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SBPF proposes 60-acre cobble mitigation site off Squam Head In announcing its mitigation plan Monday afternoon to the Conservation Commission and around 30 islanders at the fifth public hearing for its proposed beach rebuilding project, the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund said that an area 1,000 to 2,000 feet east of Squam Head in 20 to 30 feet of water is the best site for 28,000 concrete railroad ties and quarried rock. SBPF coastal engineer Steve Barrett said the four-foot and two-foot high configurations of rock and concrete will form ideal habitat for various species of crabs, sand eels, sand dabs, juvenile lobster and schools of squid that striped bass feed upon. "The maximum height would be about four feet and this would be similar to the rock structure that we've seen out in the cobble area," Barrett said. "Some of the larger fish can use the currents that pass by for hiding and some of the smaller species can use it for colonizing. "We're not saying we should create some huge mound, but we think that putting them in some of these areas at about four feet high would create some more habitat." But not enough habitat for charter and commercial fishermen, who told SBPF and the ConCom that 60 acres of artificial reef barely begins to replace the amount of natural habitat the beach nourishment project, with its 2.6 million cubic yards of dredged offshore sand, is expected to smother. Their worry is that an area running from the beach to 1,200 feet off the eastern shore of Nantucket will be covered with sand as the new beach is laid down and conceals the clumps of cobblestone-sized rocks that fish live among. When completed, the nourished shore will extend 206 feet out into the water, initially blanketing about 10 acres of cobble habitat. An additional 95 acres is expected to be lost as the sand migrates eastward. "I still have some concerns with this because we're only being compensated one-to-one," said Bobby DeCosta, captain of the charter fishing boat, Albacore. "We're looking at a one- to as long as a three-year period where we have no growth on the ties and we've lost Sankaty at the same time. We have a very short growing season in the northeast; you know that from looking at your yard. To say to that, we're going to have a great spot to fish in a year is a bit of a reach." SBPF would need a separate order of conditions from the ConCom to build its artificial reef. Barrett said they looked at three locations along Nantucket's eastern shore - three east of the Galls and Great Point and two on the west side of the Galls - and found that the Squam Head site worked best. The benefits of this particular site include the conversion of sand to hard bottom; that the site is near existing hard bottom cobble habitat; that natural colonization is likely to occur quickly; that it is close to the impacted cobble area off Sankaty with similar oceanographic conditions and the movement of sand from the rebuilt beach is not likely to cover the artificial reef. However, said Monomoy Charters Captain Josh Eldridge, the artificial reef location chosen by SBPF is likely to destroy existing cobble habitat that island fishermen all rely on during the summer. "Your reef is part of our best fishing on that side of the island," said Eldridge. "You're going to drop the reef right in one of the best fishing areas in that part of the island. In July and August, the bass fishing is almost better there than at Sankaty." Eldridge added that SBPF should do finfish sampling in this area before committing to this mitigation site. The Conservation Commission hearing on SBPF's beach rebuilding project will be on hiatus until mid-November when the hearing is expected to resume. I |
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