2019-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report of the Department of Natural Resources To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: Implementation of the shellfish component of the Mashpee Comprehensive Watershed Nitrogen Management Plan (CWNMP) progressed in 2019 with 4.6 million quahog seed (2 mm size) from the ARC hatchery grown in upwellers and trays in Little River up to 1 inch (25 mm) size, and planted in Great River (southern section), Little River and Hamblin Pond in the fall. Analysis of water quality monitoring data from 2018 (the most recent available) showed water quality improvement in those areas where approximately 18 million seed quahogs were planted from 2014 to 2017 while Waquoit Bay and the Moonakis (Quashnet) River were worse. The Mashpee River was seeded with 1,000 bags of oyster seed (-1 mm size) set on shell at the ARC hatchery, and approximately 600,000 single oyster seed surplus from the Town of Brewster. The oysters helped water quality enough that there were no fish kills in the river which was a problem before oysters were re-established there by our propagation program. The cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloomed again in Santuit Pond in late spring of 2019 with advisories posted by the Health Department in June after the cell numbers increased to above the threshold for the posting. The water cleared in July to the point that the advisory was removed until the end of August when the cell counts increased to the point that an advisory was posted again. The bloom finally subsided in December. Warm fall weather allowed the bloom to persist. Predation of the cyanobacteria by zooplankton that became very abundant in July and August reduced the numbers during that time. Blooms that were controlled by the SolarBee water circulators returned to Santuit Pond in 2017 after an extreme rain event with 7 inches of rain July 7, 2017 due to phosphorous and other nutrients in runoff. The blooms occurred again in 2018 and 2019. Extreme rain events and higher annual rainfall in 2018 and 2019 probably also caused the blooms in those years. Analysis of our Water Quality Monitoring data and rainfall data indicates that the bloom in 2018 occurred later in the spring after the water warmed following 9 inches of rain on March 2 to 4, 2018. In 2019, there were events with over an inch of rain in 15 minutes. The annual rainfall was much higher than normal in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 as recorded by the USGS weather station at Mashpee Neck Landing. Although water circulators are designed to reduce phosphorous coming from the sediments on the pond bottom (78% of the load, AECOM 2010) not runoff, an additional (7th) SolarBee circulator was deployed by the manufacturer on July 15 at no cost to the Town to see if it would help. Other measures to control blooms in the pond are under consideration. Sewering of the area is included in the CWNMP. Harbormaster Jeffrey Smith reports that 578 moorings were issued in 2019. It was a very active year on the water and at the boat ramps. A significant boating incident occurred in June when the Assistant Harbormasters rescued a man from the water in Waquoit Bay after his boat sank. Patrols and education have helped to reduce the number of serious incidents on the water. Shellfish Constable Ashley Fisher reports that shellfishing continues to be a popular activity including family harvest of oysters from our propagation program. A total of 1323 shellfish permits were issued. Quahogs were the most abundant shellfish in 2019. Only a few scallops were harvested from Waquoit Bay despite seeding by the Town of Falmouth (there were no scallops in other areas). Seeding will continue because it is effective in some years. Scallops are the most susceptible to predation and habitat loss from nitrogen loading. The Division of Marine Fisheries closed all waters to shellfishing on October 9 due to the threat of a major storm but lifted the closure on October 13 after the storm was weaker than forecasted. The Board of Selectmen placed a moratorium on new Shellfish Aquaculture License (shellfish grant) applications until the Shellfish Aquaculture Regulations are updated. They also recognized Shellfish Constable Ashley Fisher for outstanding enforcement in the prosecution of an individual responsible for a series of oyster thefts. His Town commercial shellfish permit was withdrawn by the Selectmen, and his state permit was revoked indefinitely by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. 151