Research

Cleaner Mystic River could give shellfishermen room to grow

When the sewage treatment plant on the Mystic River was upgraded in 2015, probably few community residents here imagined local shellfish farmers might benefit, let alone oyster and clam growers across the country. But that’s a possibility, depending on the results of a $300,000 federally funded testing project now underway.

Are northern sand lance embryos particularly sensitive to high CO2?

Stellwagen Bank, the National Marine Sanctuary just north of Cape Cod, is a true hotspot for some of the Atlantic Ocean’s most iconic creatures: whales, seals, tuna and seabirds, who all share a particular appetite for this one fish – sand lance. Some experts in the sanctuary’s ecosystem call this species its “backbone.” Could sand lance offspring be particularly sensitive to higher levels of oceanic carbon dioxide predicted during the next 100 to 300 years as climate change effects intensify?