08/13/2019 SHELLFISH COMMISSION Minutes

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Town of Mashpee Shellfish Commission Minutes 8/13/19 16 Great Neck Road North,Mashpee, MA 02649 Mashpee Town Hall, Ockway Meeting Room Attendance: Peter Thomas, Ashley Fisher, Bill Holmes, Richard Cook Public: Mark Burtis, Chris Burtis Convene Time: 7:05pm Public Comment: None Approval of Minutes: Bill Holmes moved to approve the 7/9/19 minutes. Richard York seconded. All voted unanimously in favor. Shellfish Constable Report: The Shellfish Division has been working full time on the Quahog Propagation Program at the Little River complex.Thankfully we were able to us our Cape Cod Cooperative Extension distributed funds to purchase a share of an automatic sorting system made by SWECO industries.This sorter is shared with the towns of Chatham, Falmouth, and Yarmouth. So far all towns have been able to utilize the system throughout the summer for their own propagation programs without any problems (Towns have sorted both quahogs and oysters using the system).After sorting 5 million quahogs in 2 hours into 4 different size classes we were able to see increased growth due to less competition within the silos. When larger quahog are surrounded by smaller quahogs within one upweller silo the larger quahog feeds more efficiently due to a larger siphon incurrent,this inhibits the smaller quahog from feeding and thus growing. Separating the classes efficiently using the automatic sorter has allowed us to see sufficient growth amongst all sizes classes, and reduce the overall number of runts or slow growers. The division is working on moving the larger fast growing quahogs into bottom trays, these will be the first to be planted under predator excluding nets. Shellfish Surveys will be conducted in Great River, Hamblin Pond, and Little River to find good bottom to plant the quahogs under nets at a density of 150 quahogs per square foot. During these surveys we will be removing debris and larger quahogs to prepare for planting. The Quahogs removed will then be reseeded in the Great River and Waquoit Bay family areas.Volunteers will be used to plant the millions of quahog this year in September and October, and we are still looking for more volunteers to help. In September and October we will be switching gears and dedicating more time to the oyster propagation program in the Mashpee River.There we will be splitting our 1,000 remote set oyster bags into trays. So far the oyster set from this year looks good and the spat is already roughly a half of an inch in size. November is fast approaching and we are hoping for a good oyster harvest season, with increased security the season will be monitored closely and level pecks will be the standard.