Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing Vessel Guardian runs aground near Wellfleet

January 3, 2024 — Early Thursday morning, the F/V Guardian ran aground about a mile north of Newcomb Hollow Beach near the Truro/Wellfleet line. Local emergency responders, including Wellfleet and Truro Fire Departments, Cape Cod National Seashore Park Rangers, Massachusetts Environmental Police, and Wellfleet Police, quickly mobilized to the scene.

The Wellfleet Fire Department reported receiving the initial dispatch at 8:48 a.m., prompting a coordinated response effort. A Wellfleet crew used the department’s UTV to access the beach, while ambulances from both Wellfleet and Truro were staged at the Newcomb Hollow parking lot as a precaution.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Seashore plans forum on shark safety

November 9, 2018 — Wellfleet, Mass. – Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Brian Carlstrom invites the public to attend an information session on sharks, seals, and public safety on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

The meeting will take place at the Nauset Regional Middle School auditorium in Orleans, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event will consist of speaker presentations followed by an expert-panel question and answer session.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

A Bacteria That Thrives In Warmer Waters Keeps Mass. Oyster Fisheries On High Alert

August 31, 2017 — Massachusetts loves its local oysters from places like Wellfleet and Duxbury. The state’s bivalve business is booming along with increased consumer demand. These days there’s no shortage of $1 oyster specials and oyster-centric restaurants around here.

But the ways oysters are harvested and handled have become more involved and challenging since 2013. That’s when bacteria linked to warming waters appeared in our marshes for the first time.

The result was an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness caused by Vibrio Parahaemolyticus — Vp or Vibrio for short. (To be clear, this is different from norovirus, which led to a closure of shellfish beds in Wellfleet last year.)

In response to the Vp bacteria’s emergence in New England, the state implemented a Vibrio Control Plan. Here’s how those state efforts to control bacterial infection have been affecting people in the oyster industry.

‘The Waters Are Warmer Than They Used To Be’

At Select Oyster Bar in Boston, you can find a rotating selection of Massachusetts oysters on-the-half-shell — Moon Shoal petites from Kingston, Ichabods from Plymouth and Wellfleet Puffers.

For about a dozen years Select’s chef-owner Michael Serpa has been serving mollusks in Boston establishments, including the cult-favorite Neptune Oysters in the North End. “I’ve seen a lot of oysters,” he told me, smiling.

Read and listen to the full story at WBUR

MASSACHUSETTS: Norovirus confirmed in oysters

October 17th, 2016 — No oysters at OysterFest? It’s not just painful for those coming to indulge in the region’s favorite bivalve. Everyone, from those who grow the oysters and shellfish religiously consumed by the hundreds of thousands over the two-day event, to the shuckers who unshackle oyster from shell, to the cashiers, all lose out on valuable income.

At least they now have confirmation that it was indeed a norovirus that sickened more than 75 people who ate Wellfleet oysters last weekend.

“It’s beyond speculation,” said Mike Hickey, the chief shellfish biologist for the state Division of Marine Fisheries. On Friday the norovirus was confirmed in the laboratory by analysis of stool samples, he said.

Unfortunately, it could be a long wait until Wellfleet shellfish can again be sold to be eaten raw.

“If there’s a chance that shellfish are not safe in any way, then they did the right thing,” said longtime shellfisherman Barbara Austin of the state decision this week to shut down Wellfleet shellfish beds and the OysterFest board of directors’ ban on selling any raw shellfish at the festival this weekend.

“This maintains the idea that Wellfleet oysters are safe. We want a clean, healthy, organic food for everybody,” Austin added.

Still, it’s a bummer, she said. She’s already put in the days to cull the shellfish and pack them in bags ahead of time and move them to the Wellfleet Shellfish Company to have them chilled and certified as being in compliance with state and local health regulations. Plus, she’s purchased everything from wood to build the booth to cutlery and napkins to furnish what is essentially a small restaurant for the weekend.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times 

Wellfleet, Mass. shellfisherman charged with illegal sales to restaurants

December 2, 2015 — WELLFLEET, Mass. — A Wellfleet man had his state commercial shellfishing license suspended and was charged with 45 violations of state shellfishing regulations after he allegedly was caught selling oysters to at least two Outer Cape restaurants without having a wholesale license.

The evidence also indicates that David Paine, 57, may not have complied with regulations that protect the public from infections from the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

Paine was arraigned in Orleans District Court on Monday on violations of state shellfishing regulations between July 2014 and June of this year. His girlfriend, Kristi Johns, 41, who is a co-owner of Paine’s aquaculture grant, was arraigned Oct. 26 on four counts of violating fisheries regulations in arranging for sales of the oysters to The Whitman House in Truro.

Neither Paine nor Johns could be reached for comment. The phone number listed to them has been disconnected.

According to a report by Massachusetts Environmental Police Officer Daniel McGonagle contained in court documents, Paine sold oysters directly to The Whitman House and The Lost Dog Pub in Orleans. McGonagle wrote in his report that on June 22, he and Environmental Police Sgt. Kevin Clayton were notified of a possible oyster violation by a state Department of Public Health inspector who was investigating The Whitman House for allegedly selling striped bass before the season opened and marketing it as pollock.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times