Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, Inc. – Demonstration of Living Shoreline Technology and Development of Ribbed Mussel Seed Production to Protect and Restore Salt Marsh in Coastal MA Rick Karney, Shellfish Biologist/Director, Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, Inc. Emma Green-Beach, Special Projects Coordinator, Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, Inc.

1. 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.

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. Demonstration of Living Shoreline Technology: Delaware Bay Living Shoreline Initiative

7. Assembling Materials
Mat & Coir Log
Stakes
Shellbags

8. Project Sites
•Two low energy
•Muddy Creek (Lagoon Pond)
•Trapps Pond (Sengekontacket)
•Two high energy
•Felix Neck (Sengekontacket)
•MVSG Dock (Lagoon Pond)

9. Mud Creek: A protected cove of Lagoon Pond

10. Mud Creek Installation

11. Mud Creek Planting Spartina alterniflora
Video Out reach (match)

12. Mud Creek Nov 2014
•Mussels still where they were planted
•Grass mostly intact, going dormant
•Mud filling in behind coir log

13. Trapps Pond: a protected cove of Sengekontacket Pond

14. Trapps Pond Installation
MV Charter School science class (match)

15. Trapps Pond
Planting Spartina alterniflora

16. Trapps Pond Nov 2014

17. Development of Ribbed Mussel
(Geukensia) Seed Production

18. “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

19. Geukensia larvae
Day 4
100,000 very healthy larva
Belly full of cultured phytoplankton food
Day 2 110,000 early straight-hinge larva

20. Geukensia - unhealthy and dead larvae
Geukensia with pink staining Pseudomonas bacteria
Day 7: High mortality

21. BioHaven® Floating Island
•Water quality
•Wave breakers
•Restoration
•Habitat
Will Geukensia attach and grow on this high surface area substrate?

22. Floating Islands Investigations (Match)

23. Geukensia successfully attached to Floating Islands!

24. Floating Islands as a possible nursery for mussel culture

25. Thank you
Questions?