News
Well over 1,200 fishermen are registered in the first week of the 66th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. In the first five days of the contest, as much as 2,500 pounds of fish has been weighed in and, as in the past, the contest landings are leaning heavily towards the bluefish.
Ordnance Operation
An ordnance demolition operation is planned on Noman’s Land for Sept. 21 and 22. Originally scheduled for the end of August, the operation was postponed due to Hurricane Irene.
The objective of this operation is to detonate any explosive charges on recently discovered ordnance. Explosions may be heard when demolition operations are being performed. It will be carried out by the U.S. Navy, in coordination with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
The dirt is still fresh driving down Middle Line Road and along the way your car collects a coating of brown dust. Still, the road is pristine compared to the normal potholed, rollercoaster of rural Vineyard roads. And once you drive through the beguiling tunnel of Chilmark trees, a new neighborhood appears, its homes tucked onto hilltops.
Oak Bluffs is not out of the woods yet with its severe financial straits. Deep deficits remain, including a $252,822 operating shortfall for the current fiscal year, the newly-appointed interim town administrator said this week. But Robert Whritenour, meeting in public with the selectmen for the first time on Tuesday night, said that he has now a clear picture of the problem, which is the first step toward solving it.
Tivoli Day is tomorrow. Sept. 17 from 9 to 6 p.m. in downtown Oak Bluffs. Circuit avenue becomes a walkway throughout the festival and plays host to music, outdoor dining, arts, a climbing wall, mini horse rides, raffles, and summer specials. Essentially, it showcases Oak Bluffs at its very best, with just the right amount of shoulder season elbow room.
Warming waters around Martha’s Vineyard have discouraged what once were abundant fish. Top fisheries scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service recently released a report citing the dramatic influence changing climate has had on at least one of the fish that used to spend a lot of time in these waters: Atlantic mackerel.
Atlantic mackerel have shifted away from the Vineyard and now are found more east and northeast, according to the report.