Art. Life. Place.

A first-person account of how Gulf of Maine cod went from a seemingly rebuilt stock—fueled by “bankers’ hours” trips close to port and optimistic assessments—to a collapse that rewrote the science, the politics, and my career. Drawing on years spent on NOAA survey decks and in assessment rooms, the piece unpacks how sand lance hot spots, hyperstable catch rates, shifting stock structure, industry-funded “science for hire,” and a rapidly warming Gulf of Maine combined to mask just how deep the trouble ran. It’s a story about models that kept revising the past downward, a management system that leaned on optimism whenever uncertainty appeared, and a once-iconic stock that has since been carved into multiple units on paper even as its regional footprint has faded from the water—and about why, even after walking away from federal cod assessments, I still root for the fish and the communities that rise and fall with them.

I went to the Mashpee Archives expecting dust and nostalgia and found a ledger that lingers in my mind. W.D. Sargent’s 1933 survey reads like field notes I could’ve written yesterday—warm traps, cool seeps, tight valley walls—and then two watercolor plates stops me cold: a 15-inch sea-run brook trout, mid-May, above Amos’ Landing, an 8 ½-inch freshwater form upstream. Not myth but measurements and observations. That pairing—spare notes and two trout watercolor plates, one fresh, one salt—gives me a working hypothesis: keep water cold and moving, keep the bay connected, and this river can write both chapters again. The piece walks from history to a punch list—shade, wood, better culverts, fewer heat traps, protected springs—and asks the only question that matters: could fifteen inches, wild and unstocked, be ordinary again?

Conservation restrictions (CRs) are a powerful tool for protecting Cape Cod’s rivers, wetlands, and open spaces. By limiting development while keeping land in private or municipal ownership, CRs allow ecosystems to recover and thrive. The Childs River exemplifies this success, with former cranberry bogs transformed into vibrant wetlands supporting brook trout, river otters, and herons, thanks in part to the Falmouth Rod & Gun Club. Along the Quashnet and Mashpee rivers, CRs enable habitat restoration, improve fish passage, and maintain water quality. Tools like the MassGIS Open Space & Conservation Restrictions map help residents understand protections and support long-term ecological and community benefits.

Cape Cod’s Mashpee River is a study in contrasts: its lower reaches remain a coldwater stronghold, spring-fed and shaded, with clean gravel beds and woody structure that support brook trout, river herring, and other native species. In the upper river, however, a century of cranberry farming left behind straightened channels, drained wetlands, outdated dams, and shallow, warm waters that stress fish and limit migration. Restoration is now underway to remove barriers, restore meanders, and reconnect the river to its floodplain, improving habitat and water quality. With these efforts, the Mashpee River has the potential to once again function as a connected, thriving coldwater system from source to sea.