ECOLOGY OF BUZZARDS BAY: An Estuanne Profile 



99 



for periods to allow reestablishment of the popula- 

 tion. To this end, an inadvertent advantage of shell- 

 fish bed closures due to high bacterial counts is that 

 shellfish populations are left undisturbed and allowed 

 to increase in size on their own, unimpacted, at least 

 by human predation. Were it not for overfishing of 

 the shellfish beds, seeding programs would gener- 

 ally not be necessary. The need for seeding pro- 

 grams to maintain the beds in many areas, how- 

 ever, signifies that the Buzzards Bay shellfishery has 

 shifted more toward a cultivated rather than natural 

 fishery. 



Given the vast changes in fishing effort and the 

 quality of catch statistics over the past 1 00 years, it 

 is difficult to quantitatively evaluate the effects of 

 overfishing on Buzzards Bay commercial species. 

 Some general conclusions can be drawn for a few 

 species, however. Shellfisheries form the best data 

 base because they involve sessile populations and 

 therefore can be thought of as local indicators. The 

 major economic species of the late 1 800's was the 

 oyster, distributed throughout the bay's shallow 

 waters. The evidence is fairly strong that for this 

 species overfishing for at least 1 50 years following 

 European colonization greatly depleted stocks, 

 which remain so to this day. Freeman ( 1 862:50) 

 stated that oysters "formerly abundant and very large 

 and finely flavored, have ceased" in parts of Buz- 

 zards Bay. 



Goode ( 1 887:272) reported that in the Westport 

 River "an ancient bed of native oysters, which has 

 now nearly disappeared through too great 

 raking.. ..not more than 50 bushels a year can now 

 be caught throughout the whole three miles from 

 the • Point' up to the bridge." Compare this with 

 roughly 400 bushels per year for the entire Westport 

 River embayment from 1 977 to 1 987 (Terkla et al. 

 1 990). Similarly, even Wareham, which was once 

 reputed to have the "choicest brand" of oysters, 

 supports few today. How much the lack of recov- 

 ery results from the continuous fishing of a depleted 

 stock (currently at 4.000 bushels/year) and how 

 much from habitat destruction and disease is un- 

 clear, but the day of "oisters...a foot long.. .so bit it 

 must admit of a division to be got in your mouth" 

 (Wood 1 634 as quoted by Goode 1 887:73 1 ) are 



not likely to be seen again soon on Buzzards Bay 

 shores. 



Shellfishing historically has been conducted in 

 the nearshore zone by the use of rakes and tongs, 

 generally by individuals or small groups, which to 

 some extent limited the catch by virtue of the lim- 

 ited energies of the fishermen. Although newer tech- 

 niques are available, mechanization of the industry 

 has been slow, mostly for ecological reasons, as 

 the primary method available requires large-scale 

 scraping of the bottom, resulting in significant dam- 

 age to the system. New techniques such as hydro- 

 dredging, using forced water to uncover produc- 

 tive beds, have increased commercial catches in 

 some areas; however, again the potential disturbance 

 to the sediments has resulted in intense scrutiny and 

 potential restrictions of this practice. Assessing the 

 impact of overfishing on the scallop industry is more 

 complex owing to the scallop's single spawning sea- 

 son and inherent natural variability. However, since 

 scallops frequently reach harvestable size before 

 reaching sexual maturity, the impact of overfishing 

 on the already unstable population may have great 

 consequences for future scallop populations within 

 Buzzards Bay. 



One important finfishery in Buzzards Bay dating 

 to the earliest colonists is that for alewife. While 

 overfishing by nets at iniets greatly reduced the 

 population prior to 1 896, today the harvest is again 

 small compared to previous records. Much of this 

 reduction is due to reduced demand and therefore 

 reduced effort in catch (V. Brady, Sandwich Branch, 

 Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, per- 

 sonal communication), but it also appears to be a 

 result of the lack of maintenance of "herring runs" 

 or waterways, usually streams that lead from fresh- 

 water and brackish water ponds out to the sea. His- 

 toric waterways have been dammed, fish ladders 

 have fallen into disrepair, pond flows have been al- 

 tered by development, and natural processes that 

 affect small flows in the coastal zone have all re- 

 sulted in the decline of herring populations (D. 

 Bourne, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 

 personal communication). Without a clear freshwa- 

 ter to saltwater pathway, which is required during 



