December 11, 2012 — Researchers have completed a five-year monitoring program for Cape Cod Bay that shows ongoing changes to the bay's ecosystem, many caused by human activities.
The information gathered during the program, however, is only the start of a long-term plan to keep an eye on the 600-square-mile bay, according to officials at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.
The center has collected basic water quality data in the bay such as temperatures for 25 years as part of its study of the endangered North Atlantic right whale, Hughes said.
The newest round of monitoring includes not only water temperature but also salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH levels and other measurements.
"I think probably one of the most important things that we've really seen in this long-term monitoring is a degradation in water quality at near-shore and inshore sampling stations," Hughes said.
Conditions at 55 percent of the 54 monitored stations have improved but 40 percent, primarily those close to shore, have shown declines in water quality, according to the report.
"That's where most people are active, where we swim, where we shellfish, where we fish," Hughes said.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times