Cleaner Water for Shellfishing - Prospects Brighten for Opening South River Shellfish Beds

The ability to harvest shellfish locally is a clear measure of the health of our rivers and their water quality. It also happens to be a great New England family tradition. Getting out your waders and clam rake, searching for clam holes, getting all mucky and then enjoying the fruits of your labors is one of the greatest pleasures of living on the coast and a great way to introduce your kids to the importance of keeping our water clean.

Both the North and South Rivers have extensive shellfish beds near the mouth of the rivers but due to degraded water quality they were closed to recreational harvest in 1988. In 1995 the North River shellfish beds were re-opened after a campaign led by the NSRWA to clean up water quality. That campaign led to water quality improvements which allowed for limited opening of the shellfish beds in the winter months, when bacteria are not as likely to reproduce as quickly. Since then water quality in the North River has improved such that we now have the shellfish beds open for recreational harvest from December 1 – June 30 as long as water quality results continue to come back clean.

Ultimately, our goal is have the shellfish beds open year-round (only the truly hard core want to shellfish in the winter!). Over the last decade and a half the NSRWA with the towns of Marshfield and Scituate have worked on improving water quality through increased stormwater treatment, upgrading septic systems to comply with Title V and most importantly in Marshfield…extending the sewer system to properties along the South River from Old Colony Lane to the intersection of Rtes 139 and 3A. The passage of the extension the sewer in Marshfield in 2000 and its subsequent completion in December 2004 has led to significant decreases in bacterial counts in the waters of the South River. For the past several years the Division of Marine Fisheries has been taking samples in the South River and I am pleased to report on a recent email exchange with the state Division of Marine Fisheries regarding the South River Shellfish beds.

The very good news is that if we are successful in keeping bacterial counts within acceptable limits–still an important “if”!–the Division has confirmed to me its intention to open the shellfish beds on a seasonal basis next year. The Division’s area biologist speaks for all of us in saying to me that “I think there is a good resource there that the people of Scituate and Marshfield should be able to enjoy.”

But problems remain, and for the shellfish beds to be reopened year round further improvements are necessary. This year, the Town received federal stimulus funding to track down where some of the remaining bacteria in the river might be coming from, and then use that data to find the best places in town to control runoff.

The NSRWA and Mass. Bays program were in charge of sampling and the funding allowed us to hire 4 interns to help us trace the remaining bacteria sources this past summer. As we expected, the places with high wet weather bacteria counts were generally in the downtown area due to the high impervious surface coverage. There is also less flushing from the tides in that part of the river. We saw high counts in the area near Willow Street and the pipe that comes out just upstream of the Willow Street Bridge. Among other locations, we also found high bacteria in the stream that runs next to the Dairy Queen, which receives runoff from a very large area of downtown to the west including much of the Webster Street shopping area. The next step in the project is for the NSRWA and the Town to decide where and how to control these newly identified sources of pollution. Preliminary designs are being developed by engineers to control the runoff from these areas and will be presented to the public in the spring of 2011. After that we hope to apply for more funding to assist the town of Marshfield to construct the designs.

The good news for now is that as of December 1, 2010 until June 30, 2011 unless notified otherwise you can recreationally harvest shellfish from the North River (with a permit from Scituate or Marshfield). We hope that the testing this spring and winter shows good water quality results and that the South River clam flats will also be open soon for you and your children to enjoy and have some clam chowder for lunch!

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The North and South Rivers Watershed Association is a non-profit organization that focuses on the preservation, restoration, maintenance and conservation of the North and South Rivers and their watersheds. For membership information, contact NSRWA at (781) 659-8168 or visit www.nsrwa.org

Samantha Woods, Executive Director