In 1994 residents of Oyster Pond’s
watershed area formed
Oyster Pond Environmental Trust, Inc. (OPET)
to improve the pond’s health.
In the News
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is reviewing the status of two species that live in Oyster Pond – alewife herring (Alosa pseudoharengus) and the American eel (Anguilla rostrata). NOAA was petitioned by environmental groups to list them as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Both species have seen significant declines in their populations.
In November 2011, NOAA finished an initial 90 day review and listed river herring (both alewives and blueback herring) as a “Species of Concern”. Over the next 12 months, NOAA will conduct an in-depth review of scientific and commercial information, the impacts of threats to the populations and on- going conservation efforts to decide whether river herring should be listed as a threatened species.
NOAA is still conducting the initial 90 day review for American eels. The review period ended in December 2011 and their decision is expected shortly. NOAA declined to add the American eel in 2007 to the Endangered Species List. This new status review will examine new information not available in 2007 such as the impacts of a parasitic nematode and climate change on eel populations.
Oyster Pond’s own herring population has dropped significantly from 1960s levels when observers say herring were so thick they were like” a fire hose of fish”– you could scoop as much as you wanted and they still kept coming. Volunteer herring counters over the past three years have seen a stable annaul inflow of around 2,000 adult herring into Oyster Pond. We are fortunate that we have not seen the estimated 98% decline in herring populations experienced in other New England rivers. One of the worse was the Connecticut River where levels dropped precipitously from 630,000 herring in 1985 to 21 fish in 2006.
Less is known about our eel population due to their more elusive live style. One herring counter did see hundreds of tiny eels, known as glass eels; migrate into Oyster Pond a few years ago. If you go down to Trunk River and carefully dig up the rocks, you can see glass eels wiggle out of the way.
OPET Mission Statement
OPET is dedicated to:
-
land conservation in the pond’s watershed;
- monitoring the ecological health of the Pond while engaging
and promoting related scientific studies;
- educating the pond watershed residents and encouraging them
to reduce their impact on Oyster Pond;
- working with the Town of Falmouth and other organizations to
support the long-term preservation of the pond.
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What You Can Do to Help Oyster Pond
Falmouth Friendly Lawn Care Guidelines
