More than 80 people in the communities of Bath, West Bath, Woolwich, and Georgetown own commercial licenses that help them make some or all of their income. These communities also sell a significant number of recreational licenses that bring in a tourist market. But due to clam flat closures due to water pollination and a decrease in harvestable clams due to predation has created a large problem that the shellfish communities can not handle at this present time.
To address this, the Georgetown shellfish committee is working with Manomet and Ipswich Shellfish to transplant adult quahogs into Robinhood Cove. First, the shellfish committee created a conservation closure on the harvesting of all quahogs in Georgetown. Dr. Marisa McMahan, from Manomet, created plots in Robinhood Cove to record the survival and reproduction of transplanted quahogs. Further research using Beal boxes was also conducted to understand the quantities of quahog seeds that are settling.
Contact
Charles Moore – Project Coordinator
gottscove@icloud.com
The Mudflat 