PSP OPENING

The Division of Marine Fisheries has determined that Moon snails (Polinices duplicatus and Lunatia heros), from the below-defined eastern portion of Nantucket Sound and East/Southeast Nantucket coastal waters, no longer contain biotoxins (PSP) from the phytoplankton Alexandrium (spp.) in excess of established standards.

Therefore, under authority of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 130, sections 74A and 75 and 322 CMR sections 7.01 (7) at sunrise on May 8, 2010, the below-defined portions of Nantucket Sound and East/Southeast Nantucket coastal waters will revert to their former status prior to the PSP closures of June 2005. Those shellfish areas classified as APPROVED and in the “open status" to shellfish harvesting are now open to the harvest of Moon snails for direct human consumption subject to local rules and regulations under authority of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 130, section 52.

SC:47 Monomoy Island

"The waters and flats of that portion of Nantucket Sound in the Town of Chatham, easterly of a line drawn southwesterly [230 degrees true] from the west breakwater at the entrance to Stage Harbor in the Town of Chatham to the Barnstable County Line; westerly of a line drawn from the south end of Morris Island to the north tip of Monomoy Island; south of a line drawn across the Stage Harbor jetties; and westerly of a line drawn due south from Monomoy Point to the Barnstable County Line."

NS:1 Nantucket Sound Northeast Center

"The waters and flats of that portion of Nantucket Sound northerly of the Loran C line 9960-Y-43900; southerly and westerly of the Barnstable County Line; easterly of the Loran C line 9960-W-14000."

NS:2 Nantucket Sound Southeast Center

"The waters and flats of that portion of Nantucket Sound southerly of the Loran C line 9960-Y-43900; westerly of the Barnstable County Line; easterly of the Loran C line 9960-W-14000; northerly of the Nantucket County Line and west of a line drawn across the entrance to Nantucket Sound from teh southern tip of the Barnstable County Line to the northern tip of the Nantucket County Line."

NT:7 Nantucket East Coastal

"The waters and flats thereto of that portion of the Atlantic Ocean in the Town of Nantucket, easterly of a line drawn due north from Great Point to the Nantucket County Line; northerly of a line drawn due east from the entrance to Sesachacha Pond (when present) to the Nantucket County Line; and westerly of the Commonwealth's Territorial Boundary."

NT:8 Nantucket Southeast Coastal

"The waters and flats thereto of that portion of the Atlantic Ocean in the Town of Nantucket, easterly of a line drawn due south from Atlantic Avenue at Surfside to the Nantucket County Line; southerly of a line drawn due east from the entrance to Sesachacha Pond (when present) to the Nantucket County Line: and northerly of the Commonwealth's Territorial Boundary."