2001-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report of the Report of the Harbormaster Shellfish Department To the Honorable Board of Selectmen To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: What a busy year. Even this economy drove Quahogs were the most abundant shellfish in the boating to the limits. Mashpee has a waiting list for all year 2001. Quahogs continue to be easily accessible salt water mooring locations. The waiting list applica- in the family shellfishing area at the Seconsett Island tion forms are available at the Town Clerk's Office, causeway in Waquoit Bay. The family area in and are filled on a first come basis by date. The Popponesset Bay became another good place for qua- department now manages over 700 moorings. The hogging after seed from the propagation program lakes were busy with the ramps full on some weekends planted in the fall of 2000 grew to harvestable size in by 7:00 a.m. The bays ramps were full every weekend 2001. That area lacked shellfish prior to seeding and some weekdays. The number of boats using our because natural spawns did not set there. The seed waterways is at an all-time high. The boating season from the propagation program was successful because itself started earlier and ended later. it was grown to a large enough size before planting so that it was not swept away by the strong tidal currents The dredging at Popponesset Bay went well on on the Popponesset flats. the outside channel. The number of Bass Tournaments on Mashpee Wakeby Lake this year totaled 24. Next in abundance were the soft-shell clams. Mashpee River is still in the process of getting the per- The numbers of soft-shell clams increased with sets of mits needed to do the dredging it so badly needs. seed up to 50 per square foot in some areas. Seed sets this dense had not occurred in several years. With the ever increasing number of people with boats and personal watercraft using the same space The scallop harvest of about a hundred bushels in boating accidents will tend to increase; Mashpee will Waquoit bay resulted from the continued be no exception. Education of safe boating rules will Mashpee/Falmouth cooperative seeding effort. help. To keep up with this demand the Department Scallops were harvested for the first time in decades in equipment includes 4 patrol boats, 1 jetski, and 2 Popponesset Bay as a result of seed scallops from the mooring barges. Mashpee propagation program released there in the fall of 2000. Before scallop seeding was added to the At this time,I would like to thank the other Town propagation program several years ago, scallops had departments that we work with: the Department of become so scarce that people came in with just a few Public Works, Police, Fire, Network Administrator, or no scallops on opening day of scallop season (and Selectmen's Office, Conservation, Town Clerk, etc. thereafter). Now people can get scallops to take home The department will be adding evening patrols next for their families. There had not been scallops in season. Popponesset Bay for decades before seed from the propagation program was released there for the first Please have a safe and enjoyable season, and time in the fall of 2000. Harvest of those scallops always lend a hand to other boaters in need. began in the fall of 2001, but only a couple of people went scalloping there because there were more scal- Respectfully submitted, lops in Waquoit Bay. Perry R Ellis Small (1 mm) quahog and scallop seed from Harbormaster hatcheries were grown in upweller tanks in the sum- mer of 2001 and transferred to trays in the estuary to grow larger for planting in the fall. The 2,200,000 quahog seed were obtained through the State-funded Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF)/Bamstable County Shellfish program at no cost to the Town. The 1,200,000 scallop seed were purchased from the hatchery using Mashpee Shellfish Propagation account funds from shellfish permit fees. By fall planting time, the seed in the propagation pro- gram had grown large enough to be worth approxi- 82