ECOLOGY OF BUZZARDS BAY: An Estuanne Profile 1 1 



watershed versus bay area (Table 1.1) and height- 

 ens the contrast between the embayments, which 

 have more estuarine habitat, and the almost marine 

 open bay. 



Like many of the developed areas of the east- 

 ern seaboard. Buzzards Bay has experienced high 

 rates of population growth with increases of more 

 than 50% over the past 50 years. As of 1990. 

 this watershed supported a population of 

 233,000, or roughly 2. 1 people per hectare. While 

 this is a moderate density, the recent increases have 

 been dramatic. Some towns have grown from small 

 rural communities to suburban communities for 

 Boston or Providence; others have experienced 

 continued growth in response to the demand for 

 summer or retirement homes near the water. 



1.2. History 



Buzzards Bay was highly regarded as a resource 

 to the early settlers of the region. In fact, many of 

 the early uses of the watershed and bays remain: 

 farming and cranberry agriculture, fishing, 

 shellfishing, and even some haying of salt marsh 

 grasses. 



Colonists living in Plymouth saw Cape Cod as 

 both a blessing and a hindrance: a blessing in that 

 it provided trade with the Native Americans who 

 inhabited the cape, but a formidable hindrance to 

 trade with the Dutch residing in New York (then 

 called New Amsterdam). Navigating the treacher- 

 ous waters around Cape Cod discouraged many 

 otherwise profitable voyages. Shortly after the es- 

 tablishment of a permanent colony at New Plymouth 

 in 1620 and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 

 1 628, a simpler route was discovered. This pas- 

 sage utilized two nearly connecting rivers and a 

 portage across a narrow strip of land separating 

 the head of Cape Cod Bay from Buzzards Bay (a 

 passage long used by the Indians) and greatly fa- 

 cilitated trade among the colonists between Ply- 

 mouth, the Connecticut River, and New York. The 

 establishment in 1 627 oftheAptucxet Trading Post 

 (or Manomet Trading Post, located on the river of 

 the same name emptying into Buzzards Bay) 



attracted many visitors and subsequently new set- 

 tlers to the area. This post, situated near what is 

 now the west end of the Cape Cod Canal, pro- 

 vided a station for trade of goods between the 

 Dutch, the settlers of New Plymouth, and the resi- 

 dent Wampanoag Indians. 



The first established town on Cape Cod. the 

 Town of Sandwich ( 1 639), originally incorporated 

 what is now the coastal town of Bourne on Buz- 

 zards Bay. West Falmouth, bordering the bay, was 

 home to many Quakers who settled there to flee 

 persecution by the Plymouth Court. This area was 

 known at the time as "Suckanesset" (today called 

 Saconnesset), named by the Native Americans as 

 "where the black wampum is found" (Emery 

 1 979:4). Beads made from quahogs were used as 

 a form of currency, known as 'Nvampum," and from 

 this use the species name of quahog {Mercenaria ) 

 was derived. Wampum from the shells of the qua- 

 hog was twice as valuable as the wampum made 

 from the shell of the periwinkle. Many Native Ameri- 

 cans lived on the shore of West Falmouth as evi- 

 denced by the large number of Indian relics and 

 grave sites uncovered there in recent years. These 

 Indians were generally cooperative and helped 

 many settlers adapt to this new area, taking advan- 

 tage of the abundance of natural resources the bay 

 provided. 



Although the original settlers of this region were 

 primarily farmers, the abundance of the sea rapidly 

 encouraged a healthy fishing industry in the late 

 1 600's. Even in the few days Gosnold spent on 

 the bay in 1602, landing in present day Gosnold 

 and then entering Buzzards Bay, which was then 

 called "Gosnolds Hope," it was clear that "diverse 

 sorts of shellfish as scallops, mussels, cockles, lob- 

 sters, crabs, oysters and wilks (sic. Mercenaria) 

 exceeding good and very great" were available 

 (Brereton 1 602:29). In support, Capt. John Smith's 

 Description of New England (1616), although 

 praising the soil and climate for agriculture, particu- 

 larly noted the fishing. This still seemed the case 

 when Thoreau visited in 1 849 and 1 855, observing 

 "the inhabitants of the Cape are often at once 

 farmers and sea rovers" (Thoreau 1 966: 1 62). This 



