2022 State of Buzzards Bay

2022 STATE OF BUZZARDS BAY
Pollution Reductions
Drive Improvements
Climate Change
Moving the Goal Post
46
OUT OF 100

www.savebuzzardsbay.org
The Buzzards Bay Coalition
is a membership-supported
non-profit organization
dedicated to the restoration,
protection and sustainable
use and enjoyment of
Buzzards Bay and its
watershed. Founded in 1987,
the Coalition works to
improve the health of the
Bay ecosystem for all through
education, conservation,
research and advocacy.
Learn more at:
ON THE COVER
Sunlight streaming
through clear water to
reach lush eelgrass beds
and their resident bay
scallops. It’s hard to
imagine an image that
better reflects a restored
Buzzards Bay. Such a
Bay is only possible with
low pollution levels and
healthy watershed forests,
streams and wetlands.
photo (cover and right):
Romona Robbins
2015 2022
POLLUTION
Nitrogen 53 57
Bacteria 62 59
Toxics 52 55
WATERSHED HEALTH
Forests 77 76
Streams 71 71
Wetlands 60 59
LIVING RESOURCES
Eelgrass 23 25
Bay Scallops 2 2
River Herring 2 1
OVERALL SCORE (100 = Excellent) 45 465
Improvement
How We Create our Report
To create the State of the Bay report, the
Buzzards Bay Coalition collaborates with
scientists and land use experts to examine the
best available current and historical indicators
in three categories: Pollution, Watershed Health,
and Living Resources. Beginning in 2003, we
have returned every few years to assess these
same indicators as a consistent method for
tracking progress or degradation over time.
The current State of the Bay is measured
against the healthiest Buzzards Bay in recorded
history — the natural abundance experienced
by explorer Bartholomew Gosnold and his crew
in 1602. The Bay that Gosnold experienced was
largely unspoiled by harmful human activities and
rates 100 on our scale. Today, a restored, healthy
Buzzards Bay would likely score a 75.
In examining the best available information
for each of the indicators, we actively seek
additional data and more accurate sources of
information to improve on this report on each
iteration. The most reliable and consistent
source of information is that collected through
the Coalition’s own baywide Water Quality
Monitoring Program, now in its 31st consecutive
year. That data, collected in partnership with the
Marine Biological Laboratory’s Ecosystems Center
in Woods Hole, serves as the foundation of the
Nitrogen Score.
Originally planned as a 2020 report, the Covid-19
Pandemic delayed some important data sets
upon which this report relies. NOAA and EPA
mussel tissue data used to calculate the Toxic
Score was delayed, but was ultimately acquired
in 2022. The worst data loss came from the MA
Department of Environmental Protection which
has failed to update its analysis of wetlands loss
for nine years now. That data had been expected
in 2020, but was postponed during Covid and
has yet to be released.
We are grateful to all who contributed to this
report. Joe Costa, Executive Director of the
Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program helped
with the Bacteria and Eelgrass scores this year.
Paul Lefebvre, GIS Specialist at the Woodwell
Climate Research Center, developed the Forest
and Stream Buffer score. Chris Neill, Senior
Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center
and Chair of the Coalition’s Science Advisory
Committee, provided invaluable guidance and
support. In addition, several agencies provided
data for this report including the Massachusetts
Division of Marine Fisheries, Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection, US
Environmental Protection Agency, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and
Alewives Anonymous. John Rogan of Clark
University’s Human-Environment Regional
Observatory provided data on areas of forest
cleared for solar development.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s annual State of
the Bay report serves as a model for our report.
Decline
No Significant
Change
2022 STATE OF BUZZARDS BAY
Suggested Citation: Rasmussen, M., Jakuba, R.W., Costa, J.E., Lefebvre, P. (2022); 2022 State of Buzzards Bay. 12pp.

Since the beginning of our State of the Bay reports in 2003, we have
documented troubling trends in the health of Buzzards Bay. That year’s
assessment yielded a score of 48 out of 100. Since then, the score has
been stalled at 45 for the last three reports. In all those cases, the story
behind that flat line remained the same: slow improvements in things
like toxics and bacteria pollution were being eliminated by the impact
of expanding nitrogen pollution.
But then in 2015, nitrogen pollution stopped getting worse, and we
stopped losing eelgrass beds as well. We hoped that this encouraging
pause was signaling that we may have reached the floor on nitrogen
pollution getting worse in the Bay.
Pollution Reductions Are Driving Improvements …
Six years on, the data on nitrogen pollution is even better than expected with the state of pollution in 2018 recovering to
levels not seen since 1995 (before declining slightly in the next three years). This is not just great news for improved water
clarity and healthy oxygen levels. The conditions created by reduced nitrogen pollution can also be seen in expansion of
eelgrass beds throughout the Bay and even a bay scallop harvest in 2018-18 on a scale not seen in more than a decade.
No other form of pollution does more harm to Buzzards Bay and all its harbors and coves than nitrogen, and its 4-point
improvement in this State of the Bay should be celebrated. It is the result of years of local efforts to clean up septic
systems and old sewer plants as well as state and federal gains in reducing the amount of nitrogen that falls on the Bay
from air pollution.
The other pollution reduction to be celebrated is the continued decline of toxics in the Bay. A 3-point improvement in
the amount of toxins detected in the Bay’s delicate blue mussel populations is a result of the ongoing cleanup of legacy
industrial pollution and modern restrictions on the use of toxics in agricultural, industrial and home products.
… but Climate Change is Moving the Goal Post.
Just when it looks like we’re beginning to address nitrogen pollution — the driving factor behind Bay declines over the past
30 years — climate change is moving the goal post and changing the Bay restoration landscape. Two factors that were
not even recognized in the data when we started these assessments in 2003 are taking over as the greatest drivers of Bay
decline — warmer water and rising sea levels.
Warmer water in the Bay — up 4 degrees Fahrenheit since the mid 1990s — now allows bacteria to persist longer leading
to shellfish bed and beach closures, and extends the season of biological activity in the Bay encouraging algae to bloom
on lower levels of nitrogen. In effect, we need to remove more nitrogen in a warmer Bay to see the same water
quality improvements.
And rising sea levels are proving to be the Achilles heel of the Bay’s vital salt marshes, which are eroding and drowning
under higher tides and higher base sea level. This is the most disappointing new challenge identified in these data.
A final point. As a regional assessment, the State of Buzzards Bay scores can mask local variations in the data.
Not all corners of the Bay improved and others, like the Westport River, saw exceptional gains.
Improved 2022 State of Buzzards Bay score reflects significant
reductions in nitrogen and toxic pollution, as well as new challenges
facing the Bay due to climate change.
2022 STATE OF BUZZARDS BAY | 1
THE BOTTOM LINE

Nitrogen 57 (+4 from 2015)
No source of pollution has done more to damage
the health of Buzzards Bay’s harbors, coves and tidal
rivers over the past 40 years than nitrogen pollution.
Between 1992 and 2013, nitrogen entering the Bay
primarily from residential septic systems, but also
from older wastewater treatment plants, air pollution
from cars and power plants, and fertilizers, resulted
in decreasing Bay Health scores documented by the
Coalition’s Baywatchers Water Quality Monitoring
Program. The downward trend pointed to a bleak
future for our region’s coastal waters. And then, the
decline slowed and there was enough optimism to
label the status as an encouraging pause in nitrogen
pollution in our 2015 State of the Bay report.
The past six years have seen that ‘encouraging
pause’ converted to a dramatic rally. In 2021,
the baywide Nitrogen Score has made a 4-point
improvement — the largest change in any of the
State of the Bay indicators. Across the Bay,
Nitrogen levels are down and water clarity and
sunlight penetration are improved. Closely-related
Eelgrass and Bay Scallop populations (discussed
later in this report) have also benefitted.
The score of 57 is based on the 5-year running
average Bay Health Index scores across 180 locations
from the Westport Rivers to Woods Hole representing
the Bay’s major harbors, coves and tidal rivers.
Between 2013 and 2018 there was a steady increase
in water quality that then leveled over the last three
years. As with any regional average, it is important
to note that there are variations between embayments.
Some places are doing worse, but many more are
doing better.
2022 SCORE:
Towns across the Bay are taking steps to reduce nitrogen
pollution, and those actions are working to reverse the
Bay’s decline. Since our last report, wastewater treatment
plant upgrades in Marion and West Falmouth have been
implemented, towns are doing more to require that
new developments utilize the best nitrogen-removal
technologies for septic systems, and cranberry farmers
continue to improve bog construction methods and
practices that reduce fertilizer losses. We have also
benefitted from federal clean air policies which have
dramatically reduced the amount of nitrogen compounds
(i.e., nitrous oxides and ammonia) falling on the Bay from
car exhaust pipes and old fossil fuel power plants (see
graph). The last coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts
located at Brayton Point in Somerset, just 5 miles from
the western edge of the Buzzard Bay watershed, was
shut down in 2017 ending more than 50 years of pollution
entering the Bay.
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POOR FAIR
2 | BUZZARDS BAY COALITION
POLLUTION
BAY-WIDE NITROGEN SCORE
2021
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difference. The trend in chlorophyll concentrations,
however, indicates that while water quality responded
to decreases in nitrogen, chlorophyll concentrations
have remained higher than they were at similar nitrogen
concentrations 20 years ago, which shows the challenge
that climate change poses.
Higher bay water temperatures help to fuel algal
blooms and keep dissolved oxygen concentrations
lower, so nitrogen concentrations will need to keep
declining if we are to restore water quality. In essence,
climate change is moving the goal post on Bay recovery.
In a world of warmer water, more nitrogen pollution
must be removed from the Bay to get the related
positive responses in lower algae (clearer water) and
greater oxygen (more fish and shellfish) than before.
There is an up to 10-year lag between reductions in
emissions from the source and improved water quality
in nearby waterways. Adapted from Lloret et al. 2022
(doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108057)
Today, by far the largest source of nitrogen to most
Buzzards Bay harbors and coves remains residential
septic systems. Even new, properly functioning
Title 5 septic systems do little to prevent nitrogen
pollution. Much work lies ahead to connect more
homes to modern wastewater treatment plants, and
where that’s not possible, to enhanced nitrogen-
reducing septic systems.
The nitrogen data also contain a warning for the future.
Chlorophyll concentrations (a measure of algae in
the water) in the Bay were the highest ever recorded
between 2005 and 2013 and while somewhat lower
since 2014, they are generally still higher than the first
ten years of the Baywatchers Program. This observation
is a reason for concern. The steady decrease in nitrogen
concentrations shows clearly that we can make a
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EXCELLENT
FAIR 2022 STATE OF BUZZARDS BAY | 3
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TOTAL
N
DEPOSITION
(kg
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Massachusetts
Cape Cod
DECLINES IN NITROGEN IN AIR POLLUTION

Bacteria 59 (-3 from 2015)
Toxics 55 (+3 from 2015)
Since the early-1990s, communities around the Bay
have worked hard to improve sewage treatment,
identify illegal septic hookups, and tie more homes
into municipal wastewater plants. As a result, today our
swimming beaches are much safer, and more shellfish
beds are open to harvest. But the work is far from
complete — and becoming more challenging.
A 3-point drop in the Bacteria score is the largest ever
reported and marks a troubling new challenge facing
all corners of the Bay. A near steady source of improve-
ment between 1990 and 2010, the trend of reopening
shellfish beds has reversed over the past four years.
Our bacteria score is calculated by tracking the number
of acres of shellfish beds closed to harvest on July 1st of
every year. Between 2015 and 2021, the number of acres
open on that day has declined by 1,656 acres.
Most notable is that this drop in score does not appear
to be due to actual increases in the discharge of
bacterial contamination. The decline in score is partially
due to more stringent federal regulation that now
requires closing more shellfish beds around marinas and
mooring fields as a precaution. This change accounts
for 56% of the increased closures. A second reason
is more of a concern. The combination of continued
nitrogen pollution now exacerbated by ever warmer
water in the Bay helps bacteria persist longer than
before. We see the same effect at play in what are now
more frequent late summer beach closures when the
Bay is at its warmest.
This is another case of climate change moving the
goalpost. Greater reductions of pollution are now
required to produce water quality benefits.
The reduction of toxic pollution continues to be one of
the brightest spots in this year’s State of Buzzards Bay
report thanks to stricter laws, improving farming and
industrial technologies, and better enforcement.
Sources of toxic pollution to Buzzards Bay include oil
spills, discharges from wastewater treatment plants,
household hazardous wastes, pesticides, and stormwater
runoff. In addition, “legacy” contaminants — pollution
from past practices like the dumping of PCBs in New
Bedford Harbor from 1950-1980 — continue to demand
cleanup attention and funding.
To assess the extent of toxic pollution in the Bay, we use
data collected from blue mussels which easily absorb
and bioaccumulate toxics and reflect the quality of
the waters surrounding them. Our score is based on a
combination of monitoring of PCBs in mussels in New
Bedford Harbor by the US EPA (25%) and the NOAA
Mussel Watch Program’s monitoring of 42 different
contaminants (10 metals, 16 PAHs, 16 organochlorine
pesticides) at locations throughout Buzzards Bay (75%).
In this year’s assessment, the New Bedford Harbor PCB
portion of the score improved, but the increase was not
as large as it was between either of the two previous
reports in 2011 and 2015. The most recent data available
from EPA, however, was from 2018, and removal of
contaminated sediments in the Harbor has accelerated
due to federal Covid recovery funding in recent years.
The level of toxic pollution elsewhere in Buzzards Bay
remains much lower. 2021 Mussel Watch data were
analyzed from sampling stations at the Cape Cod
Canal, off West Falmouth, and at Gooseberry Island
in Westport. Levels of pollution in the metals class
remained the same over our 2015 report, but reductions
in the levels of PAHs (from burning of coal, oil and
gasoline) and organochlorine pesticides (historically
used in agriculture) drove the improvements.
BUZZARDS BAY SHELLFISH CLOSURES, JULY 1
ACRES
CLOSED
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
1
9
9
1
1
9
9
3
1
9
9
5
1
9
9
7
1
9
9
9
2
0
0
1
2
0
0
3
2
0
0
5
2
0
0
7
2
0
0
9
2
0
1
1
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
1
Closures increased all
years since 2015.
2022 SCORE:
2022 SCORE:

Forests 76 (-1 from 2015)
WATERSHED HEALTH
Compared to other East Coast estuaries like
Narragansett Bay (42% forested), Long Island Sound
(56%) and the Chesapeake (60%), Buzzards Bay has
an important distinction: its large area of watershed
forest. The simple fact that 76% of our watershed
remains forested is one of the key secrets behind the
Bay’s relative good health.
The 2022 forest score of 76 represents a decline of one
point over 2015. A disappointing 1,863 acres of forest
were lost to development since our last report. Land
Use analysts at the Woodwell Climate Research Center
utilized aerial imagery to determine the extent of forest
in our region at an extremely high level of resolution.
Forests protect clean water in our bay, streams, ponds
and drinking water supplies in countless ways. The
soils in forests capture rainfall, filtering out harmful
pollution before slowly releasing the water into streams,
wetlands and groundwater. Tree roots hold soil in place
preventing erosion and sediment pollution. And, forests
store carbon, keep our air clean and cooler, and shade
coldwater streams where native brook trout and other
wildlife thrive.
Of the 1,863 acres of forest lost to development since
2014, two-thirds of the loss was attributed to largely
low density, sprawl residential development fueled by
the hottest real estate market in a decade. The other
one-third — 604 acres — was destroyed by a frustrating
new practice in our watershed — the clearing of mature
forest for solar farms. The production of renewable
energy from solar photovoltaics is an important part
of decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and fighting
climate change. But clearing Bay-saving forests is not
the way forward when our region is full of alternative,
already altered sites.
Stream Buffers 71 no change
No part of our landscape contributes more to protecting
clean water than Stream Buffers - the forested areas that
grow along the more than 700 miles of streams flowing
through the Buzzards Bay watershed. The first 200 feet
of trees and plants along either side of a stream are the
most important to protect due to their ability to capture,
absorb and remove an amazing amount of pollution
before it ever reaches our waterways.
The Stream Buffer score remains steady at 71, meaning
that local Conservation Commissions in all Bay towns
continue to hold their own to prevent development
within 200 feet of the Bay’s small streams. Between
2014-2021, just 52 acres of natural cover was lost in this
critical band throughout the Bay watershed.
42% of the loss (22 acres) of Stream Buffer over that
period was due to solar development.
As housing developments, farms and commercial
buildings have replaced natural stream buffers, the health
of our water has suffered. Between 1620-1995, 29% of
Buzzards Bay’s watershed stream buffers — nearly 9,000
acres — were lost to poorly planned development.
The relative success in maintaining our Stream Buffer
area over the past 25 years can be largely attributed
to the MA Rivers Protection Act — a targeted
amendment to the state Wetlands Act. Under the law,
the first 100 feet along streams are usually protected,
the second 100 feet require permitting but can continue
to face development pressure. Local Conservation
Commissions in all Bay towns administer this law on a
project-by-project basis.
2022 SCORE:
2022 SCORE:

Wetlands 59 (-1 from 2015)
No component of the Bay ecosystem assessed by this
report is under more pressure and accelerating decline
than the Bay’s wetlands.
Overall, an estimated 40% of the Bay’s original wetlands
have been filled, drained, or built upon since European
settlement. These rich habitats are powerful pollution
filters that can absorb as much as 90% of the nitrogen
flowing across the landscape from nearby development.
They are, in effect, the Bay’s kidneys — and we can’t
afford to lose any more of them.
Layers of local, state, and federal laws overlap to protect
the Bay watershed’s salt marshes, wooded swamps, and
freshwater wetlands. Nevertheless, between 1997-2012
we lost 265 acres of wetlands at an average annual rate
of 10-14 acres since 2001. The MA DEP issued an analysis
of wetland destruction every 3-4 years during that time,
but has failed to produce a new analysis for the past nine
years. Carrying forward that previous loss rate, it’s pos-
sible that an additional 90-125 acres of wetlands were
lost due to traditional land development in that period.
The most serious and troubling losses of wetlands
today, however, no longer come from bulldozers and
backhoes. A new silent form of human destruction
is taking our most precious wetlands — our salt
marshes — away from us. Climate change-driven sea
level rise is literally drowning salt marshes in place and
already at an alarming rate. These factors produced
the first 1-point drop in the Wetlands score in the
assessment’s history.
Of the Bay’s nearly 5,000 acres of saltmarsh,
approximately 7% of them — were lost between 2001
and 2019. This new data are not a projection, but rather
the real-world findings at twelve study sites — from
Westport to Falmouth — featuring a wide range of
marsh configurations. Some marshes studied, like those
on Mattapoisett Neck, saw dramatic losses of 23% of
their area.
The terrible driver here is accelerating sea level rise and
it will only get worse in the decades ahead. The official
Massachusetts Coastal Flood Risk Model projects that
sea-level in the Bay will increase by 1.27 feet over 2008
levels by 2030; 2.57 feet by 2050; and nearly 8 feet
by 2100. Under these water levels, analysis contained
in the 2022 State of the Coast report by The Trustees
of Reservations projects that by 2050 Westport will
lose 48% of its salt marshes (including all its island
marshes), Dartmouth 30%, Bourne 28%, Marion 21%, and
Mattapoisett and Falmouth 17% each.
Scientists and natural resource managers across
southern New England are scrambling right now to
identify stop-gap measures that can be deployed to slow
the rate of salt marsh loss and to preserve immediately
adjacent coastal areas where marshes may migrate
inland as the sea rises. These efforts are vital, but not as
important as halting the world’s reliance on fossil fuels
which continues to destroy the Bay ecosystem.
2022 SCORE:

Eelgrass 25 (+2 from 2015)
LIVING RESOURCES
If you want to track the spread of nitrogen pollution in
your own corner of Buzzards Bay, watch the eelgrass.
This rooted, underwater plant grows in meadows along
the bottom of the Bay’s harbors, coves and tidal rivers
in areas with clear water.
But when nitrogen pollution increases, it fuels the
growth of algae that reduces water clarity. Without
enough sunlight reaching the bottom, eelgrass
dies — just like a shaded house plant. And those species
that depend on eelgrass — juvenile fish, blue crabs, and
bay scallops — begin to vanish too. But when water
quality improves, eelgrass has consistently shown its
ability to naturally recover.
Like the 2021 Nitrogen Pollution score, eelgrass
coverage increased by 2 points in the past six years.
Overall, eelgrass meadows in Buzzards Bay increased
552 acres between 2015 and 2021. The change was
documented through analysis by the Buzzards Bay
National Estuary Program of maps of eelgrass
created from aerial images and field confirmation
by MassDEP.
There are a few areas that stand-out in this eelgrass
recovery story. Most notable, more than half of all new
eelgrass acres resulted from a dramatic expansion in
the Westport Rivers, particularly in the West Branch
which added 201 acres. And, a fifth of new eelgrass
since 2015 occurred along the coast just outside of
embayments where depths remain shallow, but water
quality benefits more from open exchange with the
cleaner open bay.
The area of greatest eelgrass decline was in
Mattapoisett Harbor which has lost 51 acres since 2015.
0
2,500
5,000
7,500
10,000
12,500
15,000
0
3,000
6,000
9,000
1
9
9
6
1
9
9
8
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
4
2
0
0
6
2
0
0
8
2
0
1
0
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
8
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
2
BUSHELS
ACRES
Eelgrass coverage
Bay scallops catch
51 YEARS OF EELGRASS AND BAY SCALLOPS (1970-2021)
2022 SCORE:

Bay Scallops 2 no change
Bay scallops were to Buzzards Bay what oysters historically were to
New York Harbor and the Chesapeake. But today, our once-abundant
and highly-valuable bay scallops have all but disappeared from most
parts of Buzzards Bay.
The Bay Scallop score was unchanged from 2015 and 2021. The
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries reported an average
catch of roughly 1,300 bushels per year. That’s a stunning decline
from 1985, when nearly 70,000 bushels were harvested in Buzzards
Bay. But the story behind these deliciously fickle shellfish over the
past six years holds a glimmer of hope.
As the graph on previous page shows, bay scallops are notorious for
their natural boom and bust cycle, with banner harvest years followed
by years of almost no catch. As populations have crashed over the
past 35 years, harvests have remained consistently low. That was,
until 2017 when 4,675 bushels were landed, followed by 2,430 bushels
in 2018. Those harvests coincide with eelgrass recovery over the same
time period as these two species are closely linked. Bay scallops live
and grow among the shelter of eelgrass meadows and are dependent
on them for their survival.
Despite that brief flash of promise, State shellfish catch records for
2020 and 2021 ominously show zero landings of bay scallops for the
first time ever for Buzzards Bay.
Something good happened
in the West Branch… again.
Between 2015 and 2021, 305 acres,
or 55% of all new eelgrass growth
in Buzzards Bay, came from the
Westport Rivers, particularly the
West Branch which accounted for
201 of those acres.
This rapid expansion of eelgrass
meadow correlates with the
2017-19 bay scallop harvests — the
best in 18 years. In fact, the MA
Division of Marine Fisheries
reports that 95% of all bay scallop
catch in Buzzards Bay for those
years was out of Westport.
And it’s not the first time that
an unexpected boom year
came out of the West Branch or
Westport carried regional bay
scallop landings.
The last large bay scallop harvest
in the Bay was in 1985 when
66,169 bushels were landed. That
harvest followed a similar rapid
expansion of eelgrass in the West
Branch. A 1988 scientific paper
reported,“The cause of this
recent recolonization (in the West
Branch) is unclear, and this estuary
has undergone sizable fluctuations
in eelgrass abundance in the past.
These new beds accounted for at
least a 30% increase in eelgrass
cover in this estuary over one
year… Two years after the 1984
eelgrass expansion scallop catches
were the best in many years.”
(From Costa 1988)
Eelgrass recovery in the West Branch of the Westport River
2022 SCORE:

River Herring 2 no change
But there are signs that count trends on the
Mattapoisett may not be tracking the modest recovery
being seen on other Buzzards Bay rivers such as the
Monument (Cape Cod Canal) and Agawam River
(see graph). Nearby on the Taunton River and Cape
Cod there are also strong glimmers of hope. On the
Herring River in Harwich, Selectmen this year voted to
lift the 18-year moratorium on herring catch after
seeing a remarkable 1.2 Million fish counted there in
2019 — restored to a third of its historic run size.
This action followed a similar step taken in 2016 in
Middleboro on the Nemasket River — the largest run
in the state — following a number of high-count years.
River herring in Buzzards Bay remain in a state of
profound collapse with serious consequences for the
Bay ecosystem.
Today, only a tiny fraction of the historic numbers of
River Herring still make the journey from offshore, into
the Bay, and upstream to spawn in the watershed’s
freshwater rivers and ponds. This is very bad news for
the Bay’s sportfish such as Striped Bass and Bluefish
that rely on herring as well as for many bird species
including the region’s endangered Roseate Terns. River
herring, as a “foundation fish” at the base the food chain,
provide an important pillar in the Bay ecosystem. And
today that pillar remains in desperate need of rebuilding.
The historic decline of Buzzards Bay’s anadromous fish
like river herring can be traced first to the damming
of the Bay’s rivers, which prevent fish from swimming
upstream, but also to water quality degradation,
alterations to pond and stream flows, and offshore
bi-catch by commercial menhaden, mackerel and
Atlantic herring fishermen. A likely increasing challenge
in years ahead are the extreme drought years that
we are now experiencing due to climate change. Low
water levels caused many Bay streams to run dry in late
summer 2022 just as juvenile herring born upstream are
making their transition to saltwater.
With one of the longest datasets available, the
Mattapoisett River has served as our regional
benchmark for tracking the state of river herring
throughout Buzzards Bay. In 1921, state biologists
estimated the river’s run at 1.85 Million fish.
One Hundred years later, that figure sits at 1,886
fish — the lowest annual count ever recorded.
To put a finer point on these figures, fish in the
Mattapoisett are 0.001% of the count made exactly
a century ago.
COUNTS ON THE BAY’S LARGEST
HERRING RIVERS (2007-2022)
700,000
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
2
0
0
7
2
0
0
8
2
0
0
9
2
0
1
0
2
0
1
1
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
2
0
2
2
Mattapoisett River Agawam River Monument River
2022 SCORE:

Cleanup Wastewater
Nitrogen and bacteria pollution are both
rooted in inadequate residential wastewater
treatment. Nearly 2/3 of homes around the
Bay are served by septic systems which are
not designed to remove nitrogen pollution.
It is the pollution from these homes — from
us and our neighbors — at the root of the
Bay’s problems.
What Can Be Done:
· Connect existing and new homes to central
Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP).
Modern WWTPs consistently remove >90%
of nitrogen pollution and represent the best
solution available to our communities.
· Where central sewer systems are not possible,
such as in lower-density suburban and rural
areas, upgrade homes to individual
Denitrifying Septic Systems which remove
>50% of nitrogen.
· Wastewater infrastructure is expensive.
Support your town officials in long-term
financial planning and advocate
for grant funding from state
and federal agencies.
Preserve Forests and Wetlands
Preservation of the Bay watershed’s
most important forests, stream corridors
and wetlands is the most cost effective
way to protect the health of Buzzards Bay
as well as our drinking water. These are
the Bay’s natural filter systems and they
demand active effort to protect them in
the face of land development pressures.
What Can Be Done:
· Support your town’s active participation in
and funding of open space preservation.
· Town Conservation Commissions and the
MA DEP must enforce existing wetlands and
river protection laws. DEP’s release of
updated Wetlands Loss analysis is critical to
tracking compliance.
· State laws and local zoning should be
amended to redirect solar developments
away from forests to already disturbed and
built areas.
Taking Action to Improve the State of Buzzards Bay
Address Climate Change
So much of what needs to happen to
restore the Bay is controlled locally.
Wastewater and land use decisions happen
each week at our own Town Halls. While
that is not the case with curbing Climate
Change, we all must do our part to prevent
the warming and sea level rise that is
exacerbating nitrogen and bacteria
pollution in the Bay, devastating our vital
salt marshes and altering flows in our
streams. We all must accelerate our
community’s transition away from the
burning of fossil fuels and support clean,
renewable energy development.
MAIN OFFICE
114 Front Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
Join us and get involved at
www.savebuzzardsbay.org
Middleborough
Lakeville
Freetown
Fall River
Tiverton
Carver
Plymouth
Westport
Westport R.
Little
Compton
East Branch
West
Branch
Dartmouth
Apponagansett
Bay
Slocum R.
Cuttyhunk Is.
Clarks
Cove
New
Bedford
Acushnet R.
New Bedford
Inner Harbor
Fairhaven
Acushnet
Naushon Is.
Mattapoisett R.
Mattapoisett
Mattapoisett
Harbor
Nasketucket
Bay
Rochester
Weweantic R.
Marion
Aucoot
Cove
Sippican Harbor
Wareham R.
Wankinco R.
Wareham
Agawam R.
Onset
Bay
Buttermilk
Bay
Cape Cod
Bay
Buzzards Bay
Watershed
Boundary
Cape Cod
Canal
Falmouth
Bourne
Woods
Hole
Gosnold
Back R.
Pocasset R.
Wings
Cove Red Brook
Harbor
Wild
Harbor R.
Quissett
Harbor
West
Falmouth
Harbor
Wild
Harbor
Herring
Brook
Sandwich
Quicksand
Pond
B U Z Z A
R
D
S
B
A
Y
V I N E Y A
R
D
S
O
U
N
D
A few things everyone can do right now:
· Get involved in town government:
Volunteer to serve on Select, Planning,
Conservation and Health boards, vote at
Town Meeting, comment on projects that
affect the local environment.
· If a sewer connection is not possible in
your area, plan for the upgrade of your
own home septic system to one that
removes nitrogen.
· Reduce your use of lawn fertilizers and
only use organic garden products.
· Never dump paint, oil, cleaners or other
hazardous waste down sinks or
storm drains.
· If you own undeveloped land, talk with
the Buzzards Bay Coalition or a local
land trust about conservation options.
· Avoid eelgrass beds and sensitive salt
marsh edges when boating and shellfishing.

2022 State of Buzzards Bay

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