Waquoit Bay

Waquoit Bay is a public national estuary, typically used as a research reserve, that is located on the southern shore of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, USA. It is a part of Nantucket Sound. This bay forms the border of the towns of Falmouth and Mashpee. The name Waquoit comes from the Wompanoag language of the word Weeqayut (Waquoit) that means Place of Light.

1893 USGS Map of Waquoit Bay

National Estuarine Research Reserve

Due to the pressures on the coastal resources of the United States, Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act that gave federal aid to operate estuarine areas as natural field laboratories. Waquoit Bay is one of these natural field laboratory zones. The areas that the Coastal Management Act Encompass are: Visitor Center/Headquarters Property 28-acre (11 ha) The Visitor's Center is open year-round, Monday through Friday, 10 am – 4 pm.

This Center has a path to the beach below it and hosts many activities to teach children and anyone who wishes to learn about the marine wildlife in the Bay. South Cape Beach State Park, Sage Lot Pond and Flat Pond 432 acres (175 ha).^[1] This eastern section of the reserve serves as a swimming beach, which is a noted fishing site during the annual bluefish and striped bass migrations. It is also a sanctuary for protected species such as piping plover and least tern. Sage Lot and Flat Ponds are salt ponds to the east of Waquoit Bay.

The Quashnet River Property is 361 acres (approximately 146 ha). The Quashnet River is the primary source of fresh water reaching the bay, which is mostly surrounded by upland forests. There is a three-mile (5 km) trail that loops along the river. North Quashnet Woodlands is 25 acres (approximately 10 ha), these pine woodlands encompass an abandoned cranberry bog.

Trout Unlimited has converted the cranberry bog channel on company grounds back into a river. Waquoit Bay 825 acres (334 ha) Fresh water enters the Bay from four principal sources: the Quashnet/Moonakis River, Red Brook, Childs River, and ground water overflow. The following rivers and bodies of water are salt ponds traced back to the east of the Waquoit Bay, reachable by kayak: the Hamblin Pond, 141 acres (57 ha), Jehu Pond, 172 acres (70 ha) Abigail's Brook The following freshwater ponds drain to the Waquoit Bay at the northern side and offer kayaking and fishing:Bog Pond, 2.8 acres (1.1 ha) Bourne Pond, is just over 10 acres (4.0 ha) in surface area and consequently is considered a Great Pond under the laws of the Massachusetts.

As such it is kept in trust for all citizens and is not privately owned. Caleb Pond, 5.7 acres (2.3 ha). Childs River: Abandoned cranberry bogs and pine woodlands.^[1]

Washburn Island Washburn Island is a small nature reserve Within Waquoit Bay. During World War II Washburn Island was used by the Army Amphibious Command as a landing area. This camp was home to the 594th Engineer boat and shore regiment.

In the early 1960s Norwegian researcher Johannes Kr. Tornöe suggested Waquoit Bay could be the location of Leifsbudir, [Leif's booths or houses] the long sought site of the Norse colony of Vinland.

Prominent fish and arthropods

Fish seen in the Waquoit Bay and its connecting waters include blueback herring, brook trout, rainbow trout, golden shiner, banded killifish, and northern pipefish.^[1] Arthropods present include the blue crab, hermit crab, and barnacles.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 U.S. Department of Commerce,, NOAA (July 1984). "Waquoit bay national estuarine sanctuary draft environmental impact statement and draft management plan.". Gpo gov. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.

Waterbodies of Massachusetts
Bays, Coves, and Sounds	Assonet Bay Broad Sound Buzzards Bay Cape Cod Bay Cat Cove Dorchester Bay Duxbury Bay Fairhaven Bay Hingham Bay Juniper Cove Massachusetts Bay Nahant Bay Nantucket Sound Narragansett Bay Orleans Cove Plymouth Bay Popponesset Bay Quincy Bay Vineyard Sound Waquoit Bay Warren Cove
Canals, Channels, and Straits	Blackstone Canal Broad Brook Canal Broad Canal Canapitsit Channel Cape Cod Canal Fort Point Channel Hampshire and Hampden Canal Holyoke Canal System Hypocrite Channel Jeremiah's Gutter Lechmere Canal Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse Madaket Ditch Merrimack Canal Middlesex Canal Mother Brook North Canal Pawtucket Canal Quick's Hole Robinson's Hole Salem Channel Salem Beverly Waterway Canal South Channel South Hadley Canal Turners Falls Canal Woods Hole
Estuaries	Annisquam River Back River Bass River Boston Harbor Buzzards Bay Fore River Mitchell River Mount Hope Bay Oyster Pond River Popponesset Bay Quashnet River Weir River
Harbors	Barnstable Harbor Boston Harbor East Harbor Hyannis Harbor Marblehead Harbor Plymouth Harbor Provincetown Harbor Rock Harbor Salem Harbor
Lakes	Briggs Reservoir Buffumville Lake Charge Pond Chebacco Lake Crystal Lake Follins Pond Hickory Hills Lake Indian Lake Lake Ashmere Lake Attitash Lake Boon Lake Buel Lake Chaubunagungamaug Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochituate Lake Garfield Lake Massapoag Lake Monomonac Lake Nippenicket Lake Onota Lake Quannapowitt Lake Quinsigamond Lake Rico Lake Sabbatia Lake Saltonstall Lewis Lake Little Quittacas Pond Long Pond Mystic Lakes Pine Lake Pocksha Pond Prankers Pond Silver Lake Wallum Lake Wenham Lake Whites Pond
Ponds	Abner Pond Arnold School Pond Barrett Pond Bartlett Pond Bates Pond Beaver Dam Pond Big Rocky Pond Big Sandy Pond Billington Sea Black Jimmy Pond Bloody Pond Boot Pond Brooks Pond Browning Pond Bullough's Pond Campus Pond Cedar Pond Clay Pit Pond College Pond Cooks Pond Crossman Pond Curlew Pond Deer Pond Dug Pond Dunham Pond East Head Reservoir Elbow Pond Ezekiel Pond Fairyland Pond Fawn Pond Fearing Pond Federal Pond Five Mile Pond Forge Pond Fresh Meadow Pond Fresh Pond Fuller Street Pond Furnace Pond Gallows Pond Glen Charlie Pond Great Herring Pond Great Island Pond Great South Pond Gunners Exchange Pond Halfway Pond Hardy Pond Harrobs Corner Bog Pond Hedges Pond Hocomonco Pond Horn Pond Houghton's Pond Hoyts Pond Indian Head Pond Indian Pond Island Creek Pond Island Pond (Cedarville) Island Pond (Plymouth) Jacobs Pond Keene Pond Kings Pond Lake Lashaway Learned Pond Leonards Pond Little Herring Pond Little Long Pond (Plymouth) Little Long Pond (Wareham) Little Pond Little Rocky Pond Little Sandy Bottom Pond Little Sandy Pond Little West Pond Long Duck Pond Long Island Pond Long Pond (Plymouth) Long Pond (Rochester) Lout Pond Lower Chandler Pond Maquan Pond Mary's Pond Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds Micajah Pond Mill Pond (Duxbury) Mill Pond (Wareham) Monponsett Pond Morey Hole Muddy Pond New Long Pond North Hill Marsh Pond North Triangle Pond Oldham Pond Parker Mills Pond Pembroke Street South Pond Pine Street Pond Quaboag Pond Redd's Pond Reeds Millpond Robbins Pond Rocky Pond Round Pond Russell Millpond Russell Pond Sampsons Pond Sandy Pond Sargent's Pond Savery Pond Sawins Pond Scargo Lake Shallow Pond Ship Pond Smelt Pond Smith Pool Snipatuit Pond South Meadow Brook Reservoir South Meadow Pond South Triangle Pond Spectacle Pond Spring Pond Spy Pond Stetson Pond Studleys Pond Thompson Pond Tihonet Pond Tispaquin Pond Tremont Mill Pond Triangle Pond Tuxbury Pond Union Pond Upper Chandler Pond Vaughn Pond Walden Pond Walker Pond Wampatuck Pond Watson Pond Watuppa Ponds West Chandler Pond White Island Pond Winnecunnet Pond
Reservoirs	Aaron River Reservoir Accord Pond Ashley Reservoir Assawompset Pond Big Pond Blackmore Pond Briggs Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir Fisher Hill Reservoir Fort Meadow Reservoir Fresh Pond Great Quittacas Pond Great Sandy Bottom Pond Haggetts Pond High Service Water Tower and Reservoir Lake Wyola Little South Pond Littleville Lake Lost Lake Miscoe Lake Neponset Reservoir Norton Reservoir Otis Reservoir Quabbin Reservoir Round Pond Silver Lake Stockbridge Bowl Stony Brook Stump Pond Sudbury Reservoir Sugden Reservoir Tully Lake Wachusett Reservoir Weston Reservoir

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