Dark green and gray, slick with algae, pocked with parasitic scars and polychaete worm tunnels, wild oysters are survivors, fighting everything the pond's brackish waters throw at them.
MVCyano, a coalition of local boards of health and the Great Pond Foundation, has issued “red-grade” cyanobacteria bloom advisories in Chilmark Pond, Tisbury Great Pond, James Pond and a pond at Mink Meadows.
The West Tisbury board of health issued a cyanobacteria bloom advisory for Tiah’s Cove in Tisbury Great Pond Wednesday, recommending that people avoid any contact with the water.
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.
It’s been bad news for shellfishing on Martha’s Vineyard and beyond in recent days, from a state-ordered closure to the discovery last week of a heavy algae bloom in the Tisbury Great Pond.
The Nature Conservancy would like to thank our partners in this past year’s oyster restoration project in the Tisbury Great Pond, straddling the Chilmark/West Tisbury town line at the mouth of Town Cove.
The Tisbury Great Pond has had its nitrogen health checkup and is in good shape, especially compared with other Island ponds.
This was the conclusion of the final Massachusetts Estuaries Study report for the pond, presented this week to Chilmark and West Tisbury selectmen, town planners and residents.
Improved cell phone service will becoming to West Tisbury after the town zoning board of appeals approved a special permit for a tower off New Lane, near Tisbury Great Pond.
The board approved a 66 foot monopine for Verizon at their monthly meeting last Thursday, board chairman Tucker Hubbell said. The monopine will have fiberglass branches and a pole painted brown to resemble a pine tree.
