Twenty-seven-year-old Danielle Ewart has always been an Island girl, whether patrolling beaches and managing aquaculture programs for Oak Bluffs or studying in Honolulu for a year, learning about Hawaiian culture and history. Equally at home on the Atlantic or Pacific, she still holds on to her Hawaiian language textbooks. Last month Tisbury selectmen offered her a warm “aloha” as the new constable of the Tisbury shellfish department.

Since last September, the Tisbury shellfish department has been reeling from the untimely death of constable Derek Cimeno. In the interim, Tisbury selectmen have discussed launching a broader cooperative effort with David Grunden and his Oak Bluffs shellfish department, which has taken the lead in promoting a more ecological approach to managing Island ponds, attracting research grant money and expanding the department’s role to that of a more comprehensive natural resources department. In the next Tisbury shellfish constable, selectmen wanted someone with a background in biology and aquaculture. A six-year veteran of the Oak Bluffs shellfish department and a biology major at Westfield State College, Ms. Ewart seemed a perfect fit for the position.

“When I was a freshman, before I left for Hawaii, I got the job in Oak Bluffs as a part-time summer deputy for the shellfish department and I’ve been there ever since. I’ve loved it,” she says. She particularly enjoyed working with Mr. Grunden on an upweller raising steamers. An upweller is a floating trough that circulates nutrient-rich water to delicate bivalve juveniles called “seeds.”

“We got the steamer seed from Salem State, and they’re too young to just be thrown out into the pond so we raised them through their first summer in the upweller,” she says. “Working with the animals is definitely the best part of the job.”

Ms. Ewart sees great potential in Tisbury’s ponds, particularly Tashmoo which she describes as “teeming with life” and a perfect candidate for upweller installations. However, the Tisbury shellfish department has been wracked of late by underfunding and shortages in equipment.

“I saw the facility and I definitely want to get going with more aquaculture out there,” she says. “They have a few rafts and but I want to make more.”

In a February special meeting with Tisbury selectmen, Mr. Grunden described some of the deficiencies in Vineyard Haven that he has observed from afar.

“This past summer the Vineyard Haven temporary hires came to me and kept asking, ‘Can we borrow a pair of waders? Can we borrow some nets? Can we borrow some drags?’ I said, ‘Yeah, go ahead, it helps everybody,’ but you have to start moving forward getting equipment, building cages, building nursery rafts, and it has to be done fairly soon.”

Ms. Ewart knows that wresting money from an already strained town budget will be one of the less savory parts of her job, but she is looking forward to getting acquainted with the unique personalities of each of the town’s ponds.

“Every pond on the Island is different, and I just really want to get a better grasp on Tashmoo,” she says. “I want to get to know the chemistry in the pond and the life in the pond and find out what I can do to help propagate more shellfish.”

Ms. Ewart’s relationship with Mr. Grunden might make for a smoother transition with Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs’ future partnership, but she has no illusions about the difficulties in coordinating the efforts of two Island towns.

“[She and Mr. Grunden] have a great relationship. I’ve known him since I was a kid and I’ve been working with him for over six years now,” she says. “I think it would be a great thing to eventually have everybody working towards a common goal, but it’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot work.”

In her spare time Ms. Ewart enjoys reading and walking the beach with her parents’ two cocker spaniels and one Akita, and she especially enjoys devouring the shellfish she so lovingly nurtures during the summer.

“I love scallops. They’re my favorite hands down,” she says, “Cooking scallops, it doesn’t get better than garlic and butter, but I even like to eat them raw.”