1/21/96
Spill closes shellfish beds
The oil spill forced the Department of Environmental Management to prohibit all shellfishing along several coastal ponds and state waters. "Effective immediately, we've basically closed all the coastal shore ponds to the harvesting of shellfish," said Joe Migliore, principal environmental scientist for the DEM's Water Resources division. The affected areas are Point Judith Pond, Potter's Pond, Green Hill Pond, Ninigret Pond, Quonochontaug Pond, and Winnapaug Pond. No shellfishing is allowed in those areas until further notice. Migliore said Trustom Pond and Card Ponds are also off-limits. "Trustom Pond and Card Ponds have never really been open to shellfishing," he said. "But we just want to enforce that those areas also should remain closed." "We've also closed all offshore state waters to shellfishing," he said. "We do not believe the shellfish are contaminated on the bottom, because the (oil) sheen is on the top," he said. "But during the harvesting practices, when you bring the shellfish up through the sheen, they could become contaminated at that time."
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