Tribal Grant Program - Wampanoag bay scallop project on martha's vineyard

bjbj,(,( SCALLOP TRANSCRIPT FOR CAPTIONING DJ: For the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah of Martha's Vineyard, a sharp decline in scallop populations meant more than a loss of cultural identity until a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant funded the bay scallop population enhancement and restoration project. Cheryl: Under the context of our environment, 50, 100, 150, 250, 400 years ago, our environment is so much different. We don t have the resources that we ve always enjoyed for our sustenance. DJ: The purpose and goal of the Tribal Wildlife Grants Program is to provide a competitive funding opportunity for federally recognized tribal governments to develop and implement programs for the benefit of wildlife and their habitat. This includes species of Native American cultural or traditional importance and species that are not hunted or fished. Sisters: All my family went. My mother, father, sister, two brothers, and we all you know had to pitch in. So I ve been doing it since I was ten or eleven years old. DJ: For thousands of years the Aquinnah Wampanoag have connected to the bay scallop. KRISTINA: We re water people. Our existence depended on the fish and the shellfish. Everything is right here as was the ocean. DJ: But for recent generations of scallop harvesters, scalloping has become more than a cultural significance. KRISTINA: The whole family did it. I have pictures of me five years old in my grandfather s out building opening scallops. Three generations of them went scalloping at a time, and then the limit was like five six bushels a person per day came out of that pond. The man came every night with a scale and a fist full of money. Everybody opened their scallops at home and he weighed them and they paid you. Every night. Five days a week. It was critical. It was critical to our survival moneywise. When the scallops started to go away, I believe, in my spirit, part of us started to go away. DJ: To rescue the island's declining scallop population in Menemsha Pond, the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and Bret Stearns, director of natural resources program, sought funding for a 3-year restoration project. BRET: One of the reasons why we knew it would be successful is because we had a unique mixture of a cultural aspect for the history of the bay scallop, we had the ability apply some scientific methodology, and we had a tremendous amount of infrastructure and interest from the tribe with the tribal hatchery, and a natural resources department. DJ: In 2005, Stearns and a team of appointed tribal biologists set out to evaluate several identified aspects of scallop decline in Menemsha Pond. The project's objectives were to assess scallop populations, monitor their release, perform a genetics profile, controlling predation, monitor water quality, and improve their habitat in order to boost scallop yields. A portion of the restoration program utilized Aquinnah Wapanoag tribal resources, such as the Wampanoag Aquinnah Shellfish Hatchery and the Wampanoag Environmental Laboratory. At the Wampanoag Environmental Laboratory, pond water quality is systematically tested to determine the relationship between water quality and bay scallops. LEE: If we have a year where the water quality is really bad, like say we get a lot of nitrates in the water, a lot of algae that s chocking out the eelgrass, then, does that correspond to a decrease in scallops the following year? DJ: At the Wampanoag Aquinnah Shellfish Hatchery, scallops are grown and released to determine the optimal size and release of scallop larvae, otherwise known as spat. At the Wampanoag Aquinnah Shellfish Hatchery, scallops are spawned from native Menemsha Pond broodstock. The resulting offspring, also known as spat, are then grown and released to determine the optimal release size and time. DJ: After scallops are grown to an appropriate size in the hatchery, tribal members release the scallops into Menemsha Pond. LEE: Once we bring them from the hatchery, we put the scallops in here to grow them out. The line is anchored off out in the water and every four or five feet there s bayous. We put each pearl net in between each bayou. The first release, we ll grow them out for a month, then we ll bring them in, thin them out, half we ll restock in the new pearl nets about a hundred per net. The other half we ll release. That s it. They ll all settle down into the eelgrass. DJ: Scallops naturally attach themselves to and grow on eelgrass, which serves as protection from predators, such as the green crab. Finding an appropriate balance of eelgrass is one key to solving habitat issues. BRET: This juvenile scallop was on this strand of eelgrass and that s where it was growing that s what we re trying to create here. In this sanctuary is a place where they can be undisturbed and grow up. Now this happens all over this pond. But determining the rate of growth, how fast they can grow, what the best size is if you re going to introduce and if you re going to spawn these critters and you re going to them out. What s the best size to do it at? What s the least rate of mortality that you can get them out at? DJ: Sheppard and the restoration team have been working to transplant eelgrass around Menemsha Pond to find an appropriate balance for scallops to thrive. LEE: Basically what you need is just a full plant. The rhizome is this thick brown *** part and of these fine branches here are the roots. They re mainly used for just anchoring in. Put the root in that whole, probably two, three inches deep, cover it in and greatly pat it down. That s all I m doing. DJ: Sheppard and the team have also worked on controlling predators by trapping and reducing green crab populations in Menemsha Pond. LEE: Three spiders, three green, one black. Eight, nine, seven-and-a-half. And, nine. DJ: After 3 years of scalloping Menemsha Pond under the enhancement program, scallop populations have significantly increased. BRET: We had seen almost double the amount of commercially available bay scallops in the ponds. We ve had a steady increase, a steady level of success that we re very happy and very proud of. DJ: Tribal members are thankful for the increased yields of scallops, and how the program has benefited the local economy. BRET: There s a trickle down effect and that s attributed back to the tribe and to the Fish and Wildlife Service. That s a really positive thing as well. CHERYL: With out the grant programs, the tribes wouldn t be able to afford to put in this type of financial investment for the research and the cultivation and to get these programs off the ground. That s something that the tribes aren t financially equipped to do. Without the assistance of these federal grants, none of the tribes would be able to benefit. KRYSTINA: In order to be able to provide my grandchildren and my great grandchildren bay scallops in the winter or the opportunity to come here and try scalloping or the opportunity to keep those ancient memories alive, is through you. Without the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, that s not going to happen. And how desperately it s needed. DJ: In 2006, the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe submitted a second grant proposal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Tribal Wildlife Grants program. The tribe was able to broaden their existing duties with the addition of an instrument known as LIHDAT - a Larval Identification and Hydrographic Data Telemetry tool. BRET: It s basically a microscope attached to a video camera with specialized software. So it will take those images of streamed video and then you ll be able to download those into a software recognition program and it will tell you how much bay scallop larvae and other larvae is in the water column. ANDREW: The microscope right here has a polarized filter similar to polarized lenses of sunglasses. The shell fishes pass under this lens and comes up with these brilliant images as you can see here, which are actually specie specific. So then it s put into a database at which point the computer analyzes an entire sample and will tell you how many of each given species is in that sample. DJ: Bay scallop coordinator Andrew Jacobs explains how LIHDAT equipment can be used to increase scallop yields. ANDREW: LIHDAT will allow us to determine bay scallop spawning events, and compare the spawning events of that with scallop predators. This capability will significantly improve our understanding of bay scallop population dynamics, contributing to the bay scallop population ecosystem model, maximizing seed release efforts through prediction of predator populations. Communities that still have viable populations of bay scallops can benefit from LIHDAT technology, whether for maximizing spat collection or optimizing survival of release seed. BRET: The Tribal Wildlife Grant Program has been a tremendous benefit to the natural resources department and the tribe as a whole. Through phase one of this project, we identified economical ways to restore the bay scallop. We increased the bay scallop population by 322 percent and brought just over a half million dollars into the local economy from the commercial harvest of bay scallops. The second phase of the project we introduced cutting edge technology to identify how much larvae is actually available in the water column. The LIHDAT unit that we purchased merged with the capability of the Wampanoag environmental lab fundamentally changed the outcome of the program because now we have the ability in house to analyze water quality, sediment, and identify where there is larvae available in the water. In 2010, the Tribal Counsel approved a new position to work on restoration and enhancement of sustenance foods. Recently the bay scallop project coordinator Andrew Jacobs, became a fulltime member of the natural resources department. This project also gained a great deal of support in our community, who also shares the tribe s desire to enhance the natural populations of fish and shellfish. The bay scallop restoration project has definitively shown that we can all work cooperatively on a common goal with great success. In the near future, the tribe hopes to work towards a strengthened management plan for Menemsha pond watershed, which includes the tribe and towns. It is our belief that together we can enhance the resources of this water body to provide greater sustenance, recreational and commercial opportunities for the tribal membership and our community DJ: While the bay scallop enhancement project continues to grow, it is the combined effort of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service s support and the Wampanoag tribe members that continues the success of the program. gduV zlzl h:fN ~p~pbpT h"kS h./a ~p_N_@ h5!_ haO| {m{_QCQ5 h1"= hn$? m_QC h@6C h7b5 ~p_p_QCQ_C h7b5 h@6C eWIW hmh| sWI; seWI hQ=G [Content_Types].xml #!MB ;c=1 _rels/.rels theme/theme/themeManager.xml sQ}# theme/theme/theme1.xml G$$DA : BR {i5@R V*[_X ,l\Y Ssd+r] 5\|E Vky- V4Ej 6NGU s?^V *