Buzzards Bay

This article is about the body of water. For the adjacent village, seeBuzzards Bay, Massachusetts.For the racehorse, seeBuzzards Bay (horse).

Buzzards Bay
Map of Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay
Location	Massachusetts
Coordinates	41°36′N70°45′W
Etymology	Named afterospreythat were mistakenly called "buzzards"
Part of	Atlantic Ocean
Max. length	28 mi (45 km)
Max. width	8 mi (13 km)
Surface area	250 sq mi (650 km2)
Average depth	36 ft (11 m)
Settlements	New Bedford, Massachusetts

Buzzards Bay and surrounding area from orbit (looking southwest)

Buzzards Bayis abayof theAtlantic Oceanadjacent to theU.S. stateofMassachusetts.It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination forfishing,boating,andtourism.Buzzards Bay is often considered the finest sailing location on the East Coast and is frequently compared in terms of sailing conditions to San Francisco Bay. Since 1914, Buzzards Bay has been connected toCape Cod Bayby theCape Cod Canal.In 1988, under theClean Water Act,theEnvironmental Protection Agencyand the Commonwealth of Massachusetts designated Buzzards Bay to theNational Estuary Program,as "an estuary of national significance" that is threatened by pollution, land development, or overuse.

Geography

It is surrounded by theElizabeth Islandson the south, byCape Codon the east, and thesouthern coastsofBristolandPlymouthcounties in Massachusetts to the northwest. To the southwest, the bay is connected toRhode Island Sound.The city ofNew Bedford, Massachusettsis a historically significant port on Buzzards Bay; thePort of New Bedfordthe world's most successful whaling port during the early- and mid-19th century, and has been the nation's most productive fishing port for the last several years.

Geology

Buzzards Bay was created during the latter portion of thePleistoceneepoch through the interplay of glacial and oceanic processes. Beginning fifty thousand to seventy thousand years ago, the edges of the continentalice sheetcovering much ofNorth Americabegan to fluctuate, leavingmorainesto mark the former extent of the receded ice. One such moraine forms Cape Cod, which is most of the eastern shoreline of Buzzards Bay.

In addition to the moraines, the melting ice sheet produced extensiveoutwash plainscomposed of mixed sediments and ice that bordered the bay to the northwest and west. Melting ice blocks in the outwash deposits formed distinctive circular features calledkettle lakes.Numerous examples of kettle lakes can be found to the northwest of the Cape Cod Canal. Finally, waters released from the melting ice sheet raised sea level by sixty to one-hundred-twenty meters (198–396 feet) and drowned preexisting outwash channels. Toward the end of the last ice age, fifteen thousand years ago until about six thousand years ago, Buzzards Bay was still dry land.During the past six thousand years, sea level has risen an average of one foot per century, and until about four thousand years ago, the landward boundary of Buzzards Bay extended only to about the current thirty-foot bathymetric contour, forming a coastline two-thirds of the way up the current bay, between West Falmouth and Mattapoisett.

The bay's current configuration, a well-mixed central bay and fringing shallow drowned-river valleys, with their shallow depth, tidal action, and surface waves, promotes mi xing of theestuarinewaters to create a productive aquatic ecosystem. Like many estuaries, however, increasing development and land-use changes by the surrounding communities are accompanied bynutrient runoffleading toeutrophication(an increase in nutrient levels leading to oxygen depletion) in the smallerembayments.Decreases ineelgrass,scallops,andherringhave also been noted, but direct cause-and-effect relationships are not clear. Coordinated management efforts in Buzzards Bay have helped to decreaseshellfishclosures, conserve habitat forsea birds,and preserve open space.

History

Birds eye view map, 1909

Buzzards Bay was first named Gosnold's Hope by CaptainBartholomew Gosnold.The modern name was presumably given bycolonistswho saw a large bird that they called abuzzardnear its shores. The bird was actually anosprey.After a downturn caused byDDT,today increasing numbers of osprey breed along the shores of the bay thanks to restoration efforts led by the Buzzards Bay Coalition and longtime Westport residents Gil and Josephine Fernandez.

The first naval engagement of theAmerican Revolution,theBattle off Fairhaven,occurred in Buzzards Bay whenpatriotsretrieved two vessels that were captured by the British sloop of warFalcon.On 14 May 1775, American Captain Daniel Egery and Capt. Nathaniel Pope ofFairhavenin the sloopSuccess(40 tons, 30 men) retrieved two vessels captured by the British crew of Captain John Linzee (Lindsey), Royal Navy commander of HMSFalcon(14 guns, 110 men). Crew memberNoah Stoddardand the others took the first naval prisoners of the war, 13 British crew; two were wounded and one died.

The bay was the location, in 1936, of one of only five documented fatal shark attacks in the commonwealth's history.

In 1987, researchers from theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutionexperimented with a new growth structure allowingBlue musselsto grow above theBenthic Turbidity Zoneleading to a new commercial scalemariculturetechnique.

In 1991, towns located on Buzzards Bay suffered the worst effects from thestorm surgeofHurricane Bob.

The Buzzards Bay disaster happened on April 27, 2003.Anoilspill of 98,000 gallons of oil leaked from abarge,destroying much of theshellfishbusiness and killing manybirds.

Ra Ra Riot's John Pike's body was found in Buzzard's Bay. He had disappeared from a party in Fairhaven, Massachusetts in June 2007, and was found several weeks later in the bay.

On January 7, 2018, due to the2017–18 North American cold wave,part of the bay froze over.

Islands

• Amrita Island
• Bassetts Island
• Bird Island
• Elizabeth Islands
  • Bachelor Island
  • Baret Island
  • Cuttyhunk Island
  • Nashawena Island
  • Naushon Island
  • Nonamesset Island
  • Pasque Island
  • Penikese Island
  • Uncatena Island
  • Veckatimest Island
  • Weepecket Islands
• Gull Island
• Monohansett Island
• Onset Island
• West Island
• Wickets Island

See also

• List of islands of Massachusettsfor a more-or-less complete listing of the islets, rocks, and ledges within the bay.

Further reading

• "Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts".NASA Earth Observatory.Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-30.Retrieved2006-05-08.
• High-resolution Geophysical Data from the Inner Continental Shelf: Buzzards Bay, MassachusettsUnited States Geological Survey

External links

• The Buzzards Bay watershed.
• The Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program.
• 1906 Bird's Eye View of Buzzards Bay
• Buzzards Bay Coalition
• Sailing Buzzards Bay: Photographs