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Chapter 2 - Coastal EcosystemsDrake (1875) made many observations regarding the conditionof oysters and other natural resources along theNew England coast in the late 1800s. In reference to thefamous thirty foot high oyster shell middens along theshores of the Damariscotta River in southern Maine andthe abundance and large size of oysters in Massachusetts,he wrote:The shell heaps are of common occurrence all along the coast.The reader knows them for the feeding-places of the hordespreceding European civilization. Here they regaled themselveson a delicacy that disappeared when they vanished from theland. The Indians not only satisfied present hunger, but driedthe oyster for winter consumption…Josselyn mentions the longshelledoysters peculiar to these deposits. He notes them of nineinches in length from the joint to the toe, that were to be cut inthree pieces before they could be eaten. … The problem of theoyster’s disappearance is yet to be solved.Figure 2-3. Long Island Sound Eelgrass Distribution.Comparison of historic and 2003 eelgrass (Zostera marina)bed locations (from LISHRI 2003).ecosystem benefits as their tropical reef brethren.Globally, native shellfish are not just highly threatened,they are functionally extinct in most bays (Beck et al. in review).It is difficult to identify intact oyster reefs or shellfishbeds anywhere in the northern hemisphere, includingthe major estuaries, tidal rivers, coastal bays, and lagoonsof the Northwest Atlantic.Many oyster shell middens along the Atlantic coast’s estuariesand tidal rivers have been located and studied. Thesedata-rich shell piles are monuments to the persistence ofboth abundant shellfish resources and human harvestersfor thousands of years before European settlers steppedashore.Ingersoll (1881) published a comprehensive review of oysterdistribution and associated industry for the UnitedStates Bureau of Fisheries. Substantial oyster reefs, consistingof much larger oysters than are typically foundtoday, were noted in nearly every estuary and tidal river inthe region. His 1881 review stated:In 1634 William Wood, in his New England’s Prospect,speaks of “a great oyster bank” in Charles river, and anotherin the “Misticke”, each of which obstructed the navigation ofits river. Ships of small burden, he says, were able to go up as faras Watertown and Newton, “but the Oyster-bankes do barreout the bigger Ships.”… “Ships without either Ballast or loading,may floate downe this River; otherwise the Oyster-banke wouldhinder them which crosseth the Channell.”“The Oysters,” adds Wood, “be great ones in form of aShoehorne; some be a foot long; these breed on certain banksthat are bare every spring tide. This fish without shell is so big,that it must admit of a division before you can well get it intoyour mouth.”2-Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecoregional Assessment • Phase 1 Report