EASTHAM — This warm winter inspired hopes of an early spring, encouraged by the premature bloom of crocuses and daffodils. But plants on terra firma weren't the only ones that benefited from the unseasonable temperatures.
On Wednesday, the state Division of Marine Fisheries closed the Nauset estuary and Town Cove in the towns of Eastham and Orleans to all shellfishing after water samples showed elevated levels of red tide algae in the water. It's the earliest closure in at least seven years, nearly a month ahead of the date those water bodies are usually shut down.
"The water temperature was much warmer than it would be normally at this time of year," the division's chief shellfish biologist, Michael Hickey, said Wednesday. Typically temperatures should be in the high 30s to low 40s in March, but Hickey said temperatures have been in the mid- to upper 40s.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers working in the estuary found red tide algae cells in their water samples recently and notified the division. They put out sampling stations stocked with mussels, which filter-feed on red tide and other algae, and whose tissues collect the red tide toxins more quickly than other species. When those samples showed high levels of toxin, the division decided to close both water bodies until further samples and testing could show which shellfish species were affected and which could be safe to eat.
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