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HomeMy WebLinkAboutElizabeth Lewis Email1 Cavanaugh, Kimberly From:Hoopes, Edwin Sent:Tuesday, May 26, 2026 9:05 AM To:Cavanaugh, Kimberly Subject:FW: 104 Great Bay Road Dig-out Attachments:104 Great Bay Road Pic1.jpg; 104 Great Bay Rd pic3.jpg; 104 Great Bay Rd pic6.jpg; 104 Great Bay Road pic5.jpg; 104 Great Bay Rd pic7.jpg; 104 Great Bay Bay Road Shellfish Survey ConCom.pdf Hi Kim, Would you please share this with the Commissioners and place a copy in both Eel River Files for today. Thanks, Ed From: Tom Lee <tlee@horsleywitten.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2026 8:02 AM To: Hoopes, Edwin <Edwin.Hoopes@barnstable.gov> Subject: FW: 104 Great Bay Road Dig-out Good morning, Ed: Can you share this email with the Commissioners and include this email to the 95 and 117 Eel River Road NOI files? Thanks. F.P. (Tom) Lee, P.E. | Principal Engineer Horsley Witten Group, Inc. 90 Route 6A, Unit #1 | Sandwich, MA 02563 Office: 508-833-6600 From: Lewis, Elizabeth <Elizabeth.Lewis@barnstable.gov> Sent: Friday, May 8, 2026 3:11 PM To: Tom Lee <tlee@horsleywitten.com> Subject: 104 Great Bay Road Dig-out Hi Tom, I recently had to do a shellfish removal for 104 Great Bay Road as they are going to begin putting in a pier at this location. I was hoping you would pass this information on to the Conservation Commission so they are aware of the impact of the decisions they are making with these dock and pier projects. 2 I have attached the survey that I did in early January of 2024 as a reference for 104 Great Bay Road. We did find shellfish in this survey and these results, along with very nice sediment, showed that the area was productive and showed great habitat for the settlement and recruitment of both softshell clams and quahogs. I argued this project would have a significant impact on the fishery as this is an area I have historically planted quahogs and softshell clam sets occur here regularly. It is also close to a town way to water for easy access to both the recreational and commercial shellfishery. This is great habitat that would be permanently altered by a pier. Nonetheless, the pier was approved. It is being built next week. Due to the populations of shellfish found during the survey, we requested to be notified prior to the start of the project to remove the shellfish. I have attached pictures of the shellfish we were able to remove (this took a whole tide). I guarantee there is more left on site, but it would be impossible to remove all the softshells to relocate. All the shellfish we could gather was relocated; it should also be noted it is not guaranteed that the softshells will “take” in the new location. They are quite temperamental. We removed a significant amount of shellfish from this area as shown in the pictures. We moved two bushels of quahogs from the footprint of the pier, a dozen legal softshells that we were able to reach in shallow enough water, and over 100 seed softshells and quahogs (many more were left behind because it’s hard to find and gather that size). The removal showed varying year classes indicating a healthy shellfish population. The surveys we do for these projects clearly show just one point in time and not the full potential or historical side of the area. This is why we have our rating system; to help assist in the importance of an area. It is crucial that we evaluate the habitat as a whole because even if a spot is deemed as not productive as the commission would expect at that time, it has the ability to be productive as we see here. Clearly this area is currently one of the most productive in town. The projects at Eel River have a similar composition to this site and should be treated as such. Prime productive habitat. This should be protected. This habitat is going to be permanently altered by this pier. Water flow will change by an object being put in the way of the natural flow of the tide, sediments will follow, and pilings will take up crucial habitat space where sand once was. It’s important for the commission to see the actual impacts of the decisions being made so these factors can be taken into account in future decisions. Best, Liz Lewis Elizabeth Lewis Shellfish Biologist Marine & Environmental Affairs Town of Barnstable Natural Resources 1189 Phinneys Ln Centerville, MA 02632 Phone: 508-790-6272 The Town of Barnstable is currently switching over our emails. Please update my address to reflect Elizabeth.lewis@barnstable.gov so you don’t miss my emails!