It’s a problem up and down most of South County’s open-ocean shoreline. In Charlestown, for instance, its three coastal salt ponds - Quonochontaug, Ninigret and Green Hill - are being negatively impacted by a high concentration of housing and development. This watershed is so built up that important ecosystems are under relentless pressure. The salt pond region of southern Rhode Island extends from Maschaug Pond in Westerly to Point Judith Pond in Narragansett and forms the natural boundary between Block Island Sound and a shallow freshwater aquifer. Bacteria from faulty septic systems and outdated cesspools also plays a role in the pond’s degradation. No one has since the 1990s, because of high levels of nonpoint source pollution such as stormwater runoff that contains excess nitrogen from fertilizers. Today, no one harvests oysters from Green Hill Pond. It is estimated that $30,000 to $40,000 worth of oysters have been taken from the pond annually during the past years.” The harvest is valued at $6 to $7 per bushel. About eight commercial oystermen work the pond and many persons harvest oysters for personal use. Fish & Wildlife Service regional director Eugene Crawford to the Army Corps of Engineers, Crawford wrote, “A large annual oyster harvest is being taken from Green Hill Pond. But the pond’s history shows brighter days, when men and women of the sea would bring rakes, buckets and bags and dig through the mud for oysters and clams.
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