Credit: Annabelle Hage

Cape Cod is a popular tourist destination for Massachusetts residents and enjoy the scenery that the coastal area has to offer. Unfortunately, Cape Cod is being faced with consequences of climate change such as rising sea levels, erosion and a loss of biodiversity. “[My family and I] have been going there since 1984, so we really watched the Cape shrink every year,” lifelong Cape Cod visitor Mary Hicks said.

Ranked one of the best tourist destinations in Massachusetts, Cape Cod is a popular travel spot amongst Wayland residents over the summer. This vast coastal region is known for its biodiversity and many beaches, from sand dunes to the endless seashore, with about 40% of Cape Cod being protected in some way. This may lead some to believe that Cape Cod is protected against the intense effects of climate change, but that is not the case.

As a coastal region, Cape Cod is no exception to the vulnerability these specific areas deal with due to the ever-growing threat of climate change. Like any coastal area, Cape Cod is dealing with rising sea levels, the warming climate and a loss in biodiversity. The rapidly warming climate, heating waters and melting land ice from glaciers and ice sheets have caused Massachusetts to experience 11 inches of sea rise between 1921 and 2020. It is expected to rise an additional four to 10 feet by 2100. There have been many reports of erosion occurring in places all over Cape Cod, devastating the landscape and disturbing the local species.

As many as 15,000 properties are located within the floodplain on Cape Cod, making them extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Some Wayland residents own or rent property on Cape Cod during the summer. Sophomore Devin Tandon’s family owns a beach house in New Seabury.

“On the local beaches I go to near my house, I’ve seen significant dune erosion over the years,” Tandon said.

Erosion is a natural process that occurs when sediments are worn and broken away, typically due to natural forces such as wind, water and gravity. However, while humans might not directly cause erosion, people’s actions can act as a catalyst to the effects of erosion such as overdevelopment and deforestation. At Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge in Cape Cod, the visitor center was completely demolished due to erosion complications. Some areas on the refuge were losing up to 30 feet per year since 2020.

“We are losing sand [in the refuge] and gaining wilderness on South Monomoy where the sand ends up,” former refuge manager Richard Nye said.

Another effect of climate change in Cape Cod is the loss of biodiversity. There are over 450 species that can be found on Cape Cod, the most critically endangered being the North Atlantic right whale. This species’ population numbers only about 370 today. New England Aquarium Senior Scientist Philip Hamilton specializes in the North Atlantic right whale. He recently spoke in a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) webinar where he discussed Cape Cod’s biodiversity and the threat that North Atlantic right whales are facing today. Some of the biggest issues they face are entanglements and vessel strikes.

“There’s a tremendous amount of commerce on the Eastern Seaboard as well as military activity,” Hamilton said in the webinar. “So vessel strikes are a very big problem for right whales.”

Entanglements can occur due to the thousands of ropes in the water where the whales are swimming, causing injury and death.

“More than 85% of all the whales have been tangled at least once, some of them as many as nine times, and we’ve had up to 1,900 entanglements in this population,” Hamilton said.

The loss of biodiversity on the Cape has not just been noticed by scientists, but by Cape Cod residents as well. Sandwich resident Rose Papuga recalls a childhood with an abundance of different species of animals. She remembers the waters of South Yarmouth and being able to find spider, calico and blue crabs. Now, 35 years later, she’s noticed a difference.

“The ocean around Cape Cod definitely has less abundance of crabs,” Papuga said. “It’s way harder to find scallops. I don’t know if that’s climate change or if it is overfishing in our oceans, but the actual things that I’m finding in the ocean have changed.”

Some local residents have also noticed the drastic effect tourism has had on Cape Cod. While Cape Cod has always been a popular area, there’s concern that the Cape is growing so fast that the area can’t keep up with the rapid development. However, with 1 in 5 workers in Cape Cod having a job related to tourism, Papuga described tourism on the Cape as a “double edged sword”.

“Cape Cod relies on tourism, and we need it for our economy,” Papuga said. “[However,] if we’re going to ruin our environment, it’s not going to be a great place to visit anymore.”

At the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), staff have worked to protect and preserve the Cape for over 55 years. APCC has worked to advocate for the Cape, resulting in changes to laws and policies.

“[APCC] designed the facility to capture and manage stormwater on site using green infrastructure, a demonstration of what’s possible in a residential type setting,” APCC Executive Director Andrew Gottlieb said.

APCC has also greatly contributed to preserving and restoring natural resources by protecting and building up saltwater marsh and freshwater wetland systems.

“[Wetlands] can provide a broader base of ecological function in addition to enhancing the flood storage and flood resiliency in light of existing and anticipating increases in storm intensity and frequency,” Gottlieb said.

To address the North Atlantic right whale crisis, scientists also aim to counteract and prevent further damage to these creatures. Hamilton provided solutions such as creating Seasonal and Dynamic Management Areas. These are speed restriction zones that are meant to notify vessels in order to avoid collisions, which have been proven to be effective. To avoid entanglements, fishermen have been testing and experimenting with ropes to break at 1700 pounds.

“If a right whale were to get entangled it would not be as harmful,” Hamilton said. “So, it doesn’t really eliminate the problem, but it helps.”

Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer recently acknowledged the climate crisis in a Climate Action Committee webinar. During the webinar, she emphasized the importance of leaders recognizing this issue and better addressing it, stressing the consequences that could occur if we continue to ignore it.

“It’s very easy to feel like everything is just going to suck now and it’s horrible and we won’t be able to do anything,” Hoffer said. “We need to break that sense of inevitability, especially for young people.