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Natural Resources reports water‑quality monitoring, spat bag deployment and spawning activity
Summary
Natural Resources staff reported the start of summer water‑quality monitoring, deployment of spat bags to monitor scallop recruitment, ongoing oyster spawns in the hatchery, dive surveys at Second Bend and recent conference presentations.
Natural Resources staff told the Harbor Shellfish Advisory Board on June 17 that summer monitoring of harbor and pond water quality has begun and that the department is tracking harmful‑algae blooms weekly through October.
Tara Riley said staff deployed spat bags at May Town (site name in transcript) to monitor bay scallop recruitment; bags soak for six weeks and are checked every two weeks. Riley also reported an active hatchery season: the hatchery had an early oyster spawn that has been moved to the outside system, and another spawn was scheduled for the next day. She said a current spawn cohort contains roughly 40 million larvae (as reported at the meeting).
Fieldwork this week included five dive surveys at Second Bend in anticipation of nearby releases, and staff continue biweekly harbor and Great Pond sampling; Siphamon ponds are sampled monthly. Riley also presented the eelgrass management plan at a recent coastal conference and said the town released the first draft of its eelgrass plan with a short public‑comment window.
