Intertidal Habitat and Sediment Assessment Study

 

            The Bay has long been an attraction for researchers and scientists.  However earlier technical studies have tended to focus on single facets of the Bay’s eco-system and most are many years outdated.  And virtually none of the existing studies could have foreseen the variety of human use and environmental factors that influence the ecology of the Bay today.  

 

The Intertidal Habitat and Sediment Assessment study now underway in the Bay will help to close that information gap. The project is the first phase of a comprehensive inventory and monitoring program for habitats within the Pleasant Bay estuary recommended by the Pleasant Bay Resource Management Plan.  The study will classify and evaluate the variety of intertidal habitats in the Bay, inventory the plant and animal life that inhabit these areas, and monitor the dynamics of these areas in light of environmental and human use factors. 

 

Information generated from the project will be used by local officials to evaluate and manage competing uses of tidal flats, and will also provide baseline data needed to design a longer term project to monitor the health of the Bay’s intertidal resources. Research findings will be relied upon to develop guidelines for citing public and private shellfish aquaculture projects, evaluate the impacts of shorelines structures (e.g. docks, revetments) on intertidal habitats, develop fisheries management strategies, monitor trends in the horseshoe crab population, and protect the migratory fly-way.

 

As part of the study the team of scientists will evaluate atmospheric “drivers” such as winds, tidal flushing and currents to determine significant patterns in the formation of intertidal areas.  Through a series of on-the-ground and in-the-water surveys they will classify the various types of intertidal habitats in terms of sediment type, vegetative cover and resident populations of macroinvertebrates, birds, horseshoe crabs and shellfish. The third part of the study is the design of an on-going monitoring program to detect significant changes or threats to habitat types.

 

The eighteen-month study is being conducted by Capella Consulting Group of Woods Hole and Marine Resource Inc. of Falmouth, a partnership with more than thirty years professional experience in the assessment, monitoring and management of coastal environmental systems. The Alliance is grateful for the generous financial support it has received for this project from the Sudbury Foundation, Inc., and the Edward Bangs Kelley and Ezra Kelley Foundation, Inc.  The Alliance communities of Orleans, Chatham and Harwich are providing additional funding for the project.