hour online class for $25 on how to write a short play through the Eventide Arts Master Class series on Saturday, June 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sign up at eventidearts.org.
Just a Shot Away
The Youth Film Festival will come to its culmination this weekend (Friday, June 19, through Sunday, June 21) with the streaming of 25 shorts by young filmmakers from the Cape and across the state, presented by Wellfleet Preservation Hall. There will also be an awards presentation Sunday at 5 p.m. Catch an eyeful at wellfleetpreservationhall.org.
Private Beach
Make a note on your July 4 weekend calendar: Mussel Beach Health Club is hosting a virtual “Freedom Beach Party 2020” with DJ George Spiliopoulos on Thursday, July 2, from noon to 6 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Provincetown Business Guild — details to be announced.
Join the Club
The Provincetown Public Library is offering a virtual Provincetown 400 Book Club, hosted by mystery writer Jeannette de Beauvoir. The first meeting is on Thursday, June 18, at 6 p.m.; the topic will be Geraldine Brooks’s Caleb’s Crossing. Visit the provincetownlibrary.org and click on “Events” — you’ll find the club on the calendar.
Green Gardens
The Wellfleet Public Library will host a virtual Climate Resilience Workshop, “No-Till Backyard Farming,” with Ben Fairbank on Saturday, June 20, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants will learn how to create a sustainable ecosystem in their gardens. Email [email protected] to sign up.
Hit the Books
The Eastham Public Library’s summer reading program launches on Friday, June 19. Children who sign up should read as many books as they can by Aug. 13 to win prizes. For adults, there is a virtual book talk on “New England at 400,” by Eric D. Lehman, on Thursday, June 25, at 2 p.m. via Zoom. Find the listing on the library calendar at easthamlibrary.org to register.
Performing Pairs
Payomet Performing Arts Center’s Tiny Tent offers a free live-stream concert, “Jazz and More,” with Eleanor Dubinsky (cello, vocals) and Dario Acosta Teich (guitar) on Wednesday, June 24, at 7 p.m. They will play original songs, Latin American music, and, of course, jazz. Also at the virtual tent: a family acrobatics class with Cirque by the Sea stars Teddy Ment and Eleanor Getz on Tuesday, June 23, at 6 p.m. Set up mats and padding at home and be safe! For pay-what-you-can tickets, go to payomet.org.
President Trump announced on Friday, June 5 that he would allow commercial fishing in a conservation area 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod. Scientists and fisheries advocates here agree the move may be meant to have political appeal, especially for Maine fishermen, but does not reflect any real assessment of what would be good either for the environment or for fishermen.
The move is likely also to be illegal. “We’re going to take him to court and stop him,” said Peter Shelley, senior council at the Conservation Law Foundation, which worked for several years to establish the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
Shelley explained that the Obama administration created the monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows presidents to protect land and marine regions from adverse human impacts. Although Congress gives the executive branch the power to create these monuments, Shelley said Trump’s move is “illegal,” arguing presidents do not have the unilateral power to diminish the size of or disestablish national monuments.
“In our view, the law is clear,” he said. “Congress gave him the power to create, but any elimination of a monument or reduction in its scope needs to go to Congress.” He said this question is currently being decided in the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, which Trump reduced in size in 2017.
But Is It Good for the Fishermen?
Trump signed the decree with lobster traps and buoys set up in front of his desk. But his move doesn’t do much economically for fishermen.
Before the monument was created, very few fishermen actually used the area beyond Georges Bank to fish. They were allowed to continue to do so under a grandfather clause, permitting phased out access over several years.
Cape Cod Fisheries Trust director Seth Rolbein told the Independent that the monument “doesn’t impact our fishing community at all, and never really has. It’s not something that’s high on our radar.” He believes only a handful of boats out of southern Maine use the region for lobstering.
And it turns out opening up even more areas to lobstering — especially distant regions offshore — makes little sense from a scientific perspective. A new study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that the lobster industry would actually benefit from a shorter season with less gear. With longer seasonal closures, lobster stocks rebound, and catch increases.
Shelley pointed out that Trump’s trade wars with China and the E.U. have wreaked much more damage to the lobster industry, on which the Independent reported on Nov. 11.
A Special Ecosystem
The monument spans just under 5,000 square miles (about the size of Connecticut) and contains three underwater canyons, deeper than the Grand Canyon, and four seamounts, the tallest of which rises 8,202 feet from the sea floor. It is the only national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website, its steep walls cause ocean currents to spiral upwards from below, allowing nutrient-rich deep water to rise into zones where sunlight penetrates. This process allows 54 species of deep-sea corals to grow at depths of 3,900 meters below the surface. Sponges and anemones also provide shelter to baby fish and a wide variety of life deep in the ocean.
Scientists still have a lot to learn about the monument’s ecosystems, which is why Stormy Mayo, a scientist at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, said that the area needs protecting. “We don’t know what we need to know about the canyons area from a scientific point of view,” he said. “It’s clearly a very special ecosystem. The biggest issue is our lack of knowledge.”
He pointed out that humans have often caused extensive environmental damage simply because we don’t see the effects of our actions until it is too late.
As far as what human actions might now be taken there, the area does not have any known deposits of oil or gas. Fishing could cause damage to the fragile ecosystems, especially with traps that crush coral. But the monument’s deep waters are likely best for pot and lobster fishing, according to Mayo.
The problem, Mayo said, is that the type of deep-water gear that would be used there is typically very heavy and therefore animals that become tangled in it have “very little chance” of surviving. Unlike in Cape Cod Bay, where whale entanglements are easier to spot, the monument’s remote location makes it difficult for scientists to keep track of animals in crisis.
Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website describing the monument area includes pictures of whales feeding there, Mayo said the area has not been extensively monitored for whales. “With a lot of the issues of management and conservation, the rule ‘out of sight, out of mind’ applies,” he said. “If we don’t see them because we’re not there, we think it’s not a problem.”
When the Independent asked to speak with a scientist at the NOAA Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, which manages the monument, a press officer replied that “we’ve been instructed to send all press inquiries to the White House.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Getting Away With It
Shelley, of the Conservation Law Foundation, said the setup was a “photo op for the president.”
The monument was created by President Obama in 2016. The way Shelley sees it, the current president’s reversal is “just another opportunity for him to rant against President Obama’s legacy — his highest priority is reversing whatever the last president did.”
But Trump’s move still has national implications. “If he can get away with it here,” Shelley said, “he can get away with it anywhere.”
