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Within the grant area, Mr. Cook is proposing to install 3,000 shellfish <br /> aquaculture cages. Each cage will consist of three racks separated from the <br /> bottom and from each other with spacers. The cages are 4 ft. in length, 4 ft. in <br /> width and 18" in height. The cages will be placed in approximately 200 rows <br /> separated by about two feet and will occupy nearly 50,000 square feet of the <br /> ocean bottom. The cages will be situated on top of 12,000 standoff pipes and <br /> will be permanently affixed to the bottom by 100 cables which will be held <br /> down by 200 anchors all of which will be held together with 3,000 loop <br /> connectors. See, Exhibit"E". <br /> Approximately 1,000 oysters will be grown in each cage totaling <br /> 3,000,000 oysters in the grant area. In addition, Mr. Cook has indicated that he <br /> also intends to grow scallops and conduct on-bottom culture of quahogs. <br /> Upon information and belief, about one-third of the cages will be <br /> exposed (i.e., will protrude from the water) during the average low tide cycle. <br /> About one-half of the cages will be exposed on an extreme low tide (which <br /> occurs several times per month). Upon information, the cages that will not <br /> protrude from the water will be just beneath the surface and easily visible. <br /> Mr. Cook has no access to the grant area via the land. Moreover, <br /> aquaculture is not included within the public trust rights of "fishing, fowling <br /> and navigating". See, Pazolt v. Director of Division of Marine Fisheries, 417 <br /> Mass. 565 (1994). Thus, Mr. Cook cannot use the privately owned inter-tidal <br /> area for aquaculture purposes. Consequently, he is proposing to access, <br /> maintain and operate the grant exclusively by boat. <br /> In order to operate the aquaculture grant, Mr. Cook will "plant" shellfish <br /> "seeds" in the cages and allow them to grow. When the shellfish reach <br /> maturity, he will harvest them and sell them on the market. It takes <br /> approximately 2 to 4 years for a seed oyster to grow to market size. During this <br /> time, a significant amount of care and maintenance of the grant is required. The <br /> oysters on the lower racks and in the centers of the racks grow more slowly than <br /> the oysters at the edge of the racks or in the higher racks. Consequently, the <br /> oysters and the racks must be continually rotated. This can be done manually, <br /> 3 <br />