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.
Oyster season in Chilmark is set to begin on Monday after the board of selectmen approved the opening of the short season.
At the selectmen’s weekly meeting on Tuesday, the board approved a recommendation from the shellfish committee that permits two heaping bushels a day, Monday through Wednesday. The season ends April 30. Shellfish constable Isaiah Scheffer said half a dozen oystermen had expressed interested in permits — “a controlled amount,” Mr. Scheffer added.
On one of the calm, unseasonably warm early December days we had last month, my husband Isaac took our three-year-old son Emmett and me scalloping in Menemsha Pond for the first time. With each dump of the drag on the culling board we were amazed by what we found — tiny sea robins and flounder that Emmett put in a bucket on the deck, jellyfish, eel grass, and an incredible bounty of bay scallops with their beautiful fan-shaped shells.
Lake Tashmoo, which had been closed to shellfishing because of a rare toxic algae bloom, reopened Friday morning.
A press release from the town of Tisbury said that the state notified shellfish constable Danielle Ewart on Friday morning to say that additional testing indicated the pond had been cleared and that it could be reopened to shellfishers immediately.
Ms. Ewart discovered the bright pink algae bloom called prorocentrum lima in the outside flats of Lake Tashmoo a few weeks ago. The algae has been associated with diarrheal shellfish poisoning.
Lake Tashmoo has been closed to shellfishing as of Wednesday afternoon due to the presence of a potentially toxic algae bloom.
Tisbury town administrator John Bugbee said Thursday that people should not shellfish in the body of water, and should dispose of all shellfish recently caught there, as there is no way of knowing how long the algae bloom has been in place.
Signs are posted along the shore.
If you are looking for a successful measure of the bay scallop season, which ended this week, the results can be found in large piles of shells in three down-Island towns.
There was a huge pile of shells next to a fish shack at the foot of Skiff avenue in Tisbury last week, as well as similar piles at the old Edgartown dump and in Oak Bluffs at Madeiras Cove. It was a good year, though there are many who have memories of better ones.
