Initiatives

This plan was produced by the Urban Harbors Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, in cooperation with the Town of Nantucket and the Nantucket Land & Water Council. Funding for this report was provided by the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation. View the full plan below: Executive Summary Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) plays an important role in shaping coastal ecosystems of Nantucket by stabilizing sediment, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and serving

GHYCF partnered to fund the Harbor Monitoring Project. This project is a collaboration led by the Maria Mitchell Association. We partnered with MMA, Remain Nantucket Fund at the Community Foundation for Nantucket, the Osceola Foundation, Sociable Weaver Foundation, and the Town of Nantucket's Harbormaster.

GHYCF partnered to fund Nantucket Land & Water Council’s Nantucket Stormwater Sampling Program. Nantucket Harbor is classified as an impaired water body due to historic trends in water chemistry and, more specifically, excessive nutrient pollution.

Tara Riley, TON Shellfish and Aquatic Resources Manager, and her team at the Brant Point Shellfish Hatchery have successfully been using our first gifted bioreactor to feed their shellfish seed with its controlled algae production system.

The Foundation has proudly funded several educational endeavors so far for Nantucket students of all ages attending Nantucket Public Schools. We support science oriented field trips, including trips to the New England Aquarium for 4th graders.

GHYCF engages with the youth of Nantucket and our community at large in many ways. We are continually expanding reach.

Nantucket Harbor watershed mapping was last done in 1990 - a lot has changed since then. Mapping the harbor will help identify watershed boundaries, groundwater nutrient sources, and groundwater flow paths into Nantucket Harbor.

The goal of the Harbor Breach Study is to identify what would happen if the Harbor were to breach at the Haulover or Coskata Pond.

Our goal is to control stormwater runoff and erosion at Pocomo Point parking lot area and help limit sediment entering the Harbor.

The goals of this plan are: Build an inventory of existing eelgrass and shellfish populations, sentinel monitoring stations, and develop a restoration plan Protect existing eelgrass and future degradation through adopting regulations that will guide resource managers Advance our understanding of eelgrass populations on Nantucket Restore and increase the abundance of eelgrass Next steps: Continue eelgrass and shellfish surveys/ monitoring in Nantucket Harbor and expand survey

The goal of this plan is to understand how sand moves through the harbor and identify potential re-use possibilities. This project will help determine Nantucket Harbor dredging projects for the next decade or more.

GHYCF gifts the photobioreactor to TON NRD Brant Shellfish Hatchery in January of 2023. This unit, produced by Industrial Plankton, was installed in the Brant Point Shellfish Hatchery on January 17th, 2023.

The Foundation’s purchase and donation of the FlowCam to TON NRD Brant Point Shellfish Hatchery has allowed for improvements in monitoring.

Coastal embayments along southern New England were once home to expansive eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows as well as a diverse and abundant assemblage of fish and shellfish populations. These healthy ecosystems fueled vibrant coastal communities. Today, due to a range of human-induced environmental impacts including nutrient loading and overharvesting, many of these areas are now characterized by a loss of seagrass and severe declines in fish and shellfish populations.