1996-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report of the ous season. Only about 50 bushels were harvested before the season closed on December 31. Oysters Harbormaster Department were scarce in the wild. Propagation program expansion doubled nursery To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens capacity. The new upweller system allowed the pur. of Mashpee: chase of smaller, less expensive seed. The upweller was stocked with 1,100,000 quahog seed from hatch. Well the weather for boating to say the least was eries, and for the first time,oyster seed was purchased, lk poor. The number of good day's you could count on two hands. Rain and wind for the fourth of July, and a The new oyster propagation program was very suc• near miss of the Hurricane at the end of August, cessful. The 150,000 small, hatchery-produced oyster seemed to take the steam out of a lot of boaters. seed were grown in the upweller starting in late June, They grew from the size of sand (1 mm) to 112" B.S.C. Group was hired in March to obtain the (12mm) in only 3 weeks. The seed was then trans- Dredging permits for Waquoit Bay, and Popponesett ferred to trays in Little River.The fastest growers were Bay, so far it's the end of December and no permits. harvestable size (3") at the end of the growing season The Bass tournaments on our lakes went well. The (5 months). The exceptionally fast growth was the number of Boating stops went up as did the number of result of the combination of clean,fast-growing oyster jet ski stops. The number of moorings in town waters stock and excellent environmental conditions. as of December is 627. Clean-up of the Mashpee River progressed with the The Department received a 3,000 dollar grant from Department of Public Works installation of new catch sea paths to build a Staircase at the end of Wading basins on Meetinghouse Road to control road runoff, !' Place Rd. At Town Meeting 15,000 to Build the first The project was funded by a federal grant. A study of lc town dock in Mashpee at Little river.P coliform bacteria contamination was conducted by the Shellfish Department's Water Quality Task Force The Department will be working with the Water- using our Water Quality Laboratory. Supplies were ways Commission toward getting permits to dredge a purchased with funds donated to the Planning Board part of the Mashpee River. for study p of the Mashpee River. Runoff from roads and woodlands at some locations were identified as major I Now the Thank You's—Little River Boat Yard New contributors of fecal coliform bacteria. Grant propos- i Seabury Marina for the use of a boat slip, and there als were submitted to fund the installation of catch help. Also the Mashpee D.P.W., Conservation Com- basins to control runoff at more locations. mission, Selectmen's Office, Health Dept., Building Dept., Shellfish Dept., Waterways Commission Asst. Two federally funded JTEC programs helped with Harbormasters. The Volunteers that helped with the the propagation programs.In the Aquaculture Training Sand Dune project at South Cape Beach. program, high school drop-outs worked on our shell fish nursery systems, and studied for their GED in the Please have a safe and enjoyable Boating Season. classroom. Four Mashpee shellfishermen in The Hard Respectfully Submitted, Clam Fanner's Training Programgrew quahog seed in the nursery system. Perry Ellis,Harbormaster Propagation Program: 700,000 quahog seed purchased Report of the 400,000 quahog seed from JTEC 150,000 oyster seed purchased Shellfish Department r Shellfish Permits Issued: 534 To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and Resident/Taxpayer 272 the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: Senior Citizen 224 Non-resident/Taxpayer 21 Soft-shell clams were the most abundant shellfish Commercial 17 in 1996 with good sets of seed in many areas. Quahogs were the next most abundant with natural sets supple- Thank you,the Boards, Commissions,Departments mented by seed from our propagation program. Scal- and People of the Town of Mashpee for assistance and lop season was poor,but slightly better than the previ- support throughout the year. Thanks to Little River a; Boat Yard and New Seabury Marina for donating AL 90