September quiet settled over Katama Bay this week, as a handful of sailboats scudded in and out of the harbor. It was quiet too on the twelve oyster farms scattered across the broad saltwater bay that lies at the eastern end of Edgartown.
Katama Bay oyster farms in Edgartown have been closed due to an outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Department of Fish and Game, Division of Marine Fisheries announced Monday.
Vineyard local restaurants began serving locally harvested blue mussels in July and the prospects for the future look even better. Alec Gale of the Menemsha Fish House said he was pleased with the results. The last of the locally harvested blue mussels were shipped this week but there may be more.
The Edgartown selectmen Monday approved changes to aquaculture regulations that will allow town shellfish constable Paul Bagnall to write citations for violations.
A first-time violation of town aquaculture bylaws would be accompanied by a $100 penalty, and a second violation, which would come after a week, would have a $500 fine. Under the previous regulations, any violations would go before the selectmen, who would schedule a hearing and write a letter to the offender.“By the time it gets to the board there’s been some fines issued,” Mr. Bagnall said.
The Aquinnah bay scallop season ends Friday, marking what is believed to be the latest date for a bay scallop season closing in the commonwealth.
The scallop season usually runs from fall until the last day of March, but Aquinnah shellfish constable Brian (Chip) Vanderhoop said unusual circumstances led to the extension of the fishery this year.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a documentary about the world famous sushi chef in Japan, made waves in the food world last year with its high definition celebration of the tiny basement level restaurant and their impeccable selection and treatment of the most appetizing seafood imaginable. Jiro continues to make his name serving what is thought to be one of the most expensive meals on earth, which is calculated partly by the length of the meal that often lasts less than 20 minutes as simple dish after dish is prepared in rapid succession, almost immediately after the last is consumed.
Part of the Tisbury Great Pond is about to become an oyster reef, thanks to a project sponsored by The Nature Conservancy and the towns of Chilmark and West Tisbury.
The propagation projects calls for putting down 100 cubic yards of sea clam shells as culch and then planting 250,000 juvenile oysters.
Over the next year, a million tiny pioneers will arrive at Sengekontacket Pond. Simply by growing from the size of a pencil eraser to a full three inches, a million oysters are the key part of a project launched by Oak Bluffs and Edgartown to cultivate the shellfish in Sengekontacket, which has been found to have nitrogen levels well above acceptable limits.
A plan for a large oyster farm in Lagoon Pond spurred debate in Oak Bluffs this week, with town officials weighing concerns about the location and effects of the proposed farm with the potential benefits of aquaculture. Brothers Dan and Greg Martino applied for an aquaculture license to start a four-acre oyster farm at the southern end of Lagoon Pond.
