10.9.22: Fishing for Tautog; Whales in the Balance; Rachel Carson in Woods Hole, Cozy Sweaters

Imagine Saving Whales

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve read some troubling news stories about whales. The Boston Globe ran this report on a humpback whale that was freed after being entangled in fishing gear near Hull, and two days later, shared this story about Snow Cone, a North Atlantic right whale spotted south of Nantucket, entangled in fishing rope. Snow Cone is one of fewer than 70 remaining breeding right whales, and the Globe’s photographer was shocked at the decline in the whale’s health since she’d been spotted a year before. The news sent us back to Sam Moore’s story “Whales in the Balance,” which describes Woods Hole scientist Michael Moore’s book We Are All Whalers. We wanted to find out what we can do to help sustain whale populations. Turns out, we can make a difference, by pushing legislators to pass “ropeless gear” laws for the lobstering industry, by cutting back on our lobster consumption, and by educating ourselves on these amazing creatures.

“What we can do” is what we focus on at Bluedot. And we like to look around at other Islanders who do the same. Check out the Island Climate Action Network’s (ICAN) newsletter, which will keep you updated on, well, climate action on the Vineyard. For instance, The MV Vision Fellowship just funded two new energy positions —an Energy Planner at the MVC, and an Energy Transition Coordinator at Vineyard Power. And learn all about “Climate Cafes” starting Oct. 16 at Rosewater. Sign up for that newsletter here.

And sign up for Bluedot’s new Hub newsletter, where we bring you dispatches from all over, more great recipes, and a lively marketplace full of “Buy Better” items.

We think “What you can do” often starts with “What you can imagine.” John Lennon would have turned 82 today, and he once said that if “everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, there’d be peace.”

Imagine that.

–Leslie Garrett and Jamie Kageleiry

In 1962, Rachel Carson published the book that launched the environmental movement in the U.S. “Before Carson’s public recognition and controversy,” Kelsey Perrett writes in a story about a statue of Carson in Woods Hole, “before the science advisory committees or Silent Spring’s serialization in the New Yorker; before the Atlantic articles or the uncannily profound Fish and Wildlife brochures … there was Woods Hole.”
“I had my first prolonged contact with the sea in Woods Hole,” Carson wrote, a quote now engraved beside her statue. “I never tired of watching the tidal currents pouring through the hole — whirlpools and eddies and swiftly racing water.”

Dear Dot,
About 15 years ago my house sitter threw away all the mouse poison I had left around our barn and the outside of our home. She rightly pointed out that I was potentially killing the wildlife and she feared that our cat might get poisoned too. She needn’t have worried about Jessie the cat since she isn’t a hunter. But it isn’t unusual for us to come home after a trip to a mouse nest in our car or engine. A mouse once popped out of our hood onto the ferry! I assumed they were attracted to our car by the Cheerios our then-toddlers dropped. But now we have teens and a new Cheerio-free electric vehicle and still we came home to a mouse nest in the glove box! What should I do?
–Rona, West Tisbury

Dear Rona,
Mice are wily. An adolescent mouse can squeeze into a space roughly the size of a dime. Give them a hint of cold weather and they’re on the hunt for some cozy winter digs. And seldom-used cars — so many nooks and crannies! so easy to access! — act like a well-lit vacancy sign. (As appealing, apparently, is my fireplace where, as I tap away at my keyboard writing this, my cat captures a tiny mouse in his jaws. I had wondered about Bobcat’s recent fascination with the fireplace. Now I get it.) But while utterly adorable — those little ears! those teensy whiskers — mice can be very destructive. Tim Hanjian, owner/operator of Eco Island Pest Control in Oak Bluffs, gets lots of calls about rascally rodents. Car parts, including wires, hoses and upholstery, are often made of organic materials such as soy, peanut oil, and rice husks, making them a veritable buffet for hungry critters. He recommends adopting more than one solution to thwart tiny intruders …