Tag Archives: sharks

Roundup: Sustainable Westport Candidate Survey, Bridge Slide, Sharks! …

Posted on October 28, 2023 | 15 comments

Sustainable Westport — the town’s non-profit advisory environmental committee — recently surveyed all candidates running for the Representative Town Meeting, Board of Education, Board of Finance and Planning & Zoning Commission.

36% of candidates responded. Click here to view their answers.

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Last weekend’s first “bridge slide” — replacement of the I-95 Saugatuck Avenue bridge, with resultant closures and diversions of the highway — went smoothly.

Until Sunday afternoon.

The second (and final) slide is set for next weekend. It begins at 8 p.m. Friday, November 3, and is scheduled to end at 6 a.m. Monday, November 6.

Last weekend’s work ended sooner than expected. Fingers crossed …

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On Wednesday (November 1, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall auditorium), the Board of Finance holds a public meeting.

Most items are routine: financial reports, status updates, appropriation requests.

Tucked into the agenda — #4, of 8 items — is “Long Lots Building Project (Discussion only).”

The meeting will be livestreamed at www.westportct.gov. Meeting materials will be available there too.

The Board of Finance will discuss the Long Lots Elementary School project on Wednesday. It faces further review from other town bodies too.

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Wednesday’s Roundup included a plea from a reader to golfers to stop chipping balls into water. She recently fished over 100 out of Long Island Sound, at Burying Hill Beach.

Yesterday brought a different kind of fish to the same beach.

Three baby sharks washed ashore. Nicholas Eisenberger — who sent along this photo from his Greens Farms neighbor, Margaret Schwabe — wonders if this is very normal, somewhat normal, or quite unusual.

Marine biologists: Click “Comments” below!

Sharks, at Burying Hill Beach. (Photo/Margaret Schwabe)

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Speaking of beaches: The raising and moving of the 1917 house on Compo Cove continues to fascinate everyone who lives at or walks by Old Mill Beach.

Here’s a photo from yesterday:

(Photo/Matt Murray)

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The Westport Farmers’ Market is all about healthy eating.

As part of their mission, next Thursday’s market (November 2, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Imperial Avenue parking lot) includes a Health & Wellness event.

Dharma Massage will discuss the value of massage, and provide 10-minute chair sessions. Zion Physical Therapy will teach shoppers proper stretching plans.  Pause + Purpose has teamed up with GWell to offer Gu Shaw treatments, and will speak to the benefits of meditation.

In addition, Mae Farrell — head of WFM’s”Get Growing” program — will show attendees — including children — how to make healing bath salts.

And nutrition and recipe expert Terry Walters will share recipes and answer questions on how to best nurture bodies with healthy food.

All that is in addition to the usual vendors — and healthy food.

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Three new exhibits have been unveiled at the Westport Library.

Suzanne Benton’s “All About Color” is featured in the Sheffer Gallery. Norm Siegel’s “Visual Curiosities” is in the South Gallery, while “Showtime!” — a series of selections from the Westport Public Art Collections — can be seen in the Jesup Gallery.

They run through January 8, 2024. Each includes a special artist reception: November 1 for Benton, November 8 for Showtime!, and November 20 for Siegel. The Benton and Siegel events include artists’ talks.

From left: “Yanone C” by Hiromitsu Takahashi, courtesy WestPAC; “Tilted Finish” by Norm Siegel; “Continuum” by Suzanne Benton.

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With rain predicted tomorrow, La Plage has postponed its Patio Closing party.

The Inn at Longshore restaurant begins winter hours this week. They’ll be open Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. They’re closed Monday and Tuesday, through April.

Beginning Wednesday (November 1), they’ll offer a 5-course tasting menu for $85. A wine pairing menu will also be available. 

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As Breast Cancer Awareness Month ends, Chocolatieree reminds “06880” readers of their fundraiser.

They created a “Save the Tatas” collection. 50% of all sales will be donated to Pink Aid Westport.

The collection includes a $20 ruby (pink) chocolate tata pop, and 6 pink heart palettes in dark chocolate.

The collection can be ordered (and shipped) through their website, and can be shipped or picked up at their Church Lane shop.

There is also an option for the chocolates to be sent to a location like a cancer center or food insecurity site. Click here to see.

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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature wanders over the border, to Weston.

It’s definitely worth the trip, for this shot:

(Photo/Pat Weist)

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And finally … well, you knew this was coming:

(Where else but “06880” can you learn where candidates stand on the environment, AND be warned about sharks? Please click here to help us continue covering all this stuff. Thank you!)

 

15 Comments

Posted in Arts, Beach, Education, Environment, Library, Local business, Local politics

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Shark! Tyler Mace’s Update

Posted on July 27, 2022 | 2 comments

Tyler Mace is a Westport teenager. He recently graduated from King School in Stamford, where he played hockey on a state championship team, lacrosse on a division-winning squad, and was named a  “Teen to Watch” by Moffly Media.

This fall, he heads to the University of Miami, to pursue his passion: shark research. Two years ago, “06880” profiled Tyler (he was about to be on Discovery Channel’s “Sharkadelic Summer”).

This year, news of recent shark activity in Long Island Sound has worried some area residents. Tyler eases our minds:

I have always been fascinated and amazed by sharks. When I was very little, my mom would tint my bath water blue. I would wear a mask and snorkel, and play with plastic marine animals underwater.

Tyler Mace, in his shark-filled room.

As I grew, I watched River Monsters. and of course Shark Week. I was incredibly fortunate to find top shark scientist Dr. Craig O’Connell, and the summer camp he runs through his foundation, O’Seas Conservation Foundation.

After just one summer working at his camp, he invited me to Guadalupe Island in Mexico, to dive and help with his research on the largest great white sharks in the world (we’re talking 18 feet and 4,000 pounds!).

I became his first ever research fellow. and got to appear along side him on one of his episodes for Shark Week in “Sharkadelic Summer” (narrated by Snoop Dogg. It’s airing again this Shark Week (Thursday, July 28, 5 p.m).

Tyler Mace, conducting research near Guadalupe Island.

His work is inspirational/ Following in his footsteps, I started a 501(c)3 foundation, The Shark Side in 2020 during COVID. Our goal is to support shark and marine biology research projects, to help with shark conservation and research.

So far, I have raised over $18,000. The money is used for research projects I believe will make a direct impact on shark conservation, and for things such as shark tags to help with tracking for research — and also to help humans and sharks safely co-exist.

Next summer, The Shark Side will sponsor a student to attend Dr. O’Connell’s camp. I am happy to pay it forward, and give someone the same life-changing experience that I had.

I will continue to run the foundation while at college, hoping to raise money to eventually fund my own research project.

Tyler Mace, with a blue sharp off Montauk.

At the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, I will pursue a BS in the Marine Biology and Ecology program. I hope to join their renowned shark research program.

I have an idea that I hope to pursue for research, but I also hope to help spread the word that sharks are an essential part of our ecosystem, not the scary man-eating predators many fear when they think of “Jaws.”

In fact, “Jaws” author Peter Benchley was often quoted as regretting the fear of sharks that his book and movie created. He became a full-time marine conservationist, often advocating for the preservation and conservation of sharks.

People hear about the shark attacks in Long Island and panic, thinking sharks are trying to eat them. That could not be further from the truth.

A shark swims with fishes. (Photo/Tyler Mace)

Most shark bites are just that — bites — not massive thrashings. Most often, a person is misidentified as food, but once the shark bites, it realizes its mistake and goes away.

How likely are you to die from a shark attack? In 2021, according to The Florida Museum of National History’s International Shark File, there were just 73 unprovoked shark bites worldwide. Only 9 of them resulted in death.

Time to go back in the water! And, if you’d like, to donate to Tyler Mace’s Shark Side foundation.

(Like Shark Side, “06880” is a non-profit. Please click here to support our work.)

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Posted in Environment, Teenagers

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Shark!

Posted on August 10, 2020 | 2 comments

The coronavirus upended many Staples High School students’ summer plans.

But not Tyler Mace’s.

The rising junior spent 3 weeks studying in the University of Miami’s renowned shark program. This week he’s off to Montauk to work with Dr. Craig O’Connell — the man who taught Mike Tyson how to put a tiger shark to sleep, on “Shark Week” — and other top researchers.

Starting last summer as Dr. O’Connell’s first-ever research fellow, Tyler is part of a 5-year study of juvenile great white sharks in New York. He’s tagging them, taking tissue samples, and releasing them to track their development.

Tyler Mace, with a blue shark off Montauk.

But you don’t just have to read about Tyler’s work. This Thursday (August 13, 9 p.m.), you can see him on the Discovery Channel’s “Sharkadelic Summer” episode — hosted by Snoop Dogg.

Tyler has gone to Guadalupe Island in Mexico to dive with the largest great white sharks. “We were really lucky on one of our dives to see Lucy – a female that’s 18 feet long and about 4,000 pounds,” he says.

Tyler Mace, conducting research near Guadalupe Island.

“She’s the size of a bus, but when you’re in the water her and other great whites, their presence is just regal. They don’t care that you are there. They don’t want to eat you. They want to co-exist. It’s the humans that are usually the ones creating problems.”

Using extra time at home during COVID, Tyler created a nonprofit. The Shark Side will raise money to support shark conservation and research efforts.

“We need to save the sharks and our oceans,” Tyler says. “A healthy shark population is essential to a healthy oceanic ecosystem.”

Tyler Mace, in his shark-filled room.

2 Comments

Posted in Environment, Media, People, Staples HS

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