The MV Shellfish Group has been around for 50 years, preserving the longtime Vineyard aquaculture and protecting threatened environments. Meet the current director carrying the torch.
Over the summer, I participated in a four-week internship on Martha’s Vineyard, in which I helped spawn shellfish, grow baby scallops and quahogs, dissect and test oysters for disease, and perform field research along with scientists and staff at the MV Shellfish Group (MVSG). A typical day for me consisted of cleaning the sieves where baby shellfish — with diameters less than a millimeter — lived, feeding growing scallops, taking measurements on experimental shellfish in Tisbury and Edgartown Great Ponds, and occasionally performing spawns, where millions of baby shellfish are ‘born.’
Since 1976, the MVSG has operated with the mission of preserving the Vineyard’s extraordinary natural resources as well as the island’s unique shellfish culture. The island of Martha’s Vineyard, located off of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, harbors many extraordinary natural resources, including large numbers of scallops, quahogs, and oysters. Due to this, a large part of the island’s culture revolves around shellfish and shellfishing. However, in past decades, environmental changes have led to habitat degradation and the decline of the natural stock of bivalves on the island.
Working closely with Vineyard towns, the group grows scallop, quahog, and oyster seed to restock the dozens of under-populated saltwater ponds that dot the island. The group is also involved in several other projects, including eelgrass restoration, which ensures a safe habitat for a variety of marine animals, and shell recycling, which reduces waste across the Island and provides a local source of shell for use in oyster restoration.
Involving young people in the projects is another big part of their mandate. “I’m excited to get kids back out there, back into the water, and kind of ‘rewild’ them,” says Nina Ferry Montanile, the group’s Education and Outreach Manager. “Put the phone down, put the technology down, see how you can live off of the ocean that surrounds you every day.”
MVSG is unique in its small, tight-knit structure, its locally-centered mission, and its close relationships with the shellfish departments of the six towns across the island. Throughout its nearly 50 years of operation, the group has proved invaluable in protecting the ecology and community of the island, seeding between 10 and 30 million oysters, scallops, and quahogs every year. In the words of Emma Green-Beach, the director of the group, “a shellfishing community and culture wouldn’t still exist on the island without the Shellfish Group.”
As a part of the group’s 12-person team, I spent my four weeks working in Vineyard marshes with Emma Green-Beach, MVSG’s director, who sat down with me to discuss the group’s mission, work, and impact.
Bluedot Institute: What are the goals of the group and how have they changed and evolved over time?
Emma Green-Beach: The group’s goal has always been to preserve and enhance the different aspects of shellfish — the contribution of cultural significance to the community, the economic impacts, and the ecological impacts. It’s evolved in little ways — in the 1990s, Rick Karney helped to get the first oyster farmers started in Katama Bay [an Atlantic-fed estuary located on the eastern end of Martha’s Vineyard], so that’s where aquaculture came on the scene.
BDI: How has shellfishing changed since the group began operations to now?
E.G.-B.: There used to be a lot of full time shellfish harvesters during the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s. There used to be a whole scallop fleet — people used to go scalloping and could make enough money to buy a house. And now, very few people are making a living off of just digging quahogs. So now, the emphasis for us and for the towns is more for the family fishing and not as much for the commercial. The ponds aren’t sustaining the huge population they used to — the density isn’t there to make a living off of.
BDI: How has the group contributed to the shellfish culture of the island?
E.G.-B.: We keep it going. As the ponds decline and the commercial harvest isn’t there, we keep growing shellfish for the towns to plant so they can create these areas for families to harvest. So even though the culture is changing — we aren’t building houses off of scallop money anymore — people are still going scalloping and harvesting and bringing them home and enjoying the water and appreciating what a healthy pond can give you.
BDI: What projects are MVSG currently working on?
E.G.-B.: We have so many projects going on! We have our longtime oyster restoration and shell recycling programs, as well as various research projects. Also, eelgrass habitat restoration is something that we’ve been building over the years. Right now, expanding our education and community outreach is a new emphasis.
BDI: Can you explain how the oyster restoration and shell recycling programs work?
E.G.-B.: MVSG began spawning oyster seed following the massive die-off of oysters across Martha’s Vineyard — caused by environmental degradation and Dermo disease in 1996. The group fertilizes collected oyster eggs and sperm to create larvae, which are grown in hatcheries until they reach at least one millimeter in size. The ‘baby’ oysters, also known as seed, are then distributed between the Island towns for restocking of salt ponds or are allowed to latch onto shell, creating spat-on-shell, which is placed into coastal areas across the island. Those shells come from the recycling program. The MV Shellfish group collects discarded oyster shells from 8-10 raw bars and seafood restaurants across the Island. The shells are then used as substrate for hatchery-grown oyster larvae. The baby shellfish cement themselves to the shells, which grants them vital shelter and nutrients, such as calcium. The shells, loaded with baby oysters are then returned to Vineyard ponds, where the oysters mature and help to restore original stock while ensuring cleaner and healthier waters.
BDI: And what about the eelgrass habitat restoration?
E.G.-B.: Eelgrass beds are crucial habitats for many marine creatures, including bay scallops, winter flounder, pipefish, and more. Environmental degradation has greatly impacted eelgrass populations across the island, which in turn negatively impacts scallop and bivalve stock. The MV Shellfish Group collects uprooted eelgrass shoots and regrows them in floating beds in Vineyard ponds, and grows eelgrass from seed in their hatcheries before reintroducing them to underpopulated areas in Edgartown, Tisbury, and Tashmoo ponds.
BDI: To what extent do you think the work of the group impacts the Vineyard community and ecosystems?
E.G.-B.: Each pond is a little different, so the way that our work impacts each pond is a little different. We grow all these millions of [shellfish] seeds, and some towns use them to stock family fishing. The towns wouldn’t be able to do all the things they do, such as restocking their ponds with shellfish and educating the next generation about their local environment without us, and we wouldn’t be able to do the things we do, like expanding operations into Cape Cod and Nantucket, without the towns. We were built to have this really close relationship with all the towns, which enables us to do the really cool things we do.
BDI: How have shellfishers and shellfisheries reacted to MVSG’s work?
E.G.-B.: It’s like a big family. We use the word “Clamily” these days. Everyone’s so supportive. The fishermen know us — we’ve been around for a long time, the community trusts us a lot, and we work closely with the towns so they know we’re not doing weird stuff.
BDI: How have you seen the ecology of the Vineyard change since the group was started?
E.G.-B.: The ponds have changed so much. If we had pictures, it would be like one of those cartoons — before and after people wrecked the environment. That just makes the job harder — every year we work harder just for the same result. We are fighting against a changing climate.
BDI: What excites you most about the future of aquaculture and shellfish on the Vineyard?
E.G.-B.: I’m excited for the relationships to continue to evolve. A lot of people want to see more aquaculture. What the towns do for restoration is also aquaculture — only public instead of private. And we all need each other. There aren’t any facilities out there that have the structure and impact of the shellfish group. I’m excited for us to all continue to work together and collaborate so we can continue to solve the next problems that are coming at us.
Read “How the Temperature of Water Affects the Weight of Freshwater Snails,” by an elementary school student in California about her science fair project.
