The Big Picture of Local Food Issues: The Shellfish Industry | The Local Food Report

In light of how quickly everything about federal policy is changing right now, I decided recently to check in with local leaders of our Cape Cod food system. First up Nancy Civetta, a shellfish constable for the Town of Wellfleet.

"When I think about what's coming up in the world of shellfishing, I think hyperlocal," she explains.

"So for me, something that comes up again and again is access. Are we going to lose access, whether because we have change of ownership or change of topography. And then also access when you think about something like sea level rise."

Ways to water access rights are somewhat more complicated in Massachusetts than they are in many other states — because unlike in most states, Massachusetts doesn’t simply have public property start at the high water mark — it actually starts at the low water mark, and then allows the public to traverse the intertidal zone as long as they’re fishing, fowling, or navigating.

"So we always educate shellfisherman this is an area where we are traversing private property and we really try to be respectful of owners rights but also with owners, this is a way to water that has been used to help bring shellfish to market," Nancy says.

Access is one of the first hyper-local issues. I asked about the others.

"Other things that I think about, I guess if you want to look back at oversight of the fishery, you know climate does have an impact. With warming waters comes new species, and so we have a type of bacteria here that is in our water, and shellfish are filter feeders, and oysters in particular can harbor this bacteria."

The bacteria is called vibrio parahaemolyticus and it’s been in Cape Cod waters now for at least a decade. Over the past ten-plus years local, state, and federal regulators have worked together to keep the shellfish industry safe by adding new icing rules and other regulations and as of now the plan is working well. But in order for this excellent track record to continue, regulators on the local level need to be able to keep adapting and responding.

"One thing that I will say is that Mass Division of Marine Fisheries, which is the state entity agency that oversees, they are the biggest advocate for the shellfishing industry, for fishing industries in general," Nancy shared.

"They're wonderful to have on your side because they go to bat with the federal government all the time. And you understand people in the federal government are sitting at their desks. They don't have boots on the ground. And the Division of Marine Fisheries, which we call DMF, they do get down here. They do have boots on the ground. And the other thing is that Massachusetts is a unique state in that we have home rule. So each town that decides that they want to manage their shellfishing resources can opt to do that, lets the state know that, and they have to have a shellfish constable."

In Wellfleet, that’s Nancy. She says that this interplay between local town rule and DMF is a really good thing for the industry, especially right now — because it means that towns like Wellfleet with extensive and historic shellfishing grants can adapt and respond quickly to changing local conditions — not only things like the appearance of new species but also other big changes, like the upcoming Herring River restoration.

"Because the Herring River is actually our primary and premier summer resource area."

Construction work has already started on new tidal gates that will enable the gradual restoration of 1,100 acres of wetlands in Wellfleet and Truro’s Herring River estuary, but it will still be another year or two until regular tides begin flowing inland for the first time in more than a hundred years. This could mean all kinds of changes and disruptions, Nancy says.

"So overall very hopeful about the promise of new shellfish resources developing because of the project and then in the short term absolutely concerned."

The short-term impacts could be as small as shifting flats and as big as temporary but long-term closures because of compromised water quality. Regardless, Nancy thinks it’s time for both the larger community and individual shellfish farmers and wild pickers to start planning for ways to weather these potential disruptions.

"We know that there’s a big project that you know with all the modeling and experiments and studies that we can do, we still are humans and we don’t know what Mother Nature’s gonna do, so we should think ahead and try and protect ourselves as best we can."

It’s a place to begin.

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More info on Ways to Water rights in Massachusetts.

More on vibrio in Mass.

More on the Herring River restoration.