In a recent study, Vineyard bay scallops proved resilient to a parasite that decimated scallops off New York. Researchers say that gives hope for the future of the species.
A new chapter in Island environmental restoration is blooming in a laboratory on the shores of the Lagoon. There, in a cool tub of water at a Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group Hatchery, a small artificial meadow of eelgrass is beginning to flower.
It is a record year for baby shellfish growing up at the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, but the 21-year-old institution is facing severe financial troubles, its worst in years.
There is another contradiction. The hatchery, highly regarded in the national aquaculture industry, the recipient of federal grants and accolades from the science community, is dealing with an image problem before Island town selectmen and financial committees. Town officials like the work but they don’t want to help it financially.
Near Chappaquiddick Point lies an unassuming summer house with a big mission. Over the last summer, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group has converted the two-bedroom home into a shellfish nursery complete with swirling pools of saltwater and millions of baby bay scallops. And although the project is not yet complete, the hatchery has already helped raise millions of tiny shellfish for distribution to the Island’s coastal ponds.
If you ate a raw oyster last summer on the Vineyard, chances are it came from either Canada or Long Island. But for oyster lovers, the summer ahead offers another treat: the Vineyard oyster.
A serious oyster disease that has afflicted Edgartown Great Pond for years is now in Tisbury Great Pond and it is expected to cause a major die-off in the months ahead.
The disease known as Dermo is not harmful to humans in any way but it is responsible for having caused the collapse of the oyster fisheries from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. The only cure, according to Rick Karney of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group would be a frigid winter. The parasite that causes the disease can’t stand bitter cold water.
The Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group has gained more autonomy for the use of the state hatchery in Oak Bluffs after a bill passed allowing a long-term lease.
Tisbury shellfish constable Danielle Ewart had her boat loaded with 225,000 quahaugs. Fully grown, the hard-shelled clams would have weighed upwards of 40 tons.
A record quahaug spawn at the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group comes as a boon to Island towns this year where saltwater ponds are seeded annually as part of shellfish management programs.
