Heroic Rescue: Nantucket Team Saves 500-Pound Sunfish from Shallow Waters

Wildlife rescuers worked quickly to save a 500-pound sunfish trapped in shallow water at Pocomo Point in Nantucket Harbor. Rain Harbison and Blair Perkins from Nantucket Animal Rescue received an urgent call one morning last month from Perkins’s son about the distressed sunfish.

With help from Perkins’s friend, Carl Bois, who was scalloping nearby, they managed to guide the sunfish onto the liftgate of their truck and secure it for transport. “We knew we had 15 minutes to get it back in the water before it died,” Harbison said in a phone interview.

They raced to Great Point, which opens to the ocean, arriving in just 14 and a half minutes. Once in open water, the sunfish was slow to move. Harbison noted, “It took a good ten minutes before it started to swim on its own. We had to push it back in a couple of times, but then we got to watch it swim away freely.”

This rescue is part of a larger trend as cold-stunning affects various marine animals. When ocean temperatures drop too low, animals like sunfish and sea turtles become too weak to swim south to warmer waters. Climate change exacerbates this issue, causing ocean temperatures to rise and forcing wildlife to migrate farther north.

Perkins explained that when a cold front arrives, these animals often cannot survive the sudden temperature drop. The number of washed-up animals serves as a warning about climate change’s impact on Nantucket.

Nantucket Animal Rescue, founded by Perkins and Harbison nearly a year ago, grew from their shared concern for marine life. The duo met while monitoring whales in 2017, raising awareness about boats disrupting whale pods. They married in April 2023 and now lead a team of ten volunteers focused on rescuing wildlife.

“If we can’t get them there, somebody else will,” Harbison said. Their dedication to animal rescue highlights the importance of preserving marine life and responding to climate change.