Shellfish Beds Closed After Deluge

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

The state temporarily shut down shellfish beds on the Vineyard and
across Cape Cod Wednesday as a severe northeaster swept across the
region, bringing torrential rains and wind gusts of more than 45 miles
per hour.

On the Island, more than five inches of rain fell in a span of 12
hours, flooding parks and roadways and bringing traffic to a virtual
standstill. A wind gust of 49 miles per hour was recorded at the
Martha's Vineyard Airport. The storm felled many branches and
small trees, a number of boats swamped or washed ashore and Steamship
Authority service to the Oak Bluffs wharf was rerouted.

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Mike Syslo, a senior marine fisheries biologist with the state
Division of Marine Fisheries, said the noontime shellfish closure came
when state officials recognized that four inches or more of rain had
fallen. State officials were concerned about bacteria contaminants
entering the ponds as runoff. The closures are routine following such a
heavy and sustained rainfall.

Shellfishermen who pursue quahaugs, softshell clams, blue mussels
and cultured oysters are affected by the closure, which covers beds from
Provincetown to Plymouth and includes all of Buzzards Bay.

"We wait five days. On Monday I will start sampling the water
in certain selected ponds, and depending on the results we could open
the ponds up in a couple of days," said Mr. Syslo, who is also the
director of the State Lobster Hatchery and research station in Oak
Bluffs.

On Wednesday, the National Weather Service Cooperative Weather
Station in Edgartown recorded 5.03 inches of rain. There were times
during the storm when visibility dropped to just a few feet, forcing
cars to slow to a crawl. Roads and sidewalks became ponds.

At 11 a.m. the U.S. Coast Guard was called in to assist a 34-foot
sailboat called Sunshine that was taking on water off Squash Meadow,
near the number two buoy, which is in Nantucket Sound and far from Oak
Bluffs. A Coast Guard helicopter responded, along with the Oak Bluffs
fire and police departments, which deployed their 36-foot aluminum
emergency response boat. The boat escorted the fishing boat into the
safety of Oak Bluffs harbor.

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Police officer George Fisher said the seas were so high that the
operator of the boat could not see the entrance to the harbor.

The Oak Bluffs SSA wharf was surrounded by high foaming waves. The
ferries that normally are scheduled to dock at the highly exposed wharf
were diverted to Vineyard Haven instead. Only one ferry trip in the
afternoon, the Governor, was canceled.

Mr. Fisher estimated that seas outside Oak Bluffs harbor were around
six feet in size. "Winds were around 30 knots or better," he
added.

That afternoon, the Oak Bluffs emergency response boat went out
again to do a lengthy search for a 28-foot cabin cruiser reported
overdue. The boat was found safely moored elsewhere.

A sailboat named Valhalla, over 20 feet long, came ashore outside
Vineyard Haven harbor. It landed onto soft beach sand just west of the
outer harbor breakwater. Another motorboat was reported on the beach on
Lake Tashmoo, in the pond opposite the Lake street boat landing.

The 32-foot pilot gig named Cassie sank at its mooring in front of
the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven.

"This was similar to a northeaster in February," said
Alan Dunham, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in
Taunton. "But instead of snow there was so much rain."

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Mr. Dunham added that Falmouth and New Bedford received anywhere
from four to six inches of rainfall from the storm. East Falmouth got
six inches.

This has been an unusually wet period for the Vineyard - a
rainfall of four inches in a 24-hour period is a rarity. The total
rainfall this June, 6.22 inches so far, is already more than double the
average.

It also has been a wet spring, in general. Rainfall in May was 7.36
inches, far ahead of the average of 4.25 inches.