HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-6-21Nantucket Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board
Minutes of Meeting held June 21, 2011
Approved:
Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road
Call to Order at 4:33 p.m.
Members Present: Bob Rank, Peter Brace, Doug Smith, Bill Blount and Dr. Peter Boyce
Members Absent: Michael Glowacki and Wendy McRae
Marine Dept: Tara Riley and Steve Heck
BOS: Whitey Willauer
Others: Ted Lambrecht, Steve Estabrooks
Approval of Agenda: Peter Boyce added the new agenda item; Steve Estabrooks'
request for $3,100 in funding to continue his bay scallop research. The board
unanimously approved this addition to new businesses and also approved the agenda.
Approval of Minutes: As Dr. Boyce had not completed the minutes from the June 7
meeting there were no minutes to vote. Dr. Boyce told the board he'd have them ready to
vote on at the next meeting on July 12.
Chairman's Report: Dr. Boyce deferred his report topics to the Marine Department
Report by Tara Riley.
Marine Department Report: 4:35 p.m.
Ms. Riley reported that 2010 intern Steve Heck returned for his second summer. Ms.
Riley reported that she had a really good bay scallop spawn last week, which produced 40
million seed. She will release them into the harbor in the Monomoy area during the week
of June 26 -July 1. Ms. Riley said she is continuing water quality testing with Martha's
Vineyard, which includes testing Nantucket Harbor twice and all the ponds and Madaket
Harbor once in June.
She added that several test dredging in Madaket revealed healthy seed and that she put
out spawning cages in two different locations in Madaket Harbor. On the issue of
aquaculture shellfish applications, Ms. Riley told the board that at the June 15 BOS
meeting, the selectmen granted Steve Bender a swap of one of his acres with one of the
town's. The selectmen also approved Bender's lease extension for 10 years. Ms. Riley
added that the selectmen also approved Mr. Lambrecht's aquaculture lease and that his
application has been sent to the state's Division of Marine Fisheries.
Dr. Boyce, reporting his summer experiments, said he put some artificial scallop larvae
settlement structures off of the bottom in the Head of the Harbor. Mr. Heck, who dove
the site for Boyce, discovered that the structures seemed to attract blueclaw crabs. Dr.
Boyce said he's put out his third spat line and that around July 1, he'll be putting out his
fourth and then pulling up the one installed May 15. He hopes to a report on this spat line
at the July 12 meeting.
Old Business: No old business.
New Business:
Scallop reproduction research funding request: Steve Estabrooks requested $3,100
from HSAB's propagation fund for Nantucket High School Student Jessica Lucchini to
research a bay scallop chemoreceptive organ called the osphradium believed to be used
by scallops to determine the amount of sperm in the water around them. Ms. Lucchini
and Dr. Estabrooks hope to determine whether or not this is the case and plan to run
spawning tests later this year. The funding would go towards transportation to and from
the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., use of their new electron
microscope and a salary for Ms. Lucchini at $10 /hour, 7 -8 weeks at 20 hours per week.
Dr. Boyce noted that starting with this request, should the board approve it, it would keep
better track of how recipients of its funds spend their granted money.
Dr. Estabrooks reported that the osphradium was discovered 135 years and that until he
and a few others started researching it, nobody knew what this organ did for shellfish. Dr.
Boyce asked Dr. Estabrooks what the electron microscope would reveal about the
osphradium. Dr. Estabrooks said it would show the cellular structure of the organ and
where it exists in scallops. In answer to Dr. Boyce's query on how Dr. Estabrooks and
Ms. Lucchini planned to test their theory, Dr. Estabrooks replied they would induce
spawning of bay scallops and those with their osphradiums removed, and time the
spawning events.
Dr. Boyce indicated that HSAB had sufficient funds to help Dr. Estabrooks and Ms.
Lucchini. Bob Rank asked if there would be any practical applications should they prove
their theory correct. Dr. Estabrooks indicated it might be useful in stocking densities.
Doug Smith asked if their samples would come from one - year -old scallops or two -year-
old scallops. Dr. Estabrooks said they would most likely do both. Peter Brace asked if
Val Hall's research would touch on this work. Dr. Estabrooks indicated that it would not.
Ms. Riley asked if Dr. Estabrooks was done analyzing a preliminary experiment in which
he immersed scallops in solution of sperm to gauge their reaction. He indicated he was
half -done.
Mr. Brace motioned that HSAB give Dr. Estabrooks and Ms. Lucchini a grant of $3,100
that they requested to continue their research. Mr. Rank seconded Mr. Brace's motion.
Discussion: Mr. Brace asked how often they would report to the board. Dr. Estabrooks
said he would have a report at the end of the summer. Dr. Boyce reiterated Mr. Brace's
request, adding that Dr. Estabrooks and Ms. Lucchini should also provide a detailed
financial report as well.
The board unanimously agreed to award Dr. Estabrooks and Ms. Lucchini $3,100 from
the HSAB Propagation Fund for their research.
Meeting schedule: The board unanimously agreed to meet once in July and once in
August; July 12 and Aug. 9.
Recap and Items for Next Meeting:
Adjournment: 4:55
Next Meetings: July 12, Aug. 9 and Sept. 6.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter B. Brace, Secretary