2005-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mashpee Shellfish Departure g concept brought the t of Falmouth also releases seed scallops on their side of P shellfish aquaculture for nitrogen removal to the US Waquoit Bay. We need to seed every year to maintain Environmental Protection Agency pilot project for the fishery,because the scallop populations do not sus- nitrogen management of the Popponesset Bay system tain themselves in the wild. About 50 bushels of scal- that we are working on with state and local agencies. lops were harvested in Waquoit Bay from October through December 2005. The propagation program The other big news of 2005 is that we did not get also makes other shellfish productive in areas that the unprecedented massive toxic "red tide" algae were previously unproductive. The family shellfishing bloom that affected most of Massachusetts. Northeast area in Popponesset Bay lacked shellfish prior to the storms blew the red tide from the Gulf of Maine into start of quahog seeding in the year 2000. Natural Massachusetts and Cape Cod bays. From there, tidal spawns could not set there because they were swept currents carried it around the Cape to Chatham and away by strong tidal currents. Quahog seed from the Nantucket. The stories of red tide resulted in decline propagation program was successful because it was in shellfish permits being issued in Mashpee even grown to a large enough size before planting so that it though newpaper reports stated that we were open for was not swept away. shellfishing and monitoring showed no red tide algae or toxin in our shellfish. The value of the Shellfish Dept.'s permanent Water Quality Monitoring Program was demonstrated Enforcement, resource management, shellfish in the summer of 2005 by determining the cause a propagation and water quality work resulted in an massive fish kill in the Mashpee River. Data from our abundance of quahogs,good sets of soft-shell clams in monitoring units showed that the fish mortality was some areas, and successfully re-established oyster and the result of oxygen depletion in the early morning scallop fisheries. The Mashpee River South of hours. Dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll data showed Buccaneer Way, Shoestring Bay South of Simon's that a thick algae bloom had consumed the oxygen at j Narrows Road and upper Popponesset Bay opened for night. Our oysters survived because they can tolerate shellfishing in January, February and March. Those short periods without oxygen. We continue to partici- areas are closed at other times of the year because of pate in the Massachusetts Estuaries Project being high fecal coliform bacteria counts, and open in the directed by Dr. Brian Howes. We collected field data colder months after the temperatures drop low enough and samples that contributed significantly to this pro- ;� to kill the bacteria. ject. We also grew one million quahog seed, and one The storm drains that the Senior million scallop seed in the propagation program. The Environmemntal Corps located with GPS are being be very small (1 mm) quahog seed was provided by mapped by Americorps member Scott Allen on the Barnstable County and the Massachusetts Division of GIS system at the Planning Department for the feder- Marine Fisheries (DMF) at no cost to the Town. The ally mandated Stormwater Management Plan. The very small scallop seed was purchased with funds information can also be used in grant proposals for from Mashpee shellfish permit fees. After growing in projects to improve water quality. our upweller tanks and trays to larger sizes, the seed was planted in the fall. The members of AmeriCorps Propagation Program: 1,000,000 bay scallop seed Cape Cod put in many hours working on the propaga- purchased tion program. Scott Allen and Megan Hartman, 1,000,000 quahog seed and AmeriCorps members assigned to the Shellfish Dept, 380 oyster spat bags via put in many more hours working on the propagation Barnstable County/DMF and water quality programs. Shellfish Permits Issued: 674 The propagation program is critical for shellfish Resident/taxpayer 405 such as scallops. Before scallop seeding was added to Senior resident/taxpayer 237 the propagation program, scallops had become so Non-resident/taxpayer 22 scarce that people came in with just a few or no scal- Commercial 10 lops on opening day, and that was it for the season. We have re-established a scallop fishery by releasing large seed grown in our propagation program. 170