Category: Discussion

Tips for enjoying safe shellfish in summer

By Dr. Bob Rheault

musselsThe July 19th Providence Journal published a Health Department advisory stating that shellfish consumers should cook all shellfish.  With proper handling most shellfish are safe to consume raw, but everyone needs to learn how important it is to keep shellfish cold during the hot summer months to avoid illness.  The illness that prompted the advisory was the result of Vibrio parahemolyticus bacteria (V.p.) that came from recreationally-harvested shellfish.  Here are some important facts that all shellfish lovers should know.

Vibrio bacteria are common in all marine waters, usually occurring in moderate numbers with greater abundance in warmer waters.   Levels in shellfish are typically safe unless your shellfish are steaming in a shallow tide pool or exposed on a tidal flat.  It takes a significant dose to cause illness. Scientists believe that for V.p. that dose is about 30,000 cells.

Shellfish concentrate bacteria while they feed and once they clam up, the bacteria inside start to multiply.  A safe dose can become a dangerous dose if shellfish are not chilled within a few hours.  Vibrio growth rates are determined by temperature. At 90 degrees F the bacterial population will double every hour, at 60 degrees growth slows dramatically, and below 50 degrees the growth of V.p. stops altogether.

It is rare, but possible, for shellfish right out of warm waters to have enough Vibrios to cause illness.  It is far more likely that safe shellfish were made unsafe because they were not chilled before a few doublings occurred.  If you can get your shellfish down to 60 degrees as soon as possible, and down to 50 within 5 hours – your risk of illness should be negligible.  However, if you leave your shellfish in the sun or the trunk of your car for a few hours, all bets are off.  Put shellfish in a cooler with an ice pack as soon as possible. If you use ice do not let them sit in the meltwater. Likewise, if you are buying shellfish, don’t let them warm up while you do your errands.

Commercial harvesters and shellfish farmers are strictly regulated and we know how important it is to keep our shellfish shaded and cool.  In summer many of us bring ice out with us and get our product into the dealer’s cooler within a few hours of harvest.  Immuno-compromised individuals should always cook their shellfish and not eat ANY undercooked proteins; no raw shellfish, no undercooked shrimp, no rare hamburger.  If you are unsure if you are immuno-compromised, ask your doctor.

For more information about Vibrios and delicious recipes visit our website  www.ECSGA.org.

Dr. Bob Rheault is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Rhode Island and is the Executive Director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association

Following up: Use Conflicts in Narragansett Bay

This article is a follow-up to the May 15th SMP Stakeholder Meeting Presentation:
Room Enough for Everyone? Understanding Human Uses & Interactions in RI Coastal Waters
Tracey Dalton (Associate Professor, URI Marine Affairs)
Robert Thompson (Associate Professor & Chair, URI Marine Affairs)
Download the presentation (pdf).
View the presentation on Slideshare.

By Tracey Dalton

Thanks for giving us an opportunity to talk about human uses and interactions at the SMP stakeholder meeting in May.  We hope that our presentation provided some insights and generated more discussion on social carrying capacity.  Like social carrying capacity, many of the key issues raised so far in the SMP process relate to people and how they think and what they do in Rhode Island’s waters.  For those of us who devote a lot of time to studying people who work, live and spend time in coastal areas, this presents a great opportunity to help address important issues right here in RI.  We appreciate this chance to follow-up on your questions.  While we’re trying to keep things brief here, we are willing to talk more about any of these issues—feel free to contact Rob or me directly (see contact information below).

First, there were some follow-up questions on our Bayscape project that mapped human uses in the upper Narragansett Bay.  Rob and I didn’t spend too much time in our talk going over the details of that project, so we wanted to fill you in on it a bit more.  We received some funding from the RI Sea Grant to map human activities in the upper Narragansett Bay (from Conimicut point into the Seekonk River) during the summers of 2006 and 2007.  For that project, Rob, myself, and several undergraduate and graduate students traveled up and down the upper Bay on twenty-five randomly selected days each summer.  With the use of some high-tech equipment, we were able to record all activities going on on-the-water (such as quahogging, shipping, sailing, and many others) and along the shoreline (such as biking or recreational fishing).  We created maps of the activities and analyzed if any particular features (such as weather conditions, availability of parking near access points, days of the week) were influencing what people were doing.  Our study showed that this type of observational approach can provide useful insights about the levels and types of activities going on in an area, but its results are pretty specific to the upper Bay during the time of our study.  That is why we are interested in extending this earlier work to other areas in Rhode Island and applying it to specific management issues, like shellfish planning and management.  Right now, we are writing proposals to conduct some follow-up studies, and we’d be interested in hearing from you about ways to make them as useful as possible.  Feel free to send us an email or give us a call.

Second, there were some questions that related to social science more generally.  It seems that many SMP participants are more familiar with–and probably more comfortable with–the tools of natural science than those of social science.  That isn’t too surprising.  Just think, when you hear “scientist”, you probably conjure up an image of someone wearing  a white lab coat and swirling a test tube or someone trekking through a salt marsh collecting specimens.  Not many of us would think of someone sitting on a dock listening to the observations, stories, and reflections of fishermen.  But what many people don’t realize is that all three of these individuals could be doing science.  Like chemists, ecologists and other natural scientists, social scientists such as anthropologists, economists, and political scientists use systematic methods to collect data and rigorous analytical techniques to make sense of it.  Our data just happen to be on people—how they think, act, and manage their behaviors—rather than on the natural environment.  Luckily for us, there are many well-established social science techniques that we can use to collect and analyze these types of data.

Finally, the question was raised about how social science can be used to inform coastal planning and management.  This is not an easy question to answer.  In fact, there are social scientists and other researchers who specialize in this very topic–trying to understand how to effectively integrate sound science (from natural & social sciences) into resource management decisions.   Most of these researchers agree that science and management should not be thought of as two separate processes, where a study is first conducted by a scientist and then the results are used by decision makers to solve a problem.  Instead, scientists and other participants in the decision making process have to work together throughout the process to shape the science and how it might be used to solve problems.  The good news is that interactions between scientists and SMP participants have been happening throughout the SMP process.  Early discussions of SMP participants identified a number of important issues, including user conflict, social carrying capacity, compliance & enforcement, and agency coordination, that could be better understood through the use of social science tools.  Ideally, social scientists and other SMP participants will continue to interact as projects are developed, data gets collected & analyzed, and findings become part of the broader discussions on RI shellfish planning and management.

Thanks again for this chance to follow-up on our talk.  If you have questions, comments or general feedback, please contact us by email or phone:

Tracey Dalton, URI Department of Marine Affairs, dalton@uri.edu or 401-874-2434
Robert Thompson, URI Department of Marine Affairs, rob@uri.edu or 401-874-4485

Save The Bay – Beach Closures vs. Shellfish Closures

The following was posted on the Save The Bay – Narragansett Bay Facebook on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.

 

A question was posed about the difference between beach closures by the Rhode Island Department of Health and shellfish closures by RI DEM. Tom Kutcher, our Narragansett Baykeeper explains:

“Shellfish closure criteria are actually more strict than the swimming water monitoring, but they use a different sampling method and sample in different areas at different times. Sometimes this makes for an illogical situation where shell fishing is not closed and swimming is, but that’s how the process works.

“Beach closures have significantly decreased every year since the sewage overflow tunnel went in in 2009. Although it may seem to be a slow process, the Bay is certainly cleaner now than it was then and will continue to improve as the second and third phases of the overflow abatement project are completed.

“However, overflows are a function of rainfall, and there has been a string of heavy rain events this past month that have led to recent beach closures. It’s unfortunate that during this hot weather, we can’t swim at some of these beaches due to the risk of illness from the sewer overflows, but it’s better to be safe. We expect that the completion of the sewer project will greatly reduce pollution from rain events moving forward. We’re working on this every day.”

via Save The Bay – Narragansett Bay.

Summary: Meeting of the Restoration Working Group, May 29th at the URI Bay Campus

A group of nearly 20 researchers, state managers, and fishermen met on May 29th to discuss shellfish restoration efforts in the state. This was the first meeting since April 2012 and the group took this opportunity to share latest research and findings from their restoration projects. Dave Beutel from CRMC facilitated the event but this is a rotating role that will be assumed by DEM at the next Working Group meeting.

Boze Hancock with The Nature Conservancy opened the discussion with updates from their national oyster goal-setting work, now that the science is clear on the environmental benefits of restoration. This project involves documenting the level of 3 major ecosystem services that are provided per unit of restored oyster reef, water filtration, production of fish and nitrogen removed from the system.  This is designed to allow consideration  of how much oyster restoration is “enough” based on how much of any service is desired.. He discussed the research on de-nitrification work being done in Ninigret pond, a collaborative effort between TNC, Boston University, and the Environmental Protection Agency. For more information on TNC’s restoration activities, click here.

Azure Cygler from the Coastal Resources Center gave brief updates on the Shellfish Management Plan, including the summer seminar schedule (including a June 13 use maps discussion, “Learn How to Dig Clams” classes, and tours of aquaculture and shellfish processing operations), developing a Table of Contents for the SMP, and discussing the idea of having Technical Advisory Committees who can help draft management recommendations. For more info, visit www.rismp.org.

Jeff Mercer, shellfish biologist at RI DEM spoke briefly about the importance of this group and DEM’s role as largely supporting and facilitating restoration efforts being done by the various groups in RI. He encouraged recommendations for how DEM can improve their support so this important work continues.

Robbie Hudson from Save the Bay discussed their work in the Bay and coastal ponds, with the main focus on bay scallop restoration in Ninigret pond. Since 2007, Save the Bay has used 80,000 scallops as broodstock to help enhance the bay scallop populations where the sanctuaries have been set up. The scallop harvest season does not start until November. Their work relies on volunteers and includes setting spat lines, dive surveys, and a benthic survey. For more info and to volunteer, check out http://www.savebay.org/page.aspx?pid=486. Just this month, another 9,000 broodstock scallops were released.

Matt Griffin from the Roger Williams Oyster Gardening project (OGRE) outlined population structure and disease prevalence through OGRE and the North Cape restoration sites. There have been over 7 million oysters seeded over 4 acres since 2003, with highest survival last year at the OGRE sites. Issues include seed suffocation on mud bottom, Dermo presence, and desire to seed and restore in closed waters which is currently a prohibited activity. There is also a need to out-pace mortality by seeding frequently, which needs to be discussed. The quickness of land use changes on our coast also makes using historical baselines difficult in terms of oyster populations, and other species as well. Continued discussion about setting new baselines for habitat, species populations, water quality, etc. is necessary.

Steve Brown from The Nature Conservancy discussed research in Ninigret pond, determining baselines and surveying EQIP sites. TNC has developed a Habitat Suitability Model which requires some feedback from the Working Group. Overall, oysters seem to prefer low salinity water which often means higher fecal coliform counts, which closes the area to harvesting and restoration efforts. TNC also relies on volunteers to bag shells for restoration efforts and constructing shell reefs in the summer, so contact Steve at dsbrown@tnc.org for more info.

Time did not allow for a full discussion of a Vision and Goals for the group, however this was stressed as a need. The intention will be for a smaller working group to meet and develop a draft Vision/Goals, which will be given to the SMP team to be incorporated stand-alone into the SMP document. For more info or to become involved in this Vision/Goal setting, contact Robbie at rhudson@savebay.org.

RIDEM Addresses Questions from March 20th SMP Stakeholder Meeting

Many thanks to all who attended our Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan (SMP) meeting of March 20, 2013 — a great deal of information sharing and dialogue has taken place through the SMP process and an example of this interaction is included below. Appreciation to Angelo Liberti, of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, for providing answers to questions raised at the meeting. We look forward to continued collaboration on the SMP.

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At the March 20, 2013 Shellfish Management Plan meeting, the Office of Water Resources presented information regarding how water quality based shellfish harvesting restrictions are made (view the presentation here). Participants at that meeting requested that DEM consider changing some of the current practices. DEM has evaluated those suggestions and was able to make some changes effective May 25, 2013. In addition, DEM discussed target monitoring programs that were being conducted in an effort to modify closures. Below is a response to these issues.

1. Noon time reopening. When rainfall amounts require closures, conditional areas (Upper Bay, Greenwich Bay, Mt Hope Bay and the Kickemuit River) are closed at noon and reopen at sunrise 7.5 days later. Meeting participants requested that DEM reopen at noon which would meet the required 7 day closure period. Provided the storm has ended when the noon closure is enacted, DEM will establish a noon reopening. Shellfishing vessels are asked not to enter these areas prior to the opening to avoid confusion over whether they are actually digging prior to the opening time or merely awaiting the start time.

2. Providing Latitude and Longitude for Closure lines. The 2013 Notice of Polluted Shellfish Grounds adds latitude and longitude for the Conimicut Triangle, the Bristol harbor range marker at Low Lane and the range marker at Carr Point. As resources allow DEM will add points to future annual announcements.

3. Target monitoring to assess the Southern Boundary of Conditional Area B. In response to Phase I of the Narragansett Bay Commission CSO project, water quality improvements resulted in revising the closure criteria for Conditional Area B from 1.0 to 1.5 inches of rain. During 2012, DEM attempted to collect additional data to determine if the southern boundary of Conditional Area B could be modified. To do so requires rain events greater that 1.5″ preceded by a period of dry weather. During 2012 there were only 8 such events, DEM sampled one and Area B was open approximately 83% of the time.

4. Target monitoring of unassessed small coves. In 2007 DEM closed coves landward of the shoreline which were not fully assessed and initiated a program to assess a priority group of waterbodies. As a result it has been determined that two coves totaling 10.7 acres can be reopened (a small tidal cove to the north of Seapowet Point and another small tidal area on Fogland Point). Unfortunately data has indicated that a 16.6 acre tidal pond within the Rueker’s Wildlife refuge in Little Compton must be changed from approved to prohibited.

Seasonal shellfish closures and revised annual shellfish harvesting restrictions will be effective sunrise May 25, 2013. The descriptions and maps illustrating the shellfish harvesting restrictions (Notice of Polluted Shellfishing Grounds May 2013) can be found here: http://www.dem.ri.gov/maps/mapfile/shellfsh.pdf. The most significant changes between 2012 and 2013 are modifying 463 acres in the upper bay from a 0.5 to 0.8 inch rain fall closure and changing 450 acres in Mount Hope Bay and the Kickemuit River from prohibited to conditional closure after 0.5″ of rain. Additional information is included in DEM’s press release: http://www.dem.ri.gov/news/2013/pr/0523131.htm

If you have any questions please contact:
Joe Migliore, RI DEM, 401-222-4700 extension 7258

If Joe is not available please ask to be connected to another member of the Office of Water Resources Shellfish Program.

 

 

 

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