2012-SHELLFISH COMMISSION - Laserfiche WebLink

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blooms have been good food this year. The Town of Falmouth planted 35,000 large (> 1") scallop seed in Waquoit Bay this summer. The Tribe's shellfish farm (grant) at Punkhom Point was renewed by the Board of Selectmen at the hearing. The Tribe reported thefts of oysters from the site on 2 occasions this summer. No suspects have been identified. The new 2 acre shellfish farm (license) proposed by Richard Cook in Popponesset Bay has received all of the approvals needed to start operation, but opponents filed an appeal with DEP. We had a meeting and site visit with DEP. The lawyer for the opponents said that the projects needs an Environmental Notification Form filed with DEP because it is in a velocity zone and is more than 10,000 square feet. The DEP Commissioner will decide if that is required or not. Water quality in the estuaries does not appear to be any worse this summer considering the nitrogen load and resulting algae blooms. The concentrations and species of algae were better for shellfish growth than in the past few years. There were no fish kills. One new development is the detection of a species of phytoplankton (Cochlodinium polykrikoides) that can kill fish, but does not affect people. It is the first harmful algal species detected in Mashpee estuaries in the 20 years that I have been monitoring. On September 10, during routine monitoring, a bloom of the dinoflagellate Cochlodinium (800 cells/ml) was detected in Popponesset Bay. Diatoms and other good algae were also present. The water temperature was 74 F. The next day after a cold night, the water temperature dropped to 68 F and the water was relatively Gear. The Cochlodinium must have been affected by the rapid drop in temperature because the bloom was knocked down (to 2 cells/ml), but the diatoms and other good algae were still at about the same level. No Cochlodinium was detected in Waquoit Bay and no dead fish were observed. In the last decade, blooms of Cochlodinium occurred in Buzzard's Bay and Nantucket Sound areas where it was never seen before. Fish killing blooms in Korea were reported in the 1980s. Water Quality in Santuit Pond improved this summer as a result of the SolarBee water circulators. The water is much clearer with no pea-soup green color algae bloom and no floating algae film that was seen in past years. Fishermen are reporting that the fish look healthier and are fatter. Secchi disk visibility measured weekly by the Friends of Santuit Pond volunteers taken at various locations throughout the pond including the Town Landing averaged 103 centimeters (40") with a range of 70 to 150 cm (28-59"). The readings were about the same throughout the pond on a given day indicating that it is well mixed. The Massachusetts Department of Health has been monitoring the pond weekly during the summer at the Town Landing since 2009. Last year (without SolarBees) MDPH Secchi disk visibility averaged 51 cm (20") with a range of 30 to 86 cm (12-34"). We do not have their Secchi disk data from this year yet accept one reading that was 94 cm (37"). The doubling of visibility means that the algae bloom was cut in half as predicted by the AECOM report. (AECOM estimated the average total phosphorous concentration would be reduced from the pre-circulator average of 80 micrograms/liter to 38 with the circulators operating. Since phosphorous is the nutrient limiting growth of the algae, the bloom should be cut in half.) The average of the MDPH microscopic counts of (Shellfish Commission minutes 9-11-12) 2