Right in our neighborhood of Falmouth, Ward Aquafarms has used four tilt current meters (TCM-1’s) to evaluate sites for bay scallop aquaculture. “We have four farms participating, so the deployment depth is different on each one. Two of the farms are in about 20' of water, one farm is in 8' of water, and the final farm is intertidal, so the cage and flow meter go dry and sit on sand twice a day at low tide”, Dan Ward, Owner of the business said.
The tilt current meter was tied to a cage with a rope secured to a zip tie and thrown off the side of a boat. A meter was deployed at each farm for either 4 or 8 months to collect data on velocity and temperature. Ward has partnered with Cape Cod Cooperative Extension using research and technology to find best practices for growing and sustaining bay scallops. The project focuses on “four different environments on four different commercial farms ranging from intertidal to subtidal and estuarine to open-ocean” to determine optimal conditions for growing bay scallops locally and to expand aquaculture on the Cape. More data is currently being collected so check back for more information on the project.