Others will measure phosphates, nitrates, temperature, salinity and tidal flow. The committee also plans to develop a volunteer program and get schools involved. Dealing with the invasive purple loosestrife, and the occasional flood of pogies, will also be addressed. Project coordinator Theo Holtwijk, Brunswick's planning director, heads the public awareness component. The goal of the project is to eventually open all the shellfishing flats.
Some people see mud, others see gold.
Treating the gold with care is vital. Holtwijk estimates it will take about six months to come up with a public education program. Formulating the scientific part will take a year. A final watershed action plan should be ready by 2003. There are also sizable lobster, quahog, mussel and marine worm hauls, as well as a nascent oyster aquaculture business, for which figures are not yet available, Houston said.