12/10/2019 SHELLFISH COMMISSION Minutes

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Management The Shellfish Commission and Shellfish Constable continue to work on: Reclassification of the area to the left of the float at Mashpee Neck Landing.The Commission voted on November the 15th to reclassify the oyster seeding area at Mashpee Neck Landing to a family area.This area has had no previous classification by the town other than open to shell-fishing from November the 15t—March 315Y.These date may change in accordance to the Division of Marine fisheries and rainfall totals exceeding the closure threshold. Mashpee Shellfish Regulations,Aquaculture Regulations, and Aquaculture Application forms. Public Access: Parcel 134 located within New Seabury.This area is adjacent to a classified family area, which currently has no land access due to abutters blocking an ancient pathway to water.The commission is looking into purchasing this parcel to remain as open space and public access to fishing. The parcel is also a site of historical significance; the Hennery Amos Oyster Shack operated out of this location for a number of years in the 1860's propagating oysters.The tribe has also used this ancient way for shell-fishing and fin-fishing for hundreds of years. Propagation Oyster tray maintenance is ongoing in the Mashpee River as we continue to harvest from the area throughout the conditionally open season (November 15t—March 315Y). Roughly 340 pecks of oysters were harvested at Mashpee Neck Landing during the month of November. Different year classes are being separated and damaged trays are being removed and repaired for the upcoming 2020 remote set seed order.This year the plan is to order 1,000 remote set bags and 500,000 R6 single oysters to be deposited in the growing areas of Mashpee River. Quahog nets remain in place and no damages have been seen.The Shellfish Division will have 11.0 million quahogs on order for the 2020 growing season.This requires gear maintenance and the installation of 3 new FLUPSYs in Ockway. Power and water servicing is currently underway at that location. Scallops will be funded by donation only.Their price as it stand is roughly 30$/1,000 animals. Water Quality The Cyanobacteria bloom in Santuit Pond persists with a cells counts above the 70,000 cells/ml precautionary threshold. The town and tribe are working with the Army Corps of Engineers to study the feasibility of dredging some 400,000 cubic yards from the bottom of the pond.This would eliminate the muck(containing 78%of all phosphorus)from re-suspending and thus reduce the occurrence of harmful algae bloom. Even though the cell counts in Santuit Pond were high throughout the summer,the cell toxicity was found to be relatively low through testing. On November 19th a precautionary closure was posted in Waquoit Bay after a fuel film was evident from a sunken vessel. Shellfish Classification area SC15 (excluding Eel River, Little River,and Great River) remained closed until the sunken vessel was removed from the water.