Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for a link to an agenda and details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Monday, Aug. 5
- Climate Action Committee, 4:30 p.m., online only
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m.
Conversation Starter
A Seasonal Salt Pond?
The Eastham shellfish constable, Devon Nunez, told the select board last week that she has been in contact with the Mass. Div. of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to discuss the possibility of restricting Salt Pond to seasonal shellfishing only. The DMF will be sending a letter to the select board with its recommendation, said Nunez.
The board members decided to wait for the DMF letter and for Nunez to give a more in-depth presentation on the topic before making a final decision.
Salt Pond is home to “Salt Pond Sundays,” when the pond opens for recreational shellfishing April through November. It is most popular during the summer.
Salt Pond closed on March 19 because of a red tide bloom. Red tide is caused by a single-cell algae that produces a toxin that can lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning. The pond has not been open since that day. Another microscopic algal toxin prompted the town to order the closure of shellfishing in Town Cove and Salt Pond on July 10 because of a case of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning.
Nunez told the select board that one person had gotten sick. Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have linked milder and shorter winters to more toxic outbreaks in Salt Pond.
“We create a schedule yearly, in advance,” said Nunez. “We can’t even utilize the majority of that schedule because it’s closed for so long.”
Chair Aimee Eckman said that the board would take up the issue in the future. —Jack Styler
