 Harwich Shellfish Lab is located on Wychmere Harbor at the Town Fish Pier. |
Interim Report on Shellfish Lab
To: Darlene Pratt, Resource Development Office
From: Heinz Proft, Asst. Natural Resources Officer - Harwich
Re: Interim Report ~ DMF/Barnstable County
16 June 1998
The Town of Harwich Natural Resources Department (HNRD) has entered its fifth year of shellfish propagation at the Wychmere Harbor facility located in Harwichport. We are excited to report that the largest municipal upwelling system in the State has been online for three weeks and presently serves as a nursery for over 4.5 million quahog clams, Mecenaria mercenaria. Within the next two weeks the HNRD will take delivery of its final quahog seed and will be busy rearing more than 6 million clams.
 A bank of shellfish upwelling silos. Water supply has been increased dramatically since this photo as now we drive system with two pumps on two separate circuits. |
To tackle such a task the HNRD has solidified a link with the Harwich High School through the Harwich Exchange and Action Resources Team. Five Harwich High School students; Katie Nydan, Caitlin Capistron, Mark Stines, Alison Toner, and Heidi Erdmann have been selected to take part in a unique summer internship. This opportunity was made possible in part by grants received from both the Community Foundation of Cape Cod and the Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Regional Employment Board. Coren Peacock, Outreach Coordinator for the School to Careers Partnership and Mary Jane Curran, Enviromental Technology Program Coordinator at the Cape Cod Community College were instrumental in obtaining the funds necessary to support a summer of work and learning for the students of Harwich High School.
 A submersible pump. |
The Harwich High School summer interns will not only be assisting in the daily maintenance, rearing, and monitoring of the Shellfish Lab, but under the direction of Troy Hopkins, science teacher at Harwich High School and Heinz Proft, Asst. Natural Resources Officer will develop environmental research projects related to the ecology and population dynamics of shellfish, primarily clams, on Cape Cod. Several projects include the collection/identification of plankton from the surrounding waters, developing a variety of food web models, studying growth rates and redistribution of clams within the aquaculture system, and parameters governing recreational and commercial shellfishing. A broad set of water quality tests will also be conducted in order to establish a long term data base on water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity from local water study sites. This effort will be aided by remote water temperature logging instruments on loan from Arnold Carr, Division of Marine Fisheries. These water temperature loggers have the ability to take water temperature readings 24 hours a day simultaneously at different locations and we are looking forward to putting them to good use. Students will also be assisting the Barnstable County health department laboratory by collecting water samples and testing for bacteria including E. coli.
 Troy Hopkins, Chairman of Harwich High's Science Department, dedicated his summer to this work and learning program. Together Troy and Heinz Proft guided budding oceanographers on a quest to understand all they could learn about invertebrates and the overlying waters which serve up the food source for our Mercenaria mercenaria. |
In the few years that the Wychmere Shellfish lab has been in existence, this summer ranks as the largest, most ambitious effort on record. With each year that passes, the Shellfish lab improves, becomes more efficient, and delivers more juvenile clam seed to the surrounding grow out environments. The primary objective of increasing the supply of hard shell seed clam stock continues to be beneficial to all parties involved including harvesters, consumers, and indirect beneficiaries. By supporting the summer of work and learning not only will we obtain valuable fisheries, aquaculture, and water quality data, the environmental experiences and field work the students will take part in will foster an awareness of critical problems facing Cape Cod and the Islands.
Significant Dates:
 This is what the notata quahog seed looks like at 5 mm. They show life by extending foot and wiggling in the sun. (pretty good huh!). |
02 June 1998 Received first order of seed clams (2 million clams)
09 June 1998 Received second order of seed clams (1.8 million clams)
16 June 1998 Received third order of seed clams (750,000 clams)
18 June 1998 Should receive order of seed clams (200,000 clams)
23 June 1998 Should receive last order of seed clams (1.5 million clams)
06 July 1998 Begin 6 week summer internship program
Latest updates can be found at our new website on the internet. We can be found at
www.town.harwich.ma.us/harbormaster