Town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts

                                           Shellfish Department

                                                   P.O. Box 1327

                                            Oak Bluffs, MA  02557

 

    

 

 

 

David W. Grunden                                                                                                                                                                                               

Shellfish Constable                                                                                                                                                                                       

Herring Warden                                                                                                                                                                  

Marine Biologist 

Telephone (508) 693-0072  

Fax 508-696-6472 

Cell 508-958-5401                                             

   2005 Report to

Friends of Sengekontacket

 

                Last winter we had a better and longer bay scallop season in Sengekontacket Pond than was expected. Many recreational limits were harvested and one commercial scalloper was able to drag up a few bushels in March at the end of the season. The scallop fishery in the pond appears to generally be a put and take fishery. The only areas where the scallops are harvested are areas we have seeded the prior fall.

            Early this summer we had a near miss of the largest red tide event recorded in Massachusetts. The red tide in the northeast does not harm the shellfish, but can kill humans by paralyzing their respiratory system. The shellfish concentrate a neuro-toxin by eating a specific species of phytoplankton that produce the toxin. As a result of the scare the sale of short term shellfish licenses were lower than the corresponding time period in prior years. By mid July there was the usual number of recreational shell fishermen out on Sengekontacket Pond on a daily basis.  

            This season again we deployed about 30 nursery rafts off Pecoy Point and raised 1.3 million quahog and 600,000 steamer seed through the first season of life. These will be broadcast seeded into areas within Oak Bluffs in October.

            We deployed 12 bay scallop spawning sanctuary cages and about 100 bay scallop spat collectors in the Oak bluffs areas of the pond. We monitored the brood stock and can confirm that it ripened well but once again we found very few seed in the spat collectors. The 300 collectors deployed in Lagoon Pond however caught thousands in each one.

            In mesh bags hung from a surface line we raised bay scallop seed received from the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group and these will also be seeded out in the fall.

            The preliminary investigation on culturing the razor clam that this department was involved in 2001 was presented, along with other efforts in a Northeast Regional Aquaculture Center grant, at the 58th Annual Meeting of National shellfisheries Association. An abstract of the presentation was published in the August 2005 edition of the “Journal of Shellfish Research”. 

With grant funding from USDA Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) OB Shellfish has created a pilot eel grass transplant site in Sengekontacket Pond. The donor plants where harvested from Farm Pond. We continue to monitor the site though in recent days we have witnessed most of it die off.

This department worked with the County to obtain the required emergency permits opening the Little Bridge Channel. The Town of Oak Bluffs provided $25,526.00 (about half) the funding for the work to be done.

FOS wrote a letter of support to MA CZM and OB Shellfish was awarded grant funding to conduct nitrogen isotope ratio analysis to better define the source of nitrogen the shellfish and eel grass are utilizing. This work is nearing the end of sampling and I expect to have the results this fall. A public meeting will be scheduled to present and discuss the results.

FOS provided monetary support for "The Island Blue Pages A Guide to Protecting Martha's Vineyard Waters". This booklet was distributed to every island mailing address through the MV Times and was also an insert in the Vineyard Gazette's newsstand circulation.
          OB Shellfish received another USDA WHIP grant to work on beach stabilization of the pond side of State Beach. So far we have put up split rail fence to better define beach access points and protect the banks at parking areas at both bridges. The remainder of the funding will go toward the purchase of beach plantings to be put in this fall and next spring. We are working closely with the County on this project and in addition to expecting volunteer help with planting Nathan Durawa is arranging to have people required to perform community service to help as well. The date has not yet been set as we do not have a delivery date of the plant material.