Three Bays Preservation and the Town of Barnstable Natural Resources Program initiated an innovative shellfish propagation collaboration in West Bay during 2000. Three Bays Preservation purchased a FLoating UPweller SYstem (FLUPSY) from aquaculture equipment supplier Atlantic Aquaculture, and secured a location for the device in West Bay. For 2003 it was operated by the Town of Barnstable Natural Resources staff, and was relocated to Prince Cove Marina in Marstons Mills.
What is a FLUPSY?
A FLUPSY (Floating Upweller System) is a proven way to culture small shellfish seed through their delicate "nursery" stage, from the time they come out of the hatchery until they are large enough to be planted in their natural habitat. During this nursery phase it is critical to protect the seed from such predators as crabs and whelks, while providing ample food for the delicate shellfish.
The FLUPSY is a floating shellfish seed culturing device that consists of seed containers, called silos, attached to a float-like apparatus attached to a pier. The young shellfish are placed in the silos, and an economical pump system brings a continual flow of naturally occurring nutrients and oxygenated water from Prince Cove waters to the seed in the containers, while expelling naturally occurring seed waste products back to the waters.
The food is the phytoplankton (microscopic algae) that grows in our estuaries, making natural baby food for these filter feeders to draw through their tiny siphons. Over time, the young shellfish incorporate the phytoplankton into their tissue as they grow. It is the hope that we can enable the maximum growth of the shellfish while minimizing the threats to their growth: predation, biofouling and competition.
Under forced upflow conditions, the seed will grow at high densities much more quickly and more uniformly that it does in passive-flow conditions. During the growing season, clams grown in upwellers can grow more than a millimeter a week, more than doubling in total volume each week. Oysters in these units have grown as much as 5 millimeters in a single week, increasing their total volume fivefold to tenfold.
The Town is proud of its collaboration with Three Bays Preservation and the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension Service for their support of the Town’s effort to enhance the shellfish populations for the citizenry. We believe that shellfish propagation not only provides a premium shellfish resource for the Town's license holders, but also fortifies the shellfish populations, which help to cleanse our estuaries by their filter feeding.
