This Popular Peninsula for Summer Travel Is a Surprisingly Eco-Friendly Escape

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is an icon of New England summer nostalgia. It conjures images of fresh-off-the-boat lobsters, Fourth of July fireworks, and the picture-perfect Kennedy family compound. That summer scene is fueled by an environmentally minded hospitality industry that’s working to preserve this coastal wonderland for generations to come.

There are a variety of issues facing the Cape including eroding coastlines and water shortages. Nitrogen pollution from the chemicals that are used to treat lawns, golf courses, and home septic systems, is a huge problem with a direct impact on local restaurants. High nitrogen rates in the water create algae blooms which can decimate ecosystems, wiping out the fresh fish that Cape Cod restaurants are known for.

Massachusetts Oyster Project has partnered with the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club to begin repair on Pleasant Bay where the resort is located and to plant 25,000 oysters in the bay this year to combat nitrogen levels.

Credit: Courtesy of Mass Oyster 

“Oysters are filter feeders, so they are filtering in the water that they are surrounded by,” says Liv Woods, executive director at Mass Oyster Project. “They end up storing nitrogen in their shell and that means it’s pulling nitrogen out of the water.”

Woods estimates about 80-90% of oyster reefs in Massachusetts have disappeared. This restoration is the first step in a long process.

The Wequassett also recycles all the oyster shells used at the five on-property restaurants. Oysters tend to cluster together in reefs, and providing old oyster shells for new oysters to attach onto promotes growth. Once the bay has stabilized, the hotel plans to plant an oyster farm that will provide the on-site restaurants with fresh-from-the-ocean oysters while continuing to support the ecosystem.

This all comes with an educational component for hotel guests, who can chat with Mass Oyster Project employees and observe the process as the oysters grow in an upweller (an incubator for baby oysters) before being permanently planted in the ocean. Guests can also schedule tours of the Aquacultural Research Corporation Shellfish Hatchery in Dennis, Massachusetts, where the baby oysters come from.

Click here to read more.