11/15/2016 SHELLFISH COMMISSION Minutes

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Massachusetts. Symptoms include gastro-intestinal problems, permanent short- term memory loss and in extreme cases, death. We identify and count algae under the microscope in the Town lab from water samples collected for the Water Quality Monitoring program. We had not seen Pseudo-nitzschia before even at low levels. We conducted intensive monitoring during the closure and found Pseudo-nitzschia at low levels in Nantucket Sound, but not in the bays. The numbers we found (1 cell/ml or less) were about 100 times lower than numbers reported to cause symptoms in shellfish consumers. No toxin was detected in quahogs from Mashpee sent by the DMF to specialized labs for testing. The bloom subsided by the end of October and the DMF re-opened the emergency closure areas for harvesting on October 31. If the bloom occurs again, we would see it in our monitoring program. New monitoring technology'will be used when available. I took a sample from the Nantucket Sound bloom to Scott Gallager's lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for testing in a new monitoring system that he is developing, and he detected domoic acid toxin in a single Pseudo-nitzschia cell. His goal is to develop sensors to be deployed in Nantucket Sound and elsewhere that will monitor continuously for Pseudo- nitzschia and other algae with real-time data transmission. This would provide a comfortable margin of safety for protection of public health, and a unique effective tool for us to manage shellfish harvesting if the blooms occur again. The management strategy is to monitor for Pseudo-nitzschia and close areas for shellfish harvest when it blooms, then re-open them after the bloom subsides and the shellfish test clean of toxin. This has been effective for the mussel farming industry at Prince Edward Island in Canada where Pseudo-nitzschia commonly blooms in fall. The oyster beds at Mashpee Neck opened for harvesting November 3. Oystering at Mashpee Neck Landing was popular throughout the month as usual. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) opened lower Shoestring Bay (south of Simons Narrows Road) and lower Mashpee River (south of Buccaneer Way) for harvesting shellfish from November 3 through March 31. The area usually opens November 1, but the DMF lab was behind schedule in the required testing for bacteria due to emergency testing for toxic algae last month. The oyster seed from the ARC hatchery (2,450 remote-set bags of spat on shell) grew very well in the Mashpee River. The quahog seed from the ARC also grew very well with sizes up to an inch and survival over 90%. Oyster seed from the 2,000 remote-set bags of oyster seed from ARC grew extremely well in the new oyster bed restoration project in Shoestring Bay as a result of optimal blooms of algae that are some of the best foods for oysters. In the Fall, the bags were opened and spread out on shell on the bottom on the West side of the narrows in areas of muck so as not to interfere with natural shellfish on the sandy bottom near shore. This is the first year of a 2 year grant for the project from the EPA to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's Natural Resources Dept. Trapping of invasive green crabs for predator control continued in Great River, Hamblin Pond, Jehu Pond and Popponesset Bay. Michael Ronhock's shellfish aquaculture license application for southern Great River was approved by the DMF. The next step for him is to file a Notice Shellfish Commission Meeting 11-16-16 Page 2