Page 14 - Americorps_Yea616_Report_To_Community_Final
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BARNSTABLE COUNTY
AMERICORPS CAPE COD
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SOMETIMES IT’S OKAY TO BE A LITTLE SHELLFISH
For my individual placement through could be harvested from Great River, Little River,
AmeriCorps Cape Cod, I served with Rick York, the Hamblin Pond, and Jehu Pond, removing 5.76 metric
Town of Mashpee Shellfish Constable. One of his tons of nitrogen. If the shellfish perform as expected,
focus areas is also a hot topic on Cape Cod: nitrogen the nitrogen level will be reduced to the legal TMDL.
mitigation. All of the Cape Cod towns are required
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to An added benefit of restoring the quahog fishery
meet a certain total maximum daily load of nitrogen is that the quahog population has the potential to
(TMDL). Several towns are exceeding this limit and become self-sustaining so that the Town would not
are therefore making plans to reduce their nitrogen have to purchase new seed every year. The final draft
loads into the waterways. of the plan was submitted after being reviewed by
the Massachusetts EPA, Division of Marine Fisheries,
In Mashpee, Rick York is pioneering the use of and Coastal Zone Management. In the meantime, we
shellfish in the Mashpee Watershed Nitrogen have been mapping suitable habitat in the waterways
Management Plan (WNMP) and Comprehensive to find areas where the quahogs can be planted.
Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP), as a way to
mitigate the nitrogen loads. By using this alternative AmeriCorps Cape Cod has also helped sample
method, the town of Mashpee could save over the shellfish population for the purpose of
$180,000,000 dollars by avoiding sewering the entire discovering existing densities and potential protein
town and creating new wastewater treatment sources during a disaster. So far, we have found an
facilities. average of three quahogs/m2, indicating there is
plenty of space to plant more. Mashpee is the first
The Town’s plan, approved by the state, is to town to use shellfish as the primary method of
purchase 24 million quahog seed from the nitrogen mitigation, but if it goes as expected, there
Aquaculture Research Center (ARC) hatchery and will be other towns that will surely follow suit.
distribute them throughout the waterways.
Assuming 80 percent survival, 19 million littlenecks ~Lizzy Profita, Bourne House Member
12
AMERICORPS CAPE COD
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SOMETIMES IT’S OKAY TO BE A LITTLE SHELLFISH
For my individual placement through could be harvested from Great River, Little River,
AmeriCorps Cape Cod, I served with Rick York, the Hamblin Pond, and Jehu Pond, removing 5.76 metric
Town of Mashpee Shellfish Constable. One of his tons of nitrogen. If the shellfish perform as expected,
focus areas is also a hot topic on Cape Cod: nitrogen the nitrogen level will be reduced to the legal TMDL.
mitigation. All of the Cape Cod towns are required
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to An added benefit of restoring the quahog fishery
meet a certain total maximum daily load of nitrogen is that the quahog population has the potential to
(TMDL). Several towns are exceeding this limit and become self-sustaining so that the Town would not
are therefore making plans to reduce their nitrogen have to purchase new seed every year. The final draft
loads into the waterways. of the plan was submitted after being reviewed by
the Massachusetts EPA, Division of Marine Fisheries,
In Mashpee, Rick York is pioneering the use of and Coastal Zone Management. In the meantime, we
shellfish in the Mashpee Watershed Nitrogen have been mapping suitable habitat in the waterways
Management Plan (WNMP) and Comprehensive to find areas where the quahogs can be planted.
Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP), as a way to
mitigate the nitrogen loads. By using this alternative AmeriCorps Cape Cod has also helped sample
method, the town of Mashpee could save over the shellfish population for the purpose of
$180,000,000 dollars by avoiding sewering the entire discovering existing densities and potential protein
town and creating new wastewater treatment sources during a disaster. So far, we have found an
facilities. average of three quahogs/m2, indicating there is
plenty of space to plant more. Mashpee is the first
The Town’s plan, approved by the state, is to town to use shellfish as the primary method of
purchase 24 million quahog seed from the nitrogen mitigation, but if it goes as expected, there
Aquaculture Research Center (ARC) hatchery and will be other towns that will surely follow suit.
distribute them throughout the waterways.
Assuming 80 percent survival, 19 million littlenecks ~Lizzy Profita, Bourne House Member
12
