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News Release RI Department of Environmental Management 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908 (401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
NORTH CAPE SHELLFISH RESTORATION PROJECT SEEKING VOLUNTEERS TO TAG AND PLANT SEED SCALLOPS IN POINT JUDITH POND PROVIDENCE - The North Cape shellfish restoration project is seeking volunteers to tag and plant 500,000 seed scallops in Point Judith Pond later this month. The program is part of a plan to restore shellfish lost as a result of the North Cape spill in 1996 and is the first phase of restoring scallops.The tagging program will be conducted at the Department of Environmental Management's Coastal Fisheries Laboratory in Jerusalem, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 14, Saturday, September 21 and Wednesday, September 25. Refreshments will be provided. Volunteers will glue tags on the seed scallops, which are about the size of a 50-cent piece; and will count and measure them. Additional volunteers with boats will assist in planting the seed scallops in the pond. Pre-registration is required, either by contacting Karin Tammi, the North Cape restoration project coordinator, by phone at 783-2304 or by e-mail at ktammi@mola.na.nmfs.gov, or by signing up in person in advance at the Coastal Fisheries Laboratory at 1231 Succotash Road. About 15 marine science freshmen from the University of Rhode Island's service learning program will be among the volunteers on the 14th. The goals of the tagging and seeding program are to restore scallops and to foster public interest and awareness about the importance of water quality, eelgrass habitats, and the overall health of Rhode Island's coastal salt ponds. In addition, later in the fall, DEM's aquatic education program will host several workshops and classroom lectures educating the public about bay scallop biology, habitat, estuarine pollution and general shellfish restoration methodology associated with the North Cape shellfish restoration project. The shellfish restoration project as a whole seeks to compensate for the losses associated with the environmental damages sustained when the tank barge North Cape ran aground off Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown in 1996, spilling 828,000 gallons of home heating oil into Block Island Sound and the surrounding environment. Scientists estimate that the spill killed a large quantity of marine resources, including about a 379,000 kg of shellfish biomass, including 364,000 kg of surf clams, 2,900 kg of mussels and other marine bivalves, and 12,400 kg of shellfish in the salt ponds. To restore these as well as other lost resources, an $18 million settlement was reached between the trustees of the natural resources damaged by the spill and Eklof Corporation, owner of the North Cape. In addition to creating a scallop spawning sanctuary in Point Judith Pond in South County and re-seeding bay scallops and quahaugs in the coastal salt ponds, the restoration plan calls for creating a quahaug rescue program, which will remove quahaugs that would otherwise be lost during the upcoming Providence River dredging project. The quahaugs will be transplanted to Rhode Island's shellfish management areas in Narragansett Bay. It also calls for restoring oysters by placing Rhode Island oysters in a hatchery for breeding, providing shell material for the baby oysters to grow on, and transplanting the young oysters to Rhode Island waters. All of the restoration projects will be implemented with volunteer help. Three special "field nurseries," shellfish nurseries for quahaugs, have already been established in Narragansett Bay and seeded with 1.5 million quahaugs. The restoration efforts are being guided by scientists, lawyers and others working at the US Department of Commerce's National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and the US Department of Interior's US Fish and Wildlife Service, who together serve as the trustees for the natural resources impacted by the North Cape spill. The plan stems from a consent decree, which specifies that the trustees use $1.5 million of the North Cape funds, plus accrued interest, to complete one or more restoration projects. The consent decree took into consideration scientific analysis and public comments received about preliminary plans. The plan that evolved makes the best use of the financial resources available, using multiple species. -30- |
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