North Atlantic 



of a $6.1 billion plant as a corrective 

 measure. 



In New Hampshire, all harvest-limited 

 waters are affected by sewage 

 treatment plants. However, harvest- 

 limited waters are also significantly 

 affected by industry (44 percent) and 

 agricultural runoff (67 percent). The 

 effects of these sources have required 

 the State to close or restrict 64 

 percent of its classified shellfish- 

 growing waters. 



In contrast, pollution from septic 

 systems affects almost as much 

 harvest-limited waters (40 percent) in 

 Maine as do sewage treatment plants 

 (57 percent). Shellfish-growing waters 

 in all but one of Maine's eight estuar- 

 ies are affected by septic effluent. As 

 a result, towns have adopted dis- 

 charge ordinances that restrict devel- 

 opment in low-lying coastal areas. 

 Developers in such places must add 

 sand filtration and chlorination to their 

 septic systems. After 1992, any 

 system that pollutes shellfish-growing 

 waters will be shut down by the State. 



Landings 



The region's harvest has declined 

 dramatically since the 1950s. Oyster 

 landings dropped from 219,000 

 pounds in 1986 to 1 13,000 pounds in 

 1989. Clam landings dropped from 

 14.6 million to 8.3 million pounds, and 

 mussel landings dropped from 6.6 

 million pounds to 4.8 million pounds. 

 The exception is the scallop harvest, 

 which increased from 1 1 .7 million to 

 20.3 million pounds as a result of 

 offshore fishing agreements with 



Canada. Figure 4 shows landings in 

 millions of pounds of meats for the 

 principal harvested species for the 

 three states in the region. 



Landings by State. Oyster landings 

 have been sporadic in Maine, rising 

 from 49,000 pounds in 1985 to 

 138,000 pounds in 1986, and declin- 

 ing to 69,000 pounds in 1989. Clam 

 landings declined from 4.5 million 

 pounds to less than three million 

 pounds. Over-harvesting and the 

 closing of polluted shellfish-growing 

 waters have contributed to this 

 decline. Maine's scallop harvest 

 increased from 813,000 pounds in 

 1 985 to 1 .7 million pounds in 1 989. 



The State classified over 884,000 

 acres of offshore waters, and was the 

 first to establish a plan for managing 

 episodes of marine biotoxins. Maine 

 estimates that the closings imposed 

 under the plan reduce harvest earn- 

 ings by about seven million dollars 

 annually (Shumway et al., 1988). In 

 recent years, the occurrence of 

 blooms has increased temporally and 

 geographically. Closures from 

 biotoxins have extended into surf clam 

 and mussel-harvesting areas. 



There have been no commercial 

 harvests in New Hampshire since 

 1986. Only recreational harvest is 

 allowed in approved shellfish-growing 

 waters. The State estimates that 

 downgrades of shellfish-growing 

 waters and harvest restrictions over 

 the last 20 years have resulted in an 

 85 percent loss in harvestable 

 softshell clams and a 67 percent loss 

 in harvestable oysters (Seiforth, pers. 

 comm.). 



~15 



