Shellfish Communications Crier

Town Shellfish Crier

May 2, 2024

1. Chipman’s Cove and Duck Creek Are Now Closed Until October 27 and December 1, 2024, Respectively

The Shellfish Department will be planting contaminated clams from the state-run quahog relay in three different areas of Chipman’s Cove and one area in Duck Creek, as well as at the Indian Neck recreational-only area, this month. Thanks to the Shellfish Advisory Board and other shellfishermen for providing us with ideas on where to put clams this year. Many thanks to the DPW for lending us a dump truck to go to Fall River to pick them up!

2. Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries (MADMF) Will Hold a Meeting and Training for Harvesters Regarding the 2024 Vibrio Parahaemolyticus Control Plan for Oysters on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the Eastham Town Hall, Earle Mountain Room, as well as a Virtual Meeting on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at 5 p.m. via Zoom. Click here to register for the Zoom meeting.

The 2024 Massachusetts Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V.p.) Control Season and implementation of requisite control measures take effect on Sunday, May 19, 2024, and remain in effect through Saturday, October 19, 2024.

First time commercial shellfishing permit holders take note: You will need to attend the in-person or the virtual meeting if you intend to harvest oysters during this time period. Please contact Nancy Civetta at the Shellfish Department with any issues or concerns: 617-901-7193 or nancy.civetta@wellfleet-ma.gov.

V.p. Control Plan resources can be found here. MADMF will provide V.p. logbooks to local Shellfish Constables to be distributed to both oyster growers and commercial wild harvesters at no cost. We will distribute them on the tide and will have them at the office and in our trucks.

3. Vibrio 2023 Summary

There were no confirmed single source V.p. cases linked to Wellfleet in 2023. (Parahaemolyticus is one of the Vibrio species, and since lab analysis was not done to confirm that it was specifically the parahaemolyticus species among the different types of Vibrio, we had no confirmed V.p. cases.) There were six confirmed single source Vibrio sp. cases linked to Wellfleet out of eight total in Mass. (sp. means the species of Vibrio was not clinically determined). Additionally for multi-source, there were nine confirmed Vibrio cases linked to Wellfleet out of 28 total (Wellfleet

oysters were one of several oysters from different areas that the individuals ate). So, while there were no confirmed V.p. cases implicating only Wellfleet in 2023, regulators are looking at Wellfleet as a common denominator in a number of Vibrio illnesses in 2023. For that reason, we are encouraging all harvesters to review the Vibrio Control Plan to ensure that their operations are in line with the requirements, such as time-to-icing, shading, adequate icing, etc. Please make sure to attend the in-person Vibrio meeting in Eastham or the online one to get the MADMF 2024 update. See above.

The only change to the 2024 Vibrio control plan is the revision of the description of “adequate icing” to mean that oysters are “continuously and completely covered by and layered in ice.” Gone are the inch requirements. The time to icing will remain two hours from exposure, and shading requirements also remain the same. An exemption was also added that now allows certain icing containers that previously weren’t acceptable, such as crates, to be used if product is going directly into a prechilled refrigerated truck at the landing and within the time to icing requirements. Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Update: 2024 DMF tagging requirements: Tags will need to list the precise harvest area, for example, Herring River will be CCB 12.1, Wellfleet Harbor will be CCB 11.0 and Loagy Bay will be CCB 14.0. We’ll give you a full updated list for Chipman’s Cove and Duck Creek when those areas re-open in the fall. In addition, for grant holders, your license site number needs to be on your tags. Thanks for your attention to this; we’re always available to answer your questions. Contact Nancy at nancy.civetta@wellfleet-ma.gov or 508-349-0325 with ideas on how the Shellfish Department can help or improve shellfishing. Thank you!

          Nancy Civetta                       John Mankevetch            Chris Manulla & Sarah Comstock

Shellfish Constable        Assistant Shellfish Constable       Deputy Shellfish Constables

         617-901-7193                         508-962-0691                  508-962-8934 & 774-801-9320