by Walter Perez
In the race for a vaccine for COVID-19, horseshoe crabs – a New Jersey coastal fixture both now and eons ago in the days before the dinosaurs – may play a vital role.
This video story by ABC Action News features CWF Executive Director David Wheeler and top shorebird scientist Dr. Larry Niles in telling this science fiction-like tale.
Watch the video & read more on 6abc.com.
by Morgan Mark, CWF Intern
Asbury Park elementary schoolers participating in the district’s Summer Enrichment Program have had a wild reason to look forward to Wednesdays this summer – Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s virtual Wildlife Explorers Program sponsored by New Jersey Natural Gas.
CWF Director of Education Stephanie DAlessio has been teaching students about the wildlife that lives, breeds, and migrates in their community. Virtual field trips, engaging lessons, and live webcams have exposed elementary schoolers to a gamut of topics ranging from oystercatcher adaptations to ocean litter.
This two-month curriculum reinforces the Asbury Park School District’s emphasis on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and gives students access to nature right from their own homes. To participate in activities authentic to biologists, students have been recording weekly observations and data in science field journals, holding meaningful discussions about the environment, and completing at-home activities.
“New Jersey Natural Gas has been involved in the Asbury Park community for nearly 70 years,” said Tom Hayes, the Director of Customer and Community Relations. “Strengthening sustainability and engagement in our communities, especially educating about our environment, are the main focus of our community involvement, so this is exactly the type of program we are excited to be a partner on.”
(more…)by Milena Bimpong
A ‘living fossil’ today swims the Delaware River, having survived eons from the days of the dinosaurs through the caviar craze a century ago that nearly wiped it out for its roe, or valuable eggs.
However, as explored in the latest episode of State of Change – Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s regular podcast exploring climate change impacts on New Jersey wildlife –the Atlantic sturgeon faces an abundance of modern threats.
From a historic population of 360,000 adults, “Based on our best estimates, there’s less than 300 in the river. There’s less than 1 tenth of 1% that was there historically,” says Dewayne Fox, a professor of fisheries at Delaware State University. “The loss of one or two adults is a significant loss of spawning potential in the Delaware River.”
Among the largest river fishes in North America, the Atlantic sturgeon can grow up to 14 feet and weigh up to 800 pounds. One sturgeon from New Jersey is believed to have been over 1,000 pounds. The Atlantic sturgeon’s features indicate that their existence can be traced back to millions of years.
Yet that lengthy run was in jeopardy after facing ensuing perils of caviar harvesting and pollution.
(more…)By MICHAEL SHERIDAN, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Now here’s one whale of a tale.
A boat off the coast of New Jersey was struck by a whale that leapt from the water and landed on the craft Monday.
The massive mammal slammed into the 25-foot boat around noon, according to a post on the Friends of Seaside Park Facebook page.
(more…)Ghost pots in Barnegat Bay
By: Emily Heiser; Wildlife Biologist
Derelict fishing gear continues to plague the depths of Barnegat Bay. Often lost through storm events or due to boat traffic, lost or abandoned crab pots (ghost pots) become an unintentional deathtrap for a variety of marine species and reduce otherwise harvestable resources. CWF and their partners at MATES, Stockton, and ALS have been working to recover lost pots in Barnegat Bay since 2015.
Over the course of the last three field seasons, 1,300 crab pots have been recovered and their bycatch has been extensively documented. Notably, CWF and MATES have been focusing on how to further help northern diamondback terrapins who often find themselves caught in ghost pots. In 2016, one pot contained the remains of 17 terrapins.
As we enter the fourth field season of pot collections, the project hopes to not only recover as may pots as possible, but also to glean further information on how the pots move in a variety of substrates and under a variety conditions. To bring further awareness to the issue, CWF teamed up with the awesome folks at Citizen Racecar to produce a short informational film about ghost fishing and its effects on Barnegat Bay. Visit our Facebook page to view the video: https://www.facebook.com/wildlifenj/
© 2019 Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey