85 



Nasketucket Bay, Fairhaven 



Nasketucket Bay is an enclosed area on the eastern side of 

 Sconticut Neck. This bay is relatively protected from storms, has had 

 little housing development along shore, and has been a productive 

 shellfish habitat (Durso et al., 1979). The only appreciable surface 

 flow of freshwater entering the Bay is through a network of creeks and 

 streams entering Little Bay. This input is noteworthy because these 

 streams drain hundreds of ha of farmland, pastures, and developed land, 

 and Little Bay is the only area where eelgrass is absent today. 



Lewis and Taylor (1933) , listed areas of eelgrass decline on the 

 east coast as a result of the wasting disease, and noted the "well-known 

 meadows about . . . Sconticut Neck in Buzzards Bay . . . [which] were 

 nearly or quite depopulated." The recolonization of eelgrass after the 

 disease was documented with 8 aerial surveys taken between 1951 and 

 1981. A town shellfish report (Durso et al., 1979) and field 

 observations in 1985 were used to document recent distribution. 



The changes in eelgrass abundance here are typical of deeper, well 

 flushed embayments in Buzzards Bay: slow and nearly steady 

 recolonization over 30 years, without the wide swings in abundance seen 

 in shallow estuaries like the Westport Rivers. Most expansion occurred 

 during the late 1950's to early 1960's. 



The earliest photographs (1951 and 1956) show that many 

 populations of eelgrass are scattered around Nasketucket and Little Bays 

 (Fig. 7) . Some populations occurred up to 2 km offshore suggesting that 



