09/10/2019 SHELLFISH COMMISSION Minutes

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Management Shellfish surveys were conducted in Hamblin Pond, Upper Great River, and Ockway Bay during the month of August. The surveys were conducted for shellfish population assessment, Shellfish Aquaculture License Applications, dock and pier applications, and future shellfish seeding area determination. A total of 26 hours were spent assessing shellfish populations and habitat suitability for different species of shellfish. Propagation During the month of August,the Shellfish Division has devoted a total of 628 hours to the shellfish propagation program. This includes routine upweller (land and floating) maintenance (pumps and intakes) and cleaning, quahog size class sorting and measuring ,bottom grow out tray cleaning,predator net construction and deployment, remote set oyster bag splitting, floating oyster bag maintenance, and oyster weights and size measurements. In August, we were able to plant approximately 300,000 quahogs under predator netting at the mouth of Great and Little River. The quahogs at the Little River complex continue to grow exceptionally well, some have even reached large field plant size (23 mm). So far the number of runts is low compared to other years. The runts this year are roughly 12 mm in size, which is an improvement from last year when runts were approximately 7 mm at this time. All the remote set oyster bags in the Mashpee River were opened and spread out in open bottom trays where they will remain until harvest. Waterways Assistants Rachel Fordham and Dominick Vitale organized the area and surveyed for this year's harvest. Mashpee Neck will be open for oyster harvesting from November 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Water Quality The Shellfish Division spent a total of 63 hours collecting and sampling for water quality. August 5th, and 19th were the last two dates of the annual summer sampling program. This year's sampling went very well thanks to volunteers from public, the Waterways Commission and staff members from the Natural Resources and Conservation Departments. On August 12th, the Shellfish Division conducted the routine sampling of five sentinel stations in Mashpee, which are taken monthly year-round. PALS (the Ponds and Lake Stewards) sampling was also conducted in Late August on Ashumet, John's, Mashpee Wakeby, and Santuit Ponds. Santuit and Ashumet Ponds were both noted to have a cyanobacteria algae presence at the time of sampling. Peter Thomas wanted to thank Ashley for her report on enforcement, that it's the best report they've seen in a long time. Also that she's doing a great job, especially now that she has staff. Bill Holmes said he was impressed that he was asked for his license 3 times this year. Old Business: Aquaculture License Area Availability/Moratorium Ashley Fisher said we need to schedule a separate meeting for each section. She would like the final report for the Board of Selectmen by May 2020. The Pt section is Aquaculture License and Procedures, 2"d is Aquaculture Regulations, and the 3rd is Shellfish regulations.