ECOLOGY OF BUZZARDS BAY: An Estuarine Profile 



1.1. Description 



Buzzards Bay. which separates most of Cape 

 Cod from the mainland, is located at a strategic 

 transition point for habitat distribution of many 

 marine species, being proximate to and exchang- 

 ing with three very different marine systems, the 

 Atlantic Ocean to the south. Vineyard Sound to 

 the east, and Cape Cod Bay to the north (Fig. 

 1.1). At its northeastern end, Buzzards Bay is 

 connected to Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod 

 Canal. The construction of this canal in 1 9 1 4 al- 

 lowed ships navigating along a popular trade 

 route from northern to mid-Atlantic and southern 

 ports to avoid approximately 105 to 161 km of 

 treacherous waters off of the outer coast of Cape 

 Cod. 



The mouth of Buzzards Bay opens up to the 

 continental shelf east of Rhode Island and Rhode 

 Island Sound, providing access to some of the 

 world's most productive offshore fishing 

 grounds, notably George's Bank. New Bedford, 

 the primary port on Buzzards Bay, still ranks as 

 a major fishing center, registering the second most 

 valuable fisheries landings in the United States 

 in the 1980's. Buzzards Bay itself supports varied 



Fig. 1.1. Satellite photograph of Buzzards Bay and 

 Cape Cod 



fish populations, both resident and migratory, with 

 over 200 recorded species and productive coastal 

 fisheries. In fact, even the name "Buzzards Bay" 

 indirectly reflects the fisheries resource, as it was 

 ostensibly named after the osprey or fish-hawk 

 (Parulion haliaetus) (Strother 1860; Kimball 

 1 892). Feeding exclusively on fish, the osprey was 

 known in early natural history as the buzzardet (little 

 buzzard) and was common around the bay (in fact, 

 even noted in Gosnolds voyage). Whether due to 

 the buzzardet or simply the misidentification of osprey 

 as buzzards, the name Buzzards Bay has supplanted 

 the original "Gosnolds Hope." With the recovery of 

 osprey populations stimulated by the banning of 

 dichlorodiphenyltrichlo- roethane (DDT) and the 

 expansion of safe nesting platforms (most notably 

 along the Westport River and Martha's Vineyard; 

 Poole 1 989), Buzzards Bay may again warrant the 

 name. 



The long axis of the bay runs northeast to south- 

 west encompassed primarily by the Massachusetts 

 mainland to the west. Cape Cod to the east and 

 northeast, and the Elizabeth Islands (Cuttyhunk, 

 Nashawena, Pasque, Penekise and Naushon) to 

 the southeast. The bay is approximately 45 km long 

 and 1 2 km wide. The bay was formed as a result of 

 the last ice age and the retreat of the glaciers (about 

 1 6,000-1 8.000 years before present (B.P); Kaye 

 1964; Oldale 1992), and the geologic processes 

 generated lasting differences in the contours of the 

 western versus the eastern shores. The northwest- 

 em and northern shores of Buzzards Bay are physi- 

 cally more irregular, creating more embayments than 

 on the eastern and southeastern shores. This undu- 

 lating coastline encompasses about 336 km after 

 taking into account all the irregularities (Massachu- 

 setts Department of Environmental Quality Engi- 

 neering 1975). The northwestern shore has elon- 

 gated inlets formed from drowned valleys cut into 

 outwash plain, while the southwestern shore is rela- 

 tively smooth, consisting primarily of glacial till as 

 part of the Buzzards Bay recessional moraine. The 

 bay itself is relatively shallow; depths range from 5 

 to 1 m at mean low water (MLW) near the head 

 to slightly over 20 m near the mouth, with a baywide 

 average of 11 m(Signell 1987). 



