Consultants Complete Second Fish Capture In Effort To Clear Mill Pond Of Carp

Originally posted on Southampton Press

Princeton Hydro, a consultant hired by the Town of Southampton as part of a habitat restoration project at Mill Pond in Water Mill completed a second fish capture over the weekend of June 16, according to a release sent out by the Mill Pond Association.

Princeton Hydro’s mission is to dial down the carp population in Mill Pond, which is one of the causes of large blooms of toxic cyanobacteria in the pond during the spring and summer.

The carp population contributes about 40 percent of nutrients to the system feeding the bacteria. Meanwhile, stormwater runoff contributes 34 percent of nutrients, and septic systems contribute 11 percent.

The carp removal in June yielded 400 to 500 carp. However, also according the press release, a large number of snapping turtles scavenged bait bags and dense lily pads impeded the effectiveness of nets. Princeton Hydro will be returning in July and August to conduct two additional capture events, the last of which will be at the company’s own expense, according to the release.

Geoffrey M. Goll, the president of Princeton Hydro, stated in the press release that the complimentary carp removal event represents his team’s commitment to maximizing carp removal, and their dedication to “helping Southampton restore this valuable community asset.”

Steve Abramson, chairman of the Mill Pond Association, is well aware of the causes of Mill Pond’s algae blooms, and Princeton Hydro’s progress, he said.

The major source of road runoff is from Deerfield Road, he said, but Southampton Town Highway Superintendent “Alex Gregor [has] designed a very cost-effective system which will prevent immediate insult from nutrients carried in storm water.”

“These drains prevent massive sudden inflows to the pond, but over time the nutrients will travel [via groundwater] into Mill Pond,” he said. “We may need to add filters to the drains in the future.”

The town is committed to restoring Mill Pond through a number of water remediation processes. The press release points out that Princeton Hydro will additionally install six floating wetland islands that “will test another approach to nutrient reduction in hypereutrophic lakes like Mill Pond.”

“The plants that comprise the floating islands will absorb nutrients from the water column which is virtually a hydroponic solution of nitrogen and phosphorous,” Mr. Abramson said.

The nitrogen and phosphorous are essentially the materials that exist in excess, and must be removed.

The plant material will grow and continue to absorb nutrients, Mr. Abramson said, and the islands will be placed at identified inflow points of storm water runoff.

In terms of adapting Princeton Hydro’s carp removal strategies in July and August, Mr. Abramson explained that the team will resist damage by snapping turtles by doubling the bait bags, to improve the odds that turtles do not compromise all of them. He also shared that the consultants who produced the remediation plans, and Carp Solutions, the firm whose special box nets are employed, are sourcing tougher material for the bait bags.

Lily pads will have to be removed in the future from the vicinity of nets, and harvested before they die back and return their nutrients to the water column, he said.

“MPA and the Trustees will have to apply separately to the DEC for permission for that harvesting, but I believe it has already been approved for Lake Agawam, so there should be no trouble with approvals,” Mr. Abramson said.

Overall, future carp removal and water remediation will be an annual effort, because carp populations are abundant.

Mr. Abramson also spoke on the value that Mill Pond has in Water Mill and the Southampton community.

He explained that reports about the decline in health at Mill Pond began up to 35 years ago. Mill Pond sits at the bottom of a funnel from quite a lot of farmland, he said. Runoff from this farmland — combined with residential property owners who are responsible for not installing buffers — have exacerbated the pond’s trend toward eutrophication.

Mr. Abramson recalled the former water quality enjoyed in Mill Pond, and his memories of the summer activities that used to occur there. He shared that when his family purchased their land in 1996, and built their house during the two years following, there were two fishing clubs that put around 10 boats in the water every weekend for large-mouth bass fishing contests.

In the winter, he said, Mill Pond froze over solid for several nights, and children and ice-boaters could be seen across the pond.

Further, Mr. Abramson shared a lesser known history about the pond: “Historically, Mill Pond at one time had a large ice-harvesting business. Ice froze four inches thick virtually overnight, which enabled workers to go out on the pond with sleds and donkeys and cut big sections, push them under another section producing eight,” and repeating the next night to create one-foot thick ice. Then blocks of a cubic foot were cut and put on a conveyor belt to carry them to houses. Lined with straw, the ice could be preserved for delivery to Brooklyn via the railroad.”

Photographs from 1900

Mr. Abramson said that the goal is to reduce the bio-availability of nutrients to algae, “and restore this 92-acre freshwater pond to a clear, swimmable water body by 2025.”