Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Collaborative Project Tackles Problem of Closed Shellfish Flats

With fecal bacterial contamination and naturally occurring Vibrio pathogens on the rise, there’s a lot working against the economic viability of Maine and New Hampshire’s shellfish flats. And the growing problem raises the specter of serious public health consequences.

In an effort to manage the threat, the states of Maine and New Hampshire close thousands of acres of clam flats every year – a phenomenon that threatens the livelihood of shellfish harvesters and delivers a blow to the states’ economies. Take, for example, the Piscataqua Estuary that forms the border between Maine and New Hampshire. Last year, every shellfish flat on the Maine side of the commonly held body was closed due to bacterial pollution.

A new multi-institutional research project funded by the National Science Foundation to Maine EPSCoR and New Hampshire EPSCoR seeks to both better understand and find solutions to the scourge plaguing these crucial fisheries. Partnering with shellfish harvesters, state and local officials and non-governmental groups, scientists want to both understand how contamination happens and develop more scientifically accurate tests for bacteria. They also want to foster robust communication between researchers and stakeholders. Success of the project is dependent on participation of key project partners, especially state regulators and shellfish harvesters. There’s a lot at stake. Maine and New Hampshire depend heavily on the shellfish economy. In 2010, for example, Maine shellfish landings generated $347 million in revenue.

The main concern is public health. Food-borne illness from seafood is on the rise in the Northeast and the nation as a whole, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Researchers at UMaine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions (Mitchell Center), College of the Atlantic (COA), University of New Hampshire (UNH) and other institutions are searching for meaningful answers.

“This is about trying to get science and policy to a grassroots level and run with it,” said Chris Petersen, a project leader and a professor at COA. “With a problem like these closures, most people will say: ‘We need a scientist.’ But we can’t do much without the help of the harvesters. We need their help to make conservation work, and to work together on short and long-term goals.”

Petersen and colleagues are part of the New England Sustainability Consortium (NEST), which has mobilized the collective capacity of universities and colleges to strengthen connections between science and decision-making. Beginning with coastal areas in Maine and New Hampshire, NEST is capitalizing on research and stakeholder synergies to advance the theory and practice of sustainability science. This scientific model seeks solutions to pressing societal problems with a focus on both human wellbeing and protection of the planet’s life support systems. A key component is collaboration with diverse stakeholders, in this case state local government, beach managers, shellfish harvesters and citizen scientists. A major shellfish research area is based at Frenchman Bay, which borders Mt. Desert Island.

Along with stakeholders, Petersen and Bridie McGreavy, a researcher at UMaine’s Mitchell Center, and colleagues have been involved in the formation of Frenchman Bay Partners. The Partners’ mission is to ensure that the bay area is ecologically and economically healthy and resilient in the face of future challenges. The organization facilitates conversations between harvesters, researchers, municipalities and others concerned about the bay, which has 610 acres of closed shellfish flats. But the road is long, researchers say, especially when it comes to harvesters who depend on short-term financial sustenance from working the bay. Many feel they have little time for conservation work beyond the twelve or so hours required by the issuance of a one-year license, Petersen and other researchers report.

To better track the sources and flow of fecal bacterial contamination as well as the extent of Vibrios, researchers have been using data collected by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to find the link between land-based runoff and bacterial levels on mudflats. Right now, limited state- and university-funded manpower has made a comprehensive assessment impossible and has lead to a measure of guesswork on closures, project leaders say. More complete analysis of DMR data combined with new data could lead to a better understanding of problems causing closures and the best ways to clean up contaminated areas. Such information, researchers say, could lead to a system that better evaluates the reasons for closures and, in turn, leads to more open clam habitat for harvesters.

In the mean time, researchers have been working with harvesters to identify smaller areas that should be prioritized for opening, teaching them to collect data on shellfish populations and coordinate with DMR staff. It’s not an easy task. Harvesters stand to lose money when taking on conservation work and DMR has limited personnel. So, just as harvesters are stepping into a science role, project researchers have to act as more than just scientists. They are the bridge between harvesters and state regulators and must understand multiple points of view. One of NEST’s main goals is to create solid working relationships between diverse stakeholders in ways that benefit the public and lead to long-term change and stability. The key, researchers say, is to remain open, to listen closely to project partners and other scientists.

“You have to be able to view the situation from more than one vantage point. We have to do a lot of listening. We have to understand the kinds of questions people have and the information they need to make decisions,” McGreavy said.

What it comes down to is this: public health is at stake. And a lot remains unknown. Though Vibrio infections are on the rise, UNH’s  Stephen H. Jones says the pathogens contaminating the region’s shellfish flats and coastal waters have not been well studied.

‘The Northeast is starting to see shellfish-borne infections from Vibrios rising over the past few years,” said Jones, Research Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Marine Science. “But we don’t have a good handle on the ecology of these bacteria, nothing that explains this trend.”

Jones and his research team are looking at an array of pathogenic bacteria in coastal ecosystems, but have honed in closely on Vibrio. This class of pathogens often causes gastrointestinal illness, but can infect open wounds and in very rare cases lead to sepsis, a potentially fatal whole-body inflammatory response.

“We’re focusing on the populations of Vibrio species that are prevalent in seafood-borne disease. We’re looking at their strains and overall population make-up, how it responds to different water quality and climate conditions and how it affects different people in the population,” Jones said.

Jones is also working with ecologists to trace the sources of fecal-borne bacteria found in coastal water. He and his team study the microscopic scramble of bacteria in water samples, separating out the dangerous from non-threatening and then using DNA markers to further categorize their source as human or animal. The goal is to trace these bacteria back to a specific contamination point like a sewage basin or urban runoff area.

The NEST partnership is in its second year and still in the data-gathering phase. Solutions and conclusions are still a while away. But researchers say a lot has been learned in the first year of study, including an ever-expanding definition of science and sustainability partnerships.

“There is more than one kind of knowledge,” McGreavy said. “Harvesters are out on the intertidal mud flats far more than a scientist could ever be. They are attuned to the tides and the changing ecology in a way few are. They notice patterns and see changes first because they are out there every day. Harvesters know a lot about these systems and can help scientists understand them.”

NEST is managed by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) at UMaine and UNH in partnership with College of the Atlantic (COA), University of New England (UNE), University of Southern Maine (USM), Great Bay Community College (GBCC), Plymouth State University (PSU), and Keene State College (KSC). This collaboration, funded by a three-year, $6 million award from the National Science Foundation, aims to strengthen the scientific basis for decision making for the management of recreational beaches and shellfish harvesting and to mobilize the collective capacity of New England universities and colleges to strengthen connections between science and decision-making. This scientific model seeks solutions to pressing societal problems with a focus on both human wellbeing and protection of the planet’s life support systems. A key component is collaboration with diverse stakeholders, in this case state and local government, beach managers, shellfish harvesters and citizen scientists.