A new private-public coalition announced this week will monitor the presence of cyanobacteria in the Edgartown, Chilmark and Tisbury Great Ponds this summer, including through maps and a special-purpose website.
Landowners around Edgartown Great Pond are looking at buying a half-million-dollar dredge to improve the water quality of their pond, and potentially that of other fresh and salt water ponds on the Island.
As a first step, they will put up between $50,000 and $100,000 to lease the small, easily transported machine to conduct test dredging of the pond this fall. If all goes well, the plan is to buy it and take pressure off the increasingly-overtaxed town dredge.
On a recent Wednesday morning, after days of wind, the Edgartown Great Pond was flat calm - perfect conditions for oyster fishing. Ice that had formed over several cold nights stretched into the coves, but the pond was still open and accessible.
Six fishermen on four boats were out on the water. The temperature reached 28 degrees only minutes before they powered up their boats.
Edgartown Great Pond Receives State Assistance
By MANDY LOCKE
Edgartown's beloved Great Pond, a delicate balance of fresh
and salt water that has become fragile as a result of the burdens of
development, is at the top of the state's priority list to receive
a comprehensive estuary restoration plan.
"They will essentially hand us the tools for managing the
watershed and an understanding of the mechanics of doing that,"
said Tom Wallace, president of the Great Pond Foundation, a nonprofit
group formed in 1999 to protect the health of the pond.
Shellfish constable Paul Bagnall oversaw the opening of Oyster Pond
and Edgartown Great Pond to the sea on Wednesday, but Thursday's
unfavorable wind and surf conspired to close both openings.
Mr. Bagnall said he may try to make the cuts sometime in January if
he is presented with a good opportunity; otherwise, he will wait until
March. "Now I will take a good look at it," said Mr.
Bagnall, "and keep an eye on the weather."
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.
In a move that is expected to knock down many established barriers to the land protection movement, The Nature Conservancy announced this week that it will buy and put into private conservation 103 acres of land along the Edgartown Great Pond. The property just last year was planned for a private luxury golf club.
Formerly owned by Katharine and Robert Bigelow, the property stretches from Meetinghouse Way to the Kanomika Neck shore of the Great Pond fronting Mashacket Cove, and includes a large expanse of globally rare sandplain grassland.
