- Division of Marine Fisheries
As part of our mission to protect, restore and improve water quality, habitats and the marine resources of the Commonwealth, DMF is excited to launch a new statewide initiative that will dramatically increase the pace and impact of coastal habitat restoration efforts.
In partnership with The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the new program will develop a statewide critical coastal habitat restoration plan with a focus on the identification of suitable sites for oyster and other coastal habitat restoration projects. The overall goal of the program is to dramatically increase the rate of project implementation to increase biodiversity and climate resiliency in support of the Commonwealth’s Biodiversity Initiative. Building off DMF’s shellfish propagation, hard bottom habitat enhancement, and eelgrass restoration efforts, this program will develop tools for prioritizing potential oyster and other coastal habitat restoration locations and coordinate the planning, permitting, implementation and monitoring of restoration projects.
The new program was originally conceived in the Massachusetts Shellfish Initiative, a multi-year stakeholder-driven planning effort which sought to chart a course ahead for the future of the State’s $450-million shellfish industry, the largest in the Nation. The program will be guided in part by the Massachusetts Shellfish Advisory Panel, an official public body created by an Act of the Legislature to enhance communication in the Commonwealth amongst all stakeholders in support of the advancement, conservation, and benefit of shellfish in Massachusetts.
The program will be led by a new full time restoration specialist who will work within DMF’s Habitat and Shellfish Programs and in partnership with peers at The Nature Conservancy and NRCS to oversee the effort statewide. The program will work with all other stakeholders involved in coastal restoration in Massachusetts including Federal, State and Municipal agencies, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, fishers, aquaculturalists, and others to achieve project goals. The program is funded for at least five years, but it is expected the program will grow well into the future given the critical need for this work to combat climate change and the biodiversity crisis.
By Mark Rousseau, Habitat Program Manager & Wayne Castonguay, Shellfish Program Regional Supervisor
