The prolonged powerful winter blizzard that pounded much of eastern Massachusetts last weekend left the Vineyard in cleanup mode this week with downed trees, weary emergency and utility workers and nearly-depleted snow removal budgets in most town highway departments. Called one of the worst blizzards to hit New England in many decades, the storm named Nemo brought more than two feet of snow to some parts of Massachusetts. And while the Vineyard was spared the worst weather, heavy snow, sleet and ice and hurricane-force winds cut the Island off from the mainland for a day and a half.

The moon dominates our night skies this weekend and well into the coming week.

Vineyard commercial fishermen will soon be able to dispose of their fishing gear debris for free through a partnership involving a federal program, Island and off-Island businesses and the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s program Fishing For Energy aims to cut down on the illegal dumping of debris offshore. The program will run Feb. 27 to March 27.

The federal program has been around since 2008 and has been a success, including on Cape Cod.

The moon returns to our evening skies in the coming week.

The New England Fishery Management Council dramatically cut landing limits on cod and yellowtail flounder last week for the coming year. Meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. on Wednesday, Jan. 30, the council voted on a plan to reduce the landings of cod in the Gulf of Maine by as much as 77 per cent from the 2012 quota for the next three years, and to cut the landing of Georges Bank cod by 61 per cent from the 2012 quota.

Once the most common fish in the waters around New England, the cod numbers are now so low that they are teetering on the edge of extinction, officials said.

The Vineyard waterfront community lost a friend last week. Michael J. Syslo, 60, of Chilmark was always at the bow when it came to the biology of lobsters and the science that goes with the waterfront.

When word of his death last Tuesday, Jan. 29, reached the Island, the news passed quickly by phone and by word of mouth. The waterfront community is close. Everyone agreed; Mike was too young to be crossing the bar.