Recently I got to see something special, touring a former tribal shellfish hatchery that's been refurbished into a finfish operation, the first of its kind in the region, and being rebuilt by community grassroots effort.
I have covered the Winter Flounder Restoration Plan for Martha's Vineyard now for a little more than a year for Hatchery International as part of my job. I want to share the latest goings on wit the project as the folks behind the project get closer to their first adult winter flounder spawn next year.
After a year of field studies collecting data from two ponds on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod, University of New Hampshire (UNH) aquaculture specialists and biologists are moving into the next phase of their winter flounder restoration effort--refurbishing a tribal hatchery.
The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal council agreed to lease the hatchery to the Dukes County/Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Association (DCFA) for $100, allowing the association and UNH to use the shellfish hatchery for the winter flounder project, the tribe announced in October.
Before fertilized fish eggs can be brought into the facility, it has to be refurbished as a finfish operation. Currently the work is being done to rewire the electrical system, bring in appropriate pumps and tanks for the winter flounder.
The building hasn’t run as a hatchery since before 2006. Two saltwater pumps at the facility were destroyed when the building was hit by lightning in that year. It has already been used for the raising of quahogs, bay scallops and oysters. There is already plenty of information about the health of Menemsha Pond from work done in federally funded bay scallop restoration work by the tribe.
The partnership is part of a federally funded two-year $308,000 National Sea Grant project to find ways to restore one of the most troubled fish resources in Southern New England. The grant provides for enough funds to retrofit the facility to raise fish instead of shellfish. As much as $20,000 from the grant will be used to replace the pumps and get the place working again.
For a year now, members of the fisherman’s association, the tribe, and shellfish constables have been out surveying the waters of Menemsha Pond in Aquinnah and Lagoon Pond in Oak Bluffs and Tisbury, Massachusetts collecting data and samples, as part of the project. The first phase involved water sampling of the two ponds.
The effort now shifts to the second and perhaps most important part of the effort, raising 50,000 juvenile winter flounder in the hatchery to be released later next year into the two ponds.
Elizabeth Fairchild, the lead marine biologist, and a professor at the UNH, said she is pleased by the 13-month partnership and appreciative of the efforts of many Vineyarders to make it a success. Having a place to raise the juvenile winter flounder, near one of the ponds being studied, is key to the success of the project, she explained.
She’s also happy with the progress of the project.
“Definitely! Warren Doty, of the fishermen’s association, has done a great job guiding the data collection process and Bret Stearns, from the tribe, brought the council and tribal community on board for the restoration program,” she told Hatchery International.
The plan
The project--the largest salt-water fish restoration and aquaculture effort in the region--will use the Tribal hatchery, located on Menemsha Pond to grow up to 50,000 juvenile winter flounder for release into the ponds, according to a recent tribe press release.
The Tribe’s Natural Resources Department has been on board for nearly one year in field studies to determine optimal release strategies for hatchery-reared winter flounder, and will continue to assist with culture, growth, and the release of the flounder.
“The retrofitting of the hatchery is going fantastic,” said Stearns in a telephone interview. “The tribal council is very excited about this. The project is a joint effort between the fishermen’s association and tribe to work together on a very unique project.”
The tour
I recently took a tour of the Aquinnah Hatchery with my uncle Jeff. He's always been interested in what I do, whether it was writing about the Internet and Technology world or now covering the international aquaculture space.
Doty showed us what he calls the "Honeymoon Tanks" where the hope is that adult flounder will spawn, making the eggs that will hatch and become the fry and then juveniles they will return to the fishery.
For now, the focus is on January and February when local fishermen will go out and catch very local winter flounder and bring them to the hatchery.
"We want to catch them as close to the jetties as possible," Doty said.
Then in March, UNH biologists and DCFA members hope to spawn and have eggs in hatchery by the end of the month.
I'll try and post some images of the hatchery here in coming days.
