Shellfish Beds and Swimming Beaches -  Recent and Ongoing Projects

Casco Bay "Mud Summit"



Helping Reopen and Manage Shellfish Areas

The Casco Bay Estuary Partnership coordinates and works with the Clam Team, a group of shellfishing stakeholders, to eliminate fecal pollution sources, reopen softshell clam flats, research red tide and other impacts to the fishery, and develop tools for sustainable management of the resource.  Recent efforts include:

- Expanding & Sustaining the Shellfisheries of Casco Bay 2011.  The purpose of this study was to update and expand upon the work completed in 1999 Phase I (PDF) and 2003 (Phases II and III) (PDF) to study pollution sources keeping clam flats in Casco Bay closed to harvest, to investigate options for sustaining that harvest, and to compile a list of recommendations to continue toward the Casco Bay Plan's goal "to open and protect clam Flats in Casco Bay."
  
- Real-time weather station data: CBEP funded the installation of weather stations in 6 local towns, to help inform decisions about whether to close nearby clam flats.
- Casco Bay Estuary Partnership Shoreline Survey Collaboration, 2008
- Shellfish Resources and Habitat Characterization Survey for Sebasco Harbor, Phippsburg, Maine MER Assessment Corporation, 2004 (PDF): This study was commissioned by CBEP in 2004 to assess the shellfish resource in the Sebasco Harbor area.
- Septic System Installer training:  Over the years, CBEP and its partners helped to fund this annual training program for septic system Installers.

Learn about the history of Casco Bay's shellfishery: 2010 State of the Bay Report chapter on shellfish beds.

Gathering and Analyzing Red Tide Data

Red tides are algae blooms that can damage shellfish and be toxic to humans.  To better understand the causes and effects of red tides in Casco Bay, CBEP funded collection of water quality data in 2006.  Analysis of this data commissioned by CBEP in 2009 suggests that Casco Bay’s red tides reflect regional water circulation patterns more than local nutrient sources.  More info, including links to reports.

Supporting Compliance with Maine's Pumpout Law

In 2006, Casco Bay was designated a No Discharge Zone, an area in which both treated and untreated sewage discharges from vessels are prohibited.  Maine's Pumpout Law requires marinas of a certain size to provide on-shore pumpout facilities, these facilities are sometimes unavailable or inoperative, increasingly the likelihood that boaters will simply dump their waste illegally.  In collaboration with the Portland Water District, CBEP supports the Mobile Pumpout Program operated by the nonprofit group Friends of Casco Bay (FOCB). FOCB's pumpout boat services hundreds of boats every summer, and has kept more than 110,000 gallons of sewage out of the Bay since the program's inception in 1996. 

Supporting Efforts to Monitor and Open Swimming Areas

CBEP supports the Maine Healthy Beaches program which promotes public education on beach water quality issues and works with municipalities to monitor beaches.

- 2010 State of the Bay Report Indicator 5: What is the Status of Swimming Beach Monitoring in Casco Bay?
- Maine Healthy Beaches website