Disclaimer: These postings were sent to us from a variety of media sources over the Internet. The content has not been reviewed for scientific accuracy or edited in any manner.
Red tide closure lifted at Nauset beaches
Officials deem shellfishing safe again By JOHN LEANING
STAFF WRITEREASTHAM - As they have been for the past six weeks, work skiffs moored off Collins Landing on Town Cove were empty and idle yesterday morning, put out of work by a red-tide-provoked shellfishing ban.
But the small boats, most used by local shellfishermen on Nauset Marsh, will soon be back in service with the announcement yesterday that the red-tide closure for the entire estuary system has been lifted.
The red tide algae, which in large concentrations can produce a potentially dangerous natural toxin, made its first appearance in the marine system April 19, and the state has banned all shellfishing since then.
"We' re going to open up the Nauset system," Mike Hickey, senior shellfish biologist with the Division of Marine Fisheries in Sandwich, said yesterday after reviewing the latest batch of laboratory results.
The reopening went into effect shortly after 1 p.m. Luther Eldredge of Eastham, who fishes out of Collins Landing and who makes most of his living from mussels taken from the Nauset system, said the closure hurt him, and others, financially.
"When you go shellfishing every day, and then for six weeks you can't, that should explain itself. It put a crimp in everybody's pocketbook."
Red tide algae blooms are frequent in the Nauset system, and closures in the past have been almost as long as the one just ended, Hickey said.
Scientists still do not know why the algae suddenly bloom.
But even though shellfishing in the Nauset system is now permitted, Hickey said the state will continue to test and monitor just to be safe.
The reopening, said Orleans Harbor Master and Shellfish Constable Dawson Farber, "is very significant for us."
Among other things, it will mean a resumption of patrols to check on limits, size, and the proper possession of shellfish permits.
Historically, Farber said the Nauset estuary, which overlaps town boundaries in Orleans and Eastham, provides employment for dozens of fishermen.
The red tide toxin is stored in the stomach of shellfish. Bivalves such as clams and mussels, which are consumed entirely, can be dangerous. However, scallops can still be harvested in red tide areas, since only the muscle is eaten, and the toxin is not stored in the muscle.
State regulations require closure when the tests show concentrations of 80 micrograms of toxin in 100 grams of shellfish meat.
At Collins Landing, Eastham's Deputy Natural Resource Officer Michael O'Connor took down a "Warning" poster announcing the area was closed, once Hickey's decision was announced.
He crumpled up the poster, and said most shellfishermen took the closure in stride.
Chris Dauphinee, an employee at the Nauset Fish and Lobster Pool in Orleans, said the closure did not cause too much of a problem for the fish market, except they couldn't get the popular Nauset blue mussels from the estuary.
Hickey said his office may try to gauge at some point what the financial impact was for commercial shellfishermen, but he had no idea as of yesterday.
He said it would have been far worse if other shellfish resource areas available to the fishermen had also been closed down.
Farber said making a financial calculation was made even more complicated because the price of clams and other shellfish varies so much.
But whatever the financial cost, the closure is now history.
"All the warning signs are down, and we're ready to go," he said.
Since some other shellfish areas remain closed for other reasons, such as management requirements, Farber urged people to get a current map of shellfish areas at the town hall before heading out.