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The propagation program is critical for shellfish with seaweed.The problem has not happened again on such as scallops. Before scallop seeding was added to this scale yet, but it will. Next time we probably will the propagation program several years ago, scallops not be so lucky, because the prevalent winds blow in had become so scarce that people came in with just a the direction of the shellfish flats and Seconset Island few or no scallops on opening day, and that was it for beach. This problem will become more frequent and the season.We have re-established a scallop fishery by severe as the nitrogen levels increase in the Bay. releasing large seed grown in our propagation pro- gram. Falmouth also releases seed scallops on their A permanent,contirtuous,year-round water qual. side of Waquoit Bay. We need to seed every year to ity-monitoring program was implemented during the maintain the fishery, because the scallop populations past year. This program is at the top of the list of the do not sustain themselves in the wild. About 100 Action Plan of the Coastal Resources section of the bushels of scallops were harvested from October Mashpee Comprehensive Plan, and the task is through December 2003. assigned the Shellfish Department. Computerized, underwater monitoring units measure chlorophyll The propagation program makes shellfish pro- (algae), dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, and tempera- ductive in areas that were previously unproductive. ture every 15 minutes continuously. They are removed The family area sandflats in Popponesset Bay lacked periodically for data download, maintenance and cali- shellfish prior to the start of quahog seeding in the year bration.After verification,the data will be archived on 2000. Natural spawns could not set there because they compact disks for the permanent record. The results were swept away by strong tidal currents. Quahog of bacteria testing of water samples analyzed in the seed from the propagation program was successful Shellfish Department's Water Quality Lab. will also be because it was grown to a large enough size before available in the archives. This data characterizes the planting so that it was not swept away. water quality in the estuaries, and can be used to mea- sure improvements from wastewater projects and other Managing the shellfish beds became even more clean-up efforts. challenging after June 26, 2003 when a huge amount of seaweed floated up off of the bottom of Waquoit Bay and was blown by winds to the to the East side of the Bay. The floating seaweed extended about a mile from the south tip of Seconset Island northward to Metoxit Point, and out several hundred feet out from shore see photo below). We estimated that about 2,000 tons of seaweed were on top of our prime shell- fish sandflats containing millions of shellfish. If the %V seaweed stayed there and settled to bottom, it could have killed all of the shellfish. Luckily, the wind shifted and blew the seaweed off of the flats North to the head of the Bay. The shellfish were saved, but sea- weed that remained piled up on shore rotted and caused a strong sulfide odor in the neighborhood.This Seaweed floating in Waquoit Bay,June 26,2003 seaweed story was reported on the front page of the (Photo:Richard York) Cape Cod Times newspaper on June 28, 2003. This seaweed(Cladophora)has been growing on the bottom of Waquoit Bay for years. A decade ago, several species of seaweed were also abundant on the bottom, but now it is completely dominated by1, a - Cladophora. This is a classic result of the eutrophica- tion process. As the nutrient(nitrogen)levels increase -- .. P ( g ) > the number of species decreases even when the total biomass increases. Most of the seaweed normally `` stays on the bottom,but the spring of 2003 was unusu- ally cold and cloudy. When the temperatures and sun- light suddenly increased in late June, the seaweed grew very fast. The oxygen it produced formed bub- bles that were trapped in between the seaweed and AmeriCorps working on scallop seed in upwellers. floated it to the surface.Then the wind moved it to dif- (Photo:Richard York) ferent locations.The bottom of the Bay is still covered 102