|
Shellfish Resource Management in Massachusetts
September 2000
(Click here to view this document
as a PDF file.) 
For many residents of Massachusetts, a visit to the tidal flats
to harvest shellfish is not only a benefit of living near the coast,
but also an indicator of the quality of life. Whatever your preference
-- oysters and littlenecks for a home raw bar, quahogs for a favorite
chowder recipe, or soft-shell clams for a plate of steamers -- the
ability to gather and enjoy locally grown shellfish is dependent
on two factors: availability and health and safety of the product.
In Massachusetts, shellfish resources are managed by the Commonwealth,
through its Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), and individual coastal
towns. These entities oversee the productivity of shellfish beds
as well as the health and safety of the populations for harvest
and consumption.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Shellfish
Management
The primary roles of Massachusetts DMF are to monitor shellfish
resources for
product wholesomeness and to provide guidance to individual towns
related to maintaining shellfish productivity. DMF’s chief
objective -- to protect public health -- is mandated by a collaborative
agreement between the Commonwealth and the federal government, through
the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC).
To meet this obligation, DMF biologists and shellfish testing laboratories
work closely with Massachusetts coastal towns to regularly test
for the presence of coliform bacteria in shellfish beds. Coliform
bacteria are an indicator of potential human waste contamination
in shellfish producing areas. If an area tests positively for coliform
bacteria, at a predetermined threshold, the DMF will issue an advisory
to the town and order a closure of the area until the source of
the contamination is identified, remedied, and the level of coliform
bacteria is reduced below the threshold level.
The role of DMF has not always been limited to monitoring and regulatory
oversight.
In days of more substantial budgets, shellfish biologists at DMF
maintained a progressive shellfish research program that addressed
highly applied projects to aid resource managers in optimizing natural
production of shellfish. Many of the shellfish propagation programs
that are in place today were first developed and implemented by
DMF biologists working with the towns.
Town-based Shellfish Management
Massachusetts’ “home rule” dictates that towns
are responsible for maintaining
and enhancing shellfish production in the Commonwealth. This is
generally accomplished through a town’s department of natural
resources, via a shellfish constable. In many cases, the shellfish
constable has some formal training or background as a marine biologist,
and most participate in a certification program for
shellfish constables offered by the Massachusetts Shellfish Officers
Association, DMF, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and the state’s
Sea Grant programs located at WHOI and MIT.
Shellfish constables are responsible for enforcement of federal,
state, and local
shellfish regulations, and management of the shellfish resource.
Often, the shellfish
constables work to increase the amount of productive shellfish areas
in their towns.
These duties require expertise in many areas, including law enforcement,
aquaculture, biology, and public health and sanitation.
Shellfish constables may employ a variety of techniques to manage
their shellfish
resources. These techniques range from the simple -- rotating shellfish
harvest areas by closing one area following an intensive harvest
period and opening new areas -- to more innovative techniques such
as promoting increased shellfish recruitment at nonproductive sites.
The challenge for shellfish constables is choosing and applying
the best management technique for their town’s shellfish areas.
Innovative Shellfish Management Techniques in Massachusetts
There is always a need for new and innovative techniques that can
be used by
local shellfish managers to manage their resources. Many new techniques
have
been developed through joint efforts of academic researchers, local
and state
shellfish managers, county and state extension agents, private shellfish
aquaculture
industry, and industry organizations, such as the Massachusetts
Shellfish Officers
Association.
Several examples of innovative shellfish management techniques
are described
below. It is worth noting that the success of such projects depends
on cooperation and collaboration among a variety of individuals,
organizations, and agencies.
Barnstable Harbor Shellfish Restoration and Enhancement
Program (BHSREP)
In 1996, WHOI Sea Grant was approached by the Barnstable Shellfishermen’s
Association to assist them in re-establishing a number of shellfish
beds that had declined in productivity. Following discussions between
the Sea Grant extension agent, local fishermen, and the town’s
shellfish biologist, it was decided to implement a program that
would test different techniques to promote shellfish recruitment.
One technique was to deploy “clam tents” at selected
areas within the harbor. At the time, clam tents were being developed
and tested by private aquaculturists in other locations throughout
the Commonwealth (for a more detailed description of clam tents,
see the WHOI Sea Grant Marine Extension Bulletin “Clam Tents:
An Innovative Approach to Soft-shell Clam Recruitment,” WHOIG-98-006).
Following a two-year testing interval, the Barnstable Harbor shellfish
recruitment project met with success in some areas and failure in
others. In relating this information to local shellfish biologists,
one researcher became interested in studying the way clam tents
work and what processes taking place in the harbor may be controlling
soft-shell clam distributions on the flats. The researcher obtained
WHOI Sea Grant funding to better understand these processes and
research results are now being analyzed. It was through Sea Grant’s
extension service that many interested parties, including students,
were brought together to understand the processes controlling soft-shell
clam populations in Massachusetts.
The Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group (MVSG)
One of the oldest and most successful collaborative shellfish management
programs in Massachusetts can be found on the island of Martha’s
Vineyard. Six
towns on the island formed their own shellfish hatchery in 1978,
with the intention of producing young shellfish, or “seed,”
to use in restocking programs throughout the
island. Each year, Rick Karney, hatchery manager and director of
MVSG, produces
approximately 35 million seed -- a combination of quahogs, oysters
and bay
scallops -- that are evenly distributed to the participating towns
to augment the natural populations. The town shellfish biologists
provide nursery care for the seed before transplanting them into
the wild.
MVSG also oversees a formal training program in tended to prepare
displaced
commercial fishermen for becoming shellfish farmers. For their efforts,
MVSG is
routinely cited as a model program for towns throughout the northeast
interested in
developing advanced shellfish management technologies
Bay Scallop Restoration Programs
The bay scallop is often thought of as an indicator species within
southeastern
Massachusetts: their presence is indicative of a productive and
healthy marine ecosystem. Over the last decade, stocks of the bay
scallop are continuing a downward trend. This trend can be attributed
to a variety of changing environmental
conditions, including declining eelgrass beds, increased eutrophication
of coastal bays, overfishing, increasing numbers of scallop predators,
and other unexplained phenomena. The most likely culprit is a combination
of these factors. While many of these coastal problems are being
addressed, scallop stocks are so low in some areas that many scientists
are looking to programs that, in effect, ‘jump start’
populations in hope that the bay scallops become reestablished.
One such program is run by the Water Works Group in Westport, Massachusetts.
Active since 1993, the Water Works Group uses a technology known
as “spat collection” whereby baby scallops are collected
in spat bags in the river until they reach a certain size. At that
point, the juvenile scallops are released in the river, where they
can continue to grow and reproduce.
In addition to the large investment Water Works has made to restore
bay scallops
to the Westport River, they have been very active in taking their
message to local
schools, involving students and teachers in a hands-on approach
to understanding a local issue.
Another effort aimed at improving bay scallop productivity was
launched recently
on Cape Cod. Barnstable County, through a collaborative effort between
Cape Cod Cooperative Extension and WHOI Sea Grant, has mounted a
research program to investigate the feasibility of placing bay scallop
“spawning sanctuaries” in fifteen separate locations
on Cape Cod. Locations chosen represent areas where bay scallops
have been prevalent historically, but not recently. Spawning sanctuaries
concentrate reproductively active scallops in a small area in an
effort to maximize spawning success. Ideally, the scallop larvae
will, in turn, repopulate these once productive areas, with the
eventual result of enhanced scallop harvests throughout Cape Cod.
Quahog and Oyster Restocking Programs
Many towns in Massachusetts have developed collaborative efforts
to enhance
their shellfish resources. Cape Cod Cooperative Extension has collaborated
with
DMF and the fifteen towns in Barnstable County to provide approximately
14 million seed quahogs to the towns for inclusion in their shellfish
restoration programs. The seed are purchased small (approximately
2 mm) and held in local nursery culture systems until they reach
planting size (approximately 15 mm).
In Marion, Massachusetts, the town joined forces with Tabor Academy,
a private
boarding school, to grow-out seed stock for town shellfish beds.
Tabor contributes a
shorefront facility and student labor, and the town contributes
financial resources and technical expertise. Together, they implemented
a collaborative upwelling shellfish nursery that allows the town
to purchase smaller and less expensive
shellfish seed from commercial hatcheries. The end result? The Town
of Marion
gets a greater number of seed to use in their restoration program,
while Tabor gets an excellent teaching tool that both motivates
students and provides unlimited opportunities for science education.
Oyster Reef Development
Borrowing a technology developed on the west coast, the Town of
Barnstable recently teamed up with the sole commercial shellfish
hatchery in Massachusetts,
Aquaculture Research Corporation of Dennis, to augment its natural
oyster resources. The technology involves the use of remote setting
to establish oyster
reefs in areas lacking suitable oyster habitat, such as Barnstable
Harbor. To create
the reef, a base of surf clam and ocean quahog shell, supplied by
a shucking house in New Bedford, is put on the harbor bottom. Next,
juvenile oysters are introduced
with the hope that they acclimate to the reef and establish themselves.
In Barnstable, the town shellfish biologist was able to establish
an oyster resource
that was open for recreational harvesting within two years from
the start of the project. Not only has this technology enabled the
town to propagate large numbers of oysters, it requires minimal
labor. The end result is a viable oyster reef that provides the
daily bag limit of oysters to a large population of recreational
fishermen on a regular basis, in an area that had not supported
oysters for years.
Massachusetts shellfish harvests contribute largely to the overall
fishery within the
Commonwealth. Much of the credit for this contribution stems from
the collaborative
efforts of many players, including state and local shellfish biologists;
federal, state,
and local public health managers; private fishermen and aquaculturists;
and the marine research community. With an annual landed value of
approximately $20 million, it is apparent that a concerted approach
to shellfish management translates to a significant contribution
to the local economies of Massachusetts’ coastal communities.
And, used as an indicator, productive shellfish resources signify
a healthy coastal environment and improve the quality of life for
Massachusetts residents and tourists.
For more information about the research or outreach projects profiled
in Focal Points, contact WHOI Sea Grant at the address shown below.
This Focal Point was prepared by WHOI Sea Grant in collaboration
with Cape Cod Cooperative Extension.
|
