Horseshoe Crab Surveys
This May and June for the thirteenth year we will be conducting horseshoe crab spawning surveys in Duxbury Bay. To do this, a team of 2-3 people walks/wades along a ~800 meter stretch of the Duxbury Bay shoreline north of the Powder Point Bridge. The team uses poles and rope to define a 5m x 5m square, and crabs inside the square are counted, sexed, and the different clusters in which they are arranged (single crabs, pairs, larger groups) are noted. This process is then repeated in approximately 40 squares along the shore. Surveys occur around the full and new moons. There are three daytime surveys (usually late morning, midday, and early afternoon) and three nighttime surveys (usually late evening, midnight, and early morning).
If you would like to volunteer to help with this year’s surveys, please sign up here.
We ask that you volunteer for three surveys* at least, although you may not be scheduled for all of them. Please sign up for all the possible dates that you are available, and then teams will be assigned to each date prior to each survey round. Please note that you must be able to walk on sand for about a mile, and that you will be getting wet feet at a minimum (one team member usually is also in the water up to their waist as well). If you have never done these surveys before please sign up for one of the two dates marked **training** if possible.
* If you cannot make this commitment but still want to see horseshoe crabs, we will be having a horseshoe crab walk later in May or early June. Stay tuned!
Shad Sampling with the Division of Marine Fisheries
The Division of Marine Fisheries needs assistance from a few people to help with shad sampling for a few hours in the South River and Indian Head River on a few select dates in late May and early June (5/28, 6/2, 6/4 and 6/18, most likely). This involves wading in the stream against the flow and scooping up stunned fish as a MassDMF team member uses an electrofishing backpack (the fish are just stunned and recover). The team will be observing covid and sampling safety protocols. You will have to bring your own mask and it’s preferred that you bring your own waders although there are a few available to borrow. MassDMF will provide gloves. You *must* be able to walk instream against a current to participate! To volunteer, please sign up here.
Beach Profiling
MassBays is partnering with Stone Living Lab at UMass, Woods Hole Group, and the Duxbury Beach Reservation to conduct monthly beach profiling surveys from June through December, plus bonus surveys before and after major storms within that timeframe. This entails working with two other partners to progressively move rods down the beach perpendicular to the water to measure the contours of the sand. If you are interested, please sign up here. A training will be held at Duxbury Beach at 5:30pm on May 25th.