North Cape Oil Spill

1
North Cape Oil Spill Collaborative Efforts
Restoring Aquatic Resource Injuries
Lobster Restoration Overview
Shellfish Restoration Overview

• Goal To replace estimated 9 million lobsters
  killed by oil spill
• V-notch and release project selected by Trustees
  as preferred method of restoration
• V-notching of 1.24 million legal sized, female
  lobsters to delay fishing mortality and increase
  egg production and recruitment of lobster
  population
• Prohibition on possession of v-notched lobsters
  in the fishery
• V-notch indicator lasts 2 years
• Project began in 2000
• Female lobsters purchased from dealers, v-notched
  and released within 10-mile radius of Pt. Judith,
  RI
• In 2001 Ocean Technology Foundation (OTF) hired
  by RP as new contractors
• OTF and Trustees worked collaboratively to
  redesign project
• Trained observers placed on commercial lobster
  vessels to v-notch legal sized, female lobsters
  and release them back in same location they were
  captured.
• Lobster fishermen involved in the program paid
  for each lobster they v-notch and return unharmed
  to Southern New England waters
• Restoration conducted as far as 60 miles offshore
  and 30 miles east towards Marthas Vineyard
• From 2002 2003, average number of lobsters
  v-notched was 200,000 per season
• 2005 nearly doubled that of years past with
  395,952 lobsters notched
• Trustees also approved RP credit for large
  lobsters (gt97mm carapace length) increasing 2005
  total to 411,693

• Program Goals restore lost shellfish biomass
  (due to direct loss and foregone reproduction)
  and lost ecological services provided by the
  bivalves such as food sources for other biota,
  habitat structure, and water column filtering
• Selected a multi-species approach for shellfish
  restoration restoring bay scallop (Argopecten
  irradians) and eastern oyster (Crassostrea
  virginica) and enhancing quahog (Mercenaria
  mercenaria) populations in Rhode Islands South
  County coastal ponds and Narragansett Bay
• Restoration of surf clam determined to occur
  through primary restoration and natural
  recruitment by area surf clam populations
• Specific projects are as follows

Project Success Indicator Egg-Laden Notched
Lobster
Hatchery Seed Scallops

• Bay Scallops
• Work began in 2002 with release of 600,000
  1-inch sized commercially grown seed scallops
  into Pt. Judith Pond
• Follow-up diver surveys indicated high scallop
  mortality from abundant predators
• Salt pond surveys then undertaken in 2003 at 5
  ponds to characterize habitat areas best suited
  for scallop release
• 2.1 million scallop seed released in fall 2003 to
  Ninigret, Quonochontaug, Green Hill and Potter
  Ponds, but high mortalities resulted
• In 2004, caged scallop spawner sanctuary
  established in Ninigret Pond, using
  hatchery-reared seed. This cost effective
  approach proved highly beneficial to scallop
  recruitment in the pond where a late season
  spat-fall resulted in an estimated scallop
  population of 132,000 in Ninigret Pond in summer
  2005.
• Ninigret Pond free and caged sanctuary broodstock
  generated a population expected to continue to
  increase
• In 2006, caged spawner sanctuary applied in
  Quonochontaug Pond, using 20,000 hatchery-reared
  scallops
• Other work in 2005 included laboratory experiment
  in collaboration with USEPA to test the tolerance
  of juvenile scallops with low oxygen conditions
  with results revealing young scallops are
  tolerant of very low oxygen levels for up to 72
  hours
• Oysters
• Cultch material, comprised of surf clam and
  quahog shell obtained from local supplier to
  create shell bags for oyster larvae setting
• Nearly 500,000 oysters produced annually using
  remote setting techniques for spat grown on shell
  cultch for subsequent nursery grow-out at RIDEMs
  Coastal Fisheries Lab and release to 6 selected
  sites in both 2003 and 2004
• In 2005 oyster project included an expanded
  remote set project of 1.4 million oysters for
  release at 3 sites
• For 2006, 1500 shell bags used to set 1.5
  million spat and released to 3 or more existing
  restoration sites
• Quahogs
• In 2002, work included grow-out of 1 million
  quahog seed purchased from commercial hatcheries.
  
• 2003 project included the purchase and grow-out
  of 2 million seed and continued nursery grow-out
  of 2003 quahogs prior to releasing seed to the
  Ninigret and Quonochontaug Ponds spawner
  sanctuaries

Monitors Working Collaboratively with Fishermen
in Lobster V-Notching and Release
Notched Lobster Measured and Inspected Prior to
Release
V-Notched Lobsters with Eggs Ready for Release
Catch Per Trap Haul of Egged Lobsters with and
without V-Notch Program (RIDEM)
North Cape Notched Lobster Credits 2001-2005
Oyster Release Site Data
Adult Oysters 3 Years After Release
Natural-Marked Notata Quahogs Used for Growth and
Mortality Studies
Grid Map Using Loran Coordinates to Record
Lobster Release in Area 2

• Start of V-Notch Program,
• 2000

Blue With V-Notch Red Without V-Notch
Green Notched and released Blue Large
Lobster Credit
Volunteers Essential to the Success of the
Oyster Program
Spat Bag Lines to Monitor Scallop Recruitment

• Second project phase begins in 2006, the focus to
  analyze information gathered throughout the
  project
• Objectives of data analysis will be to
• Accurately calculate egg production gained from
  delayed mortality via the v-notch program
• Examine migration patterns of lobsters in Rhode
  Island and southeastern Massachusetts waters
• Examine incidence of shell disease in v-notch
  lobsters
• Evaluate seasonal fishing effort changes and
  v-notch recapture rates, transferring information
  to future lobster management programs.

Volunteers Helping Collect Oyster Growth Data
Volunteer Participation and Public Outreach
Volunteers have been vital in helping complete
these labor intensive projects. Over four years,
more than 280 volunteers contributed 1500 hours
creating shell bags for setting oysters,
measuring oyster spat size and density,
captaining boats, and releasing quahog and bay
scallop seed to the coastal salt ponds.
V-Notching Lobster