Island ponds are a connection to cultural heritage and a livelihood for fishermen. But housing booms and land-use changes threaten to undo a delicate balance.
Martha’s Vineyard is a bellwether of climate change, sea level rise and socioeconomic dynamics. It also is a place with both the interest in and commitment to dealing with its effects.
On Cape Cod ambitious efforts are underway to remediate ponds and estuaries. And when coastal ponds decline, so do property values, the executive director of the Cape Cod Commission, told a meeting at the Katharine Cornell Theatre.
A pair of quahauggers stood waist-deep in Sengekontacket Pond early Thursday morning, the late August sun glinting off the calm water as they raked hardshell clams, perhaps a basketful for their dinner. The pond has been open to summer shellfishing this year for the first time since 2007.
Last summer the Vineyard Conservation Society succeeded in convincing Islanders that their ponds were indeed in peril. At this year’s Ponds in Peril forum, Islanders learned what they could do about it.
Due to high bacteria counts, the state Division of Marine Fisheries closed portions of two large Island ponds to shellfishing this week - one up-Island and the other down-Island.
The closures are effective immediately in part of the Tisbury Great Pond and at Major's Cove in Sengekontacket Pond, although town leaders have not yet received official letters of notification.