[Red Badger]

In a pond?.....................

[x]

Edgartown Great Pond is an 890 acre (at high water) brackish coastal pond located on the South Shore of Martha’s Vineyard.  A thin strip of beach called a “barrier beach” separates the shoreline of the Pond from the Atlantic Ocean.  Four times a year the narrowest portion of the barrier beach is cut open to the Atlantic Ocean.  The influx of salty water from this cut to the ocean increases the salinity, reduces the temperature, and refreshes the Pond with tidal flushes throughout the duration of the opening.  Over the course of time the tides begin to fill in the cut and the barrier beach heals itself.  The tradition of cutting the Pond comes from the Wampanoag Tribe who historically dug the opening in the barrier beach to maintain the water quality for their fishery.

[x]

Edgartown Great Pond is an 890 acre (at high water) brackish coastal pond located on the South Shore of Martha’s Vineyard.  A thin strip of beach called a “barrier beach” separates the shoreline of the Pond from the Atlantic Ocean.  Four times a year the narrowest portion of the barrier beach is cut open to the Atlantic Ocean.  The influx of salty water from this cut to the ocean increases the salinity, reduces the temperature, and refreshes the Pond with tidal flushes throughout the duration of the opening.  Over the course of time the tides begin to fill in the cut and the barrier beach heals itself.  The tradition of cutting the Pond comes from the Wampanoag Tribe who historically dug the opening in the barrier beach to maintain the water quality for their fishery.