Demonstration of Living Shoreline Technology &
Development of Ribbed Mussel Seed Production to
Protect and Restore Salt Marsh in Coastal Massachusetts
Martha’s Vineyard
Shellfish Group, Inc.
Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, Inc.
• Non-profit consortium of the 6 town
shellfish departments on MV since 1976
• Based out of a solar hatchery on Lagoon Pond
• Shellfish hatchery produces oysters,
bay scallops and quahogs for municipal enhancement
• Involved in various water quality related projects
• Water is shellfish habitat • Nitrogen is hot topic
Project Rational Shoreline and Island Community threatened by sea level rise & degraded water quality
1) Need to increase coastal marsh for nutrient mitigation and shoreline protection
2) Recognized shortage of ribbed mussel seed - for Living Shorelines and other mitigation projects
Blanchard Photographic Impressions
Ribbed Mussel Geukensia demissa – an under appreciated bivalve
• Superior filtering capacities • Able to consume bacterioplankton
• Wide geographic range and environmental tolerance • Gulf of St. Lawrence to NE Florida • mid-low intertidal
• High controlled by temperature and food availability • Low controlled by refuge from predators i.e. crabs and drills
• Tolerate water temperature > 56C (133F) • Salinity nearly fresh up to 70ppt
• Non-food species allows planting in closed areas
• Critical component of coastal marsh ecology
Predation by oyster drills
Mussels and Marsh Grass – CoEvolution
• Spartina alterniflora provide • Habitat with predator refuge
• Complex settling habitat for larvae
• Detrital food source
• Guekensia provide • Stabilization and armoring with
byssal threads
• Fertilizer and sediment through deposition of biodeposits (feces)
Demonstration of Living Shoreline Technology:
Delaware Bay Living Shoreline Initiative
Assembling Materials
Mat & Coir Log
Stakes
Shellbags
Project Sites • Two low energy
• Muddy Creek (Lagoon Pond)
• Trapps Pond (Sengekontacket)
• Two high energy • Felix Neck (Sengekontacket)
• MVSG Dock (Lagoon Pond)
Mud Creek: A protected cove of Lagoon Pond
Mud Creek Installation
Mud Creek Planting Spartina alterniflora
Video Out reach (match)
Mud Creek Nov 2014
• Mussels still where they were planted • Grass mostly intact, going dormant • Mud filling in behind coir log
Trapps Pond: a protected cove of Sengekontacket Pond
Trapps Pond Installation
MV Charter School science class (match)
Trapps Pond Planting Spartina alterniflora
Trapps Pond Nov 2014
Development of Ribbed Mussel (Geukensia) Seed Production
“Jacuzzi treatment” August 12, 2014
• Mussels air dried for 1-2 days • Nets placed in 400L larvae tanks
• at ambient temperature (~24C) • Overnight
• Recovered 120,000 fertilized eggs! • Subsequent spawns were not
successful • Will start earlier next in 2015
Geukensia larvae
Day 4 100,000 very healthy larva
Belly full of cultured phytoplankton food
Day 2 110,000 early straight-hinge larva
Geukensia - unhealthy and dead larvae
Geukensia with pink staining Pseudomonas bacteria
Day 7: High mortality
BioHaven® Floating Island
• Water quality
• Wave breakers
• Restoration
• Habitat
Will Geukensia attach and grow on this high surface area substrate?
Floating Islands Investigations (Match)
Geukensia successfully attached to Floating Islands!
Floating Islands as a possible nursery for mussel culture
Thank you Questions?
