11/8/2011 WATERWAYS COMMISSION Minutes

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s 4 between 5,000 and 12,000 pounds of rubbish from hese areas. Mr. Mone mentioned that all the channel markers have been removed and winter sticks have been placed. Efforts were underway to identify and price the cost of replacing damaged and exhausted equipment. He has been working with Little liver Boatyard in addressing the needs of more permanent docks and ramps at the Town"s landings. He also mentioned that the sticker program he used to identify derelict boats left at the dingy storage areas was producing some questions,but that he was answering all concerns and the process was not an enforcement issue but rather a method to gather information in identifying which small craft have been abandoned. Shellfish Report: wauoit Bay shell-fishing closure—At their meeting Monday, November, the Board of Selectmen voted to close Waqu it Bay to all shell-fishing Shing except scalloping from November 15, 2011 through April ;2012. This is a management closure to protect-abundant quahog seed from predators such as birds during cold water temperatures when the quahogs would not dig back into the sand after being raked up. It is for Waquoit Bay only, not the adjacent rivers and salt ponds. The Town of Falmouth closes their side ofthe bay to all shell-fishing except scalloping during this time also. At least 10 types of winter waterfowl eat shellfish. In Chatham, eiders have eaten acres of mussels in the past. Abundant large quahog seed and littlenecks are the result of large spawns ofquahogs in 2009. We observed quahog larvae at densities up to 20 per liter in waquoit Bay that year(about 10 or more times higher than previous observations). In addition to the wild population and quahogs that grew from seed planted in our propagation program, a big source of larvae was the 22 acre shellfish farm (grant) in the Seapit River that was packed with large quahogs that year. Oyster propagation eutrophication mitigation—The Mashpee River and Shoestring Bay down to Punkhorn.Point opened for shell-fishing November 1. It did not take long for people to rake a peck of oysters at Mashpee Neck Landing. The big news is that large numbers of oyster seed have set from spawns of oysters carried by the tides this summer from the Town propagation program, the Mashpee Wamp noag Tribe's oyster farm at unkhorn Point and Richard Cook's oyster farm in Ockway Bay. Large increases in the number ofoysters at the Tribe's farm have apparently made the difference this year, Oyster seed has not set in significant ant numbers since the 1980"s. About half ofthe oysters from our propagation program being harvested at Mashpee Neck Landing have 1 to 2 inch oyster seed attached. Oyster seed from this summer is also attached to rocks, marsh- berms, mussels, dock pilings and other hard surfaces. we will be estimating the numbers. If this continues and more oyster seed sets in future years, the potential impact n water quality is highly significant with the potential to remove most of the nitrogen causing eutrophication. In the last century, there were large oyster beds in Popponesset Bay. It is estimated that oysters in Chesapeake Bay filtered the whole volume of the Bay every 3 days years ago before the beds were lost. Mr. York is asking people to return their empty oyster shells with seed attached to the water at the end of the dock at Mashpee leek Landing. This can be a week or more later if the shells are kept in a cool plane such as outdoors in the shade because the seed will survive under those conditions. Road runoff control construction project at Mashpee Neck Landing—DPW Director Catherine Laurent has informed us that construction of the new road runoff control catchment structures at Mashpee Deck Landing is scheduled to start Monday November ber 14 and continue through the end ofthe month or longer. Road access to the landing will be limited to weekends and Holidays when work is not being done. The project to