BARS September 2018 Meeting

BARS is very pleased to have Avery Revere, President, Friends of Barnstable Harbor (FOBH) give us a brief overview of the work that FOBH is engaged in.

Part of that work is the Benthic Habitat Mapping Project (BHMP) of Barnstable Harbor to be done by the Center for Coastal Studies. The speaker for this meeting is Mark Borrelli, PhD, Coastal Geologist and Director of the Center for Coastal Studies Seafloor Mapping Program.

“The last time Barnstable Harbor was mapped was in the 1930’s utilizing a lead-line and a benchmark survey from Mussel Point. Our BHMP will conform to current Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standards (CMECS). We hope that our BHMP will attract more scientists to conduct studies in our harbor, thus begetting further research and data.

Finally, upon completion of the project, we will have an image of our harbor’s well-being, as well as be able to identify specific areas of concern. The utilization of drone technology and/or re-sampling will enable us to document and understand trends in our harbor system.

Friends of Barnstable Harbor’s BHMP will map the entire harbor including the outer flats (East & West bars out to the #1 Bell Buoy) insuring that we have a comprehensive understanding of the entire harbor ecosystem. Data will include detailed imagery and location of eelgrass beds, natural shellfish beds, and marine debris, as well as sediment types and macro-invertebrate counts.”*

The meeting will be Tuesday, September 4th at 7:00 pm at the West Barnstable Community Building, 2401 Meetinghouse Way, West Barnstable, MA. Look forward to seeing you there. Please bring your questions and a guest. Our meetings are always open to the public.

*Quoted from the FOBH Benthic Habitat Mapping Project Proposal

For more information about Benthic Mapping click on this line.