AMAZING FEEDING FRENZY AT RACE POINT ON CAPE COD (late August 2017) :
During the last two weeks of August (2017) the waters and beach at Race Point on Cape Cod were buzzing with thousands of shearwaters and millions(?) of fish, all in a feeding frenzy the likes of which nobody remembers seeing before! There are two videos of this, and turn up the volume of your sound level on both of these very audible videos:
LONG 3-MINUTE VIDEO BY PETER FLOOD:
Click on the next line below to see & hear Peter Flood's 3-minute video of this amazing phenomenon...
Peter Flood - Who needs a boat when you can stand on shore... | Facebook << click on this
(you do NOT have to log-in or join Facebook to view this 3-minute video).
eBird report by Andrea Bean (click on this link, and then use back-arrow at top left to return):
eBird Checklist – Race Point Beach, Provincetown, Massachusetts – Sun Aug 27, 2017
SHORT 14-SECOND VIDEO BY ANDREA BEAN:
Very extreme activity at Race Point on Aug.27,2017... << click to view this short video, and turn up the audio volume. Yes, those are mostly Great Shearwaters, coming into the beach, and up on the beach to catch Atlantic Menhaden, on the beach! And within a few feet of the legs of bird photographers...
You can click on any of these images to enlarge them, and then press the ESC key to return...
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| Fish photos thanks to Wayne Petersen |
Why so many menhaden, when for decades their numbers were down? Partly because of regulatory changes, such as this?...
Regulations Affecting Commercial Menhaden Management
Nick Bonomo's post covering this weekend...
Shorebirder: Cape Cod -- Aug 19-21, 2017 (Part 1 of 2)
There have also been a large number of shearwater and tern deaths in Cape Cod waters this year...
Cause Of Seabird Die-off Along Coast Remains Unknown | Cape Cod Chronicle
Is it possible that the fish are sick and dying, and that the birds are getting sick and dying from eating those dying fish? Menhaden are known to fall victim to various pathogens such as those mentioned below (permission was received from the publisher and author of this legendary landmark book: for the chapter "Herrings: Family Clupeidae", by Thomas A. Munroe, 2002, in Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, Third Edition: Bruce B. Collette, Grace Klein-Macphee, Eds. 2002. 748 pp. Smithsonian Institution Press). Is it possible that the birds are dying from the toxins of the fish pathogens? Click on the image below to enlarge it, and then press ESC key to return:
I am guessing that there may be some connection between all these things:
- the change in menhaden regulations,
- the menhaden possibly getting afflicted with pathogens,
- the menhaden coming into the beaches around Race Point (perhaps disoriented, debilitated, etc and easier prey for mackerel),
- the shearwaters going crazy feeding on them, right onto the beach, possibly picking up the pathogens and their toxins by eating the sick fish,
- many shearwaters dying this year around Cape Cod,
- etc.
Thoughts? Evidence??
Followup on Sept.6,2017: Fish are being checked for pathogens, however, these fish beachings are still most likely due to predators driving them ashore.
By the way, Menhaden regulations are up for review...
AtlanticMenhadenDraftAmendment3_PublicComment.pdf
species - Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
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