Herring River Shellfish Upweller Project Approved

 HARWICH – The Herring River is swiftly becoming an important shellfish nursery. 

 Aquacultural Research Corporation (ARC) is proposing to increase its shellfish production in the river. The select board approved an amendment to the town’s harbor management plan on Feb. 3 allowing the company to install a working mooring upweller system at 11 Harbor Way. 

 The harbor plan amendment request by ARC, a Dennis-based shellfish hatchery and farm that sells wholesale seed and retail shellfish, received a strong endorsement from Natural Resources Director Don Yannuzzi, Jr.

 “ARC has been a valued partner in Harwich’s shellfish propagation efforts, providing critical support to local harvesters and donating quahog seed to municipal programs,” Yannuzzi wrote in a memo to the select board. “Their operations contribute to the town’s economy and improve water quality by reducing excess nitrogen. The proposed [upweller system] will further these efforts by increasing shellfish seed production, strengthening the industry, and benefiting the marine environment.”

 ARC’s plan is to place an eight-by-20-foot float on the north side of the existing pier at its shellfish nursery, which is located on pilings above the river. A small circulator pump will move water through eight fiberglass containers nurturing juvenile shellfish. The upweller will be used from April to December. The only time a boat will be docked at the float is when someone is working with the shellfish, ARC General Manager Paul Wittenstein wrote in a letter to Harbormaster John Rendon.  

 The shellfish raised by ARC provide an estimated 1,300 local jobs, Wittenstein wrote. “Operating our nursery also provides an environmental service to the Herring River as the growing shellfish consume microalgae and remove excess nitrogen introduced through fertilizer and wastewater runoff from the water,” he wrote. 

 In a memo to the select board, Rendon said that the proposed location of the float will not obstruct navigation on the Herring River.

 Conservation Administrator Amy Usowski said the ARC proposal would not have to come before the conservation commission for review, because the commission reviews “only structures somehow fixed to land.”

The commission was scheduled to take action on a proposal for a scallops farm just up the river from ARC’s nursery on Feb. 5 but lacked a quorum. The vote was rescheduled for Feb. 11, after The Chronicle’s deadline.