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Ic We have included for you here some of the high- Mashpee River. Oysters feed by filtering algae that l' lights of the work our Cape Cod Tech students per- grow on the nitrogen and other nutrients. When peo- �� formed over this past year. Our electrical students ple harvest the oysters, they remove nitrogen and help worked on six different Habitat for Humanity houses to reduce the impacts of excess nutrients on the estu- & and our Horticulture students worked on the ary. The original goal was to grow and harvest enough iC Capabilities Hydroponics Farm located in Dennis oysters to remove at least 500 kg of nitrogen every n removing and trimming trees and shrubs. year. This would be 10% of the 5,000 kg nitrogen ,R reduction target for the Mashpee River set in the d Respectfully submitted, Massachusetts Estuaries Project report on Popponesset I. ° Bay(published in 2004). The goal has been expanded P Dr.Robert Fleming to grow more oysters and remove more nitrogen. Cape Cod Regional Technical High School District g School Committee Representative Nitrogen loading in the watershed causes algae blooms which can deplete oxygen dissolved in the for the Town of Mashpee water causing fish kills, floating algae mats, and other at problems. It will take years and vast sums of money a for wastewater treatment infrastructure to reduce nitro- ie gen from the sources. The nitrogen problems in the le estuaries will increase before these solutions are i. Report of the implemented. Our oyster aquaculture is critical for 's Shellfish Department removing nitrogen now to keep the estuary from decline and could even improve conditions. The mas- sive fish kill in the Mashpee River in the summer of d To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the 2005 was not repeated in 2006. Data from our moni- d Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: toring units showed that the fish mortality was the it result of oxygen depletion in the early morning hours u From January through March of 2006, approxi- in August 2005. Observation and chlorophyll data 6 mately 100,000 oysters from our new oyster aquacul- showed that a thick algae bloom had consumed the 'S ture project were harvested at Mashpee Neck Landing. oxygen. The greatly increased number of oysters that ie About 50 kilograms of nitrogen was removed from the we were growing in the River in 2006 might have estuary based on analysis of the nitrogen content of helped prevent a thick algae bloom and fish kill. those oysters. The project made front page news. it Oysters had not been harvested in Mashpee since the One million quahog seed, and one million scal- e 1980s. Diseases had killed off the wild oysters, and lop seed were also grown in the propagation program. seeding was not successful at that time. Our new The very small (1 mm) quahog seed was provided by S aquaculture project is working because we are using Barnstable County with funds from the DMF at no 'r disease-free oyster spat, and growing the oysters in the cost to the Town. The very small scallop seed was low salinity waters of the Mashpee River.The"remote purchased with funds from Mashpee shellfish permit it set'system uses very small oyster spat (< 1 mm) that fees. The seed is grown in up-weller tanks and then are set on pieces shell in the ARC hatchery in Dennis, transferred trays in the estuary to grow larger for plant- MA. From there, 200 spat bags were transported to ing. Before scallop seeding was added to the program the Mashpee River in June of 2004. About 160,000 several years ago, scallops had become so scarce that r oysters grew from that spat. These oysters were people harvested just a few or no scallops on opening e moved to the area around Mashpee Neck Landing for day, and that was it for the season. A scallop fishery d ' harvest. Another 380 spat bags were purchased in has been re-established by releasing large seed grown 'I 2005, and 400 in 2006. Barnstable County and the in our propagation program. Falmouth also releases 'I Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) seed scallops on their side of Waquoit Bay. Seeding funded these. In 2006, additional oysters were pur- must be done every year to maintain the fishery, chased with funds from Mashpee Shellfish permit because the scallop populations do not sustain them- fees. One million very small individual oysters (not S y t ; selves in the wild. About 40 bushels of scallops were set on shell pieces in spat bags) were purchased from harvested in Waquoit Bay from October through r " the hatchery. Approximately 500,000 of those grew December 2006. The propagation program also makes larger than 2 inches by the fall in trays in the Mashpee other shellfish productive in areas that were previously River. unproductive. The family shellfishing area in r Popponesset Bay lacked shellfish prior to the start of S The goals of the oyster aquaculture project are to quahog seeding in the year 2000. Natural spawns grow oysters for harvest and remove nitrogen from the could not set there because they were swept away by strong tidal currents. Quahog seed from the propaga- } 131