| Scholarships and Grant Awards |
| Wellfleet Shellfish Promotion and Tasting is SPAT, a name that honors the oyster, which begins life as a free-swimming larva called spat. SPAT is a non-profit organization that fosters greater understanding of the town's shellfishing industry and the history and traditions of its aquaculture and wild fisheries, and is committed to enhancing the Town of Wellfleet and supporting its community. SPAT produces the annual Wellfleet OysterFest and proceeds support its educational mission, including a Nauset Regional High School scholarship program, and grant awards to people pursuing careers in shellfishing or those whose creative and educational work increases awareness of Wellfleet's shellfishery, an important part of our community life.
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| Scholarship Program |
| Each May, SPAT awards a $10,000 scholarship to a graduating Nauset Regional High School (NRHS) student pursuing four years of higher learning in aquaculture or a related field. The scholarship is distributed as $2,500 each year for the four years the student continues his/her studies. Students interested in applying for this scholarship should speak with their guidance counselors at NRHS. |
| 2012 |
Jamie Fritzgerald of Wellfleet |
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Jamie has had a life-long interest in the environment and has volunteered with Mass Audubon and Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Jamie plans to major in Environmental Science at Tulane University in Louisiana in order to expand her knowledge of marine ecology and biology. She is considering a career in Environmental Law so that she may use her understanding of the natural world to help protect the environment. |
| 2011 |
Keenan Yakola of Eastham |
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SPAT will contribute $10,000 to his college degree, distributed in $2,500 increments over the next four years. Keenan will attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a concentration in environmental studies. Upon graduation, his goal is to work with the National Park Service managing coastal estuaries and protecting fragile environments.
Best of luck, Keenan! |
| 2010 |
Nathan Quinn of Eastham, MA |
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Quinn discovered a passion for the environment while studying natural sciences and Cape Cod ecosystems in high school. These studies led him to pursue a degree in environmental science, and upon graduation, he plans to return to the Cape to put his knoweldge to work. |
| 2009 |
Max Tringale of Orleans, MA |
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Tringale is going to boat-building school in Maine and plans to return to the Cape when he finishes his schooling so that he can build boats for shellfishermen and other seafarers who make a living in our waters. |
| 2008 |
Henry Valdez of Wellfleet, MA |
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Valdez attendsJohnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he studies culinary arts and loves inventing creative new shellfish recipes.
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| 2007 |
Allison Baker of Wellfleet, MA |
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Baker will attend Boston’s Simmons College in the fall of 2007, where she will study public relations and marketing. She hopes to put her degree towards a marketing campaign to promote Wellfleet’s aquaculture industry. |
| 2006 |
Jacob Puffer of Wellfleet, MA |
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Puffer is currently a student at Boston’s Emmanuel College, where he is focusing on business courses to help him run his family’s aquaculture operation upon graduation. |
| Grant Awards Program |
| 2013 SPAT Community Grant Application - click here |
| SPAT’s grant awards program provides funds to those whose creative or educational contributions increase awareness of the community’s shellfishing practices and traditions. The deadline to apply for these grants is March 1, 2013. The SPAT Board will review applications in April and will then announce recipients. Those interested can download an application here. Preference is given to projects that directly support shellfishing in Wellfleet and SPAT's educational mission. |
| 2012 |
The Town of Wellfleet CWPC ($5,000) |
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The Town of Wellfleet Comprehensive Wastewater Planning Committee has received a grant in support of the town's Oyster Propagation and Habitat Restoration effort. This project is designed to increase native oyster populations which also provide critical breeding habitat for fish, turtles and many other organisms all of which significantly improves water quality. |
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Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary ($3,800) |
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Leaders in life science education, Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary will bring its Coastal Ecology of Wellfleet Harbor curriculum to the 5th grade students at Wellfleet Elementary School. Many families in Wellfleet are involved with the shellfishing industry and this educational program offers an understanding of relevant ecosystem and coastal issues that impact the lives of these students and their families. |
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Safe Harbor Environmental Services ($2580) |
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Safe Harbor Environmental Services is restoring the barrier dune of Ballston Beach at the headwaters of the Pamet River estuary to safeguard habitat for a wide diversity of birds, mammals, vegetation and bi-valves. This critical habitat of the coastal barrier dune was actually restored by an innovative system developed by Safe Harbor, called biomimicry, a process that the organization plans to make Public Domain and publishing a booklet providing instructions on how to use it. |
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Wellfleet Public Library ($1000) |
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The Wellfleet Public Library has received an unrestricted grant to support of the Library's vital role in the community in general and specifically The Outermost Sustainable Development Reading Group Project which will focus on ideas about long term, appropriate and sustainable economic development including shellfishing. |
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The Wellfleet Community HarborFest ($1000) |
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HarborFest is a celebration of the fishing industry in Wellfleet. Event organizers are producing a guide-map featuring main points of interest around the harbor and pier. SPAT supports the production of this guide that will serve the needs of boaters, visitors and other users of the marina facilities. |
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Wellfleet Blossoms ($500) |
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Along with other local sponsors, SPAT supported the inaugural, Wellfleet Blossoms festival which highlighted young and emerging artists from the Outer Cape working in a wide range of mediums. |
| 2011 |
Mass Audubon Society’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary ($2,500) |
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The Wellfleet Shellfish Trail Guide and Map ($2,400) |
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Community Development Partnership (CDP) ($2,100) |
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SPAT proactively awarded a grant to the Community Development Partnership (CDP) because its mission is closely aligned with the goals of SPAT. The CDP provides funding for Wellfleet fishermen developing new business plans and in need of financial support. |
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The Wellfleet Conservation Commission ($2,000) |
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The Wellfleet Conservation Commission will create a brochure outlining the Wetland Protection Act and Wellfleet’s environmental protection bylaws. The Commission has observed an increase in public violations of these bylaws. SPAT is proud to enable the production of this brochure to benefit the shellfishing community by informing people about regulations and how to protect our essential tidal flats where these species—vital to the environmental and economic health of the town—reproduce and grow. |
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Wellfleet Montessori Preschool ($500) |
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The Wellfleet Montessori Preschool will use these funds provided by the SPAT grant to create a permanent science corner in their classroom. |
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Wellfleet Community Harborfest ($500) |
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The Wellfleet Community Harborfest, held on June 11, 2011, highlighted all the harbor has to offer, SPAT awarded a grant to support this nascent festival and the production of a permanent map to inform residents and visitors about the harbor, the meaning of buoys and the village of Wellfleet. |
| 2010 |
Wellfleet Historical Commission ($2,000) |
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Perfectly aligning with SPAT's mission to educate the community about the history and traditions of shellfishing, this grant enabled Wellfleet Historical Commission to restore one of the last remaining oyster shacks generously donated to the town by the Burgess Family. Oyster shacks dotted Duck Creek and the marina area back in the heyday of Wellfleet’s wild oyster fishery. They were used by shellfishermen to cull and shuck oysters for market. This shack belonged to Earle Rich, shellfisherman, author and Wellfleet historian. |
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Wellfleet Comprehensice Wastewater Planning Committee ($5,000) |
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With funds provided by SPAT, the committee was able to publish a Septic Best Practices Guide to help the public learn how to reduce septic system failure, which will improve water quality for all of Wellfleet, and especially the harbor. With SPAT's support, it will also initiate a voluntary Shell Recycling Program with local restaurants and commercial and recreational shellfish permit holders. This effort will help increase the amount of cultch (discarded oyster and clam shells) put back into Wellfleet harbor. Cultch serves as important wild shellfish habitat; it is where spat (free-swimming oyster larva) attach themselves to grow. Adding cultch to the harbor ensures future oyster populations. |
| 2008-2009 |
Nauset Regional High School (NRHS), Eastham, MA ($1,000) |
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In celebration of its expanding mission, SPAT is helping fund an outdoor initiative program at NRHS. The program allows students access to an outdoor experience to help "round out" their understanding of how and where we live within our environment. |
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The Parkington Sisters, Wellfleet, MA ($750) |
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SPAT gave these local singer-songwriters a grant award to help them take the stage at the Nashville Folk Alliance where they entertained audiences with their originals about Cape Cod and our seafaring traditions. While playing violin, cello, piano, mandolin and guitar, the sisters also share lead vocals with up to five-part harmonies. |
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The Wellfleet Pre-School, Wellfleet, MA ($2,500) |
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This community-supported early childhood education service lost its state funding and needed help in order to continue to honor its commitment to Wellfleet’s children and finish out the 2008-2009 school year. SPAT was proud to make an award to keep this essential service up and running. This pre-school will continue under the direction of a volunteer board of parents with Montessori-certified teachers and is now called Wellfleet Montessori Pre-School. |
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Wellfleet State of the Harbor Conference, Wellfleet, MA ($250) |
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This conference provides an excellent venue for researchers and the public to share new information, discoveries and studies vital to our harbor, the lifeblood of Wellfleet. This year, there will be presentations on local restoration projects, water quality and a 2009 river herring count. SPAT's contribution helps the conference produce its printed materials.
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| 2007 |
David Wright of Wellfleet, MA ($2,500) |
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Wright will work with the Wellfleet Historical Society to author a book that will act as a record of the enterprise and ingenuity of Wellfleet’s shellfishermen in building its aquaculture industry. |
| Shellfish Advisory Committee of Wellfleet, MA ($2,000) |
| The committee will conduct an awareness campaign, posting signage and distributing brochures that educate the public about water quality, clean beaches and “pick up after your pet” regulations. |
| 2006 |
Abraham Storer of West Dennis, MA ($1,000) |
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To build on his original grant in 2004, Storer was granted additional tuition support to continue to pursue his interests in both art and shellfishing. Abraham’s drawings and paintings have been exhibited at the Wellfleet Public Library. |
| David Rowell of Wellfleet, MA ($3,000) |
| Rowell designed and constructed two unique park benches for Wellfleet conservation areas using concrete cast from oyster and clamshells and hand-hewn wooden rails made from locust trees. As part of his project, he taught student apprentices the traditions of this age-old construction technique. |
| 2004/05 |
Amalia Marie Aruda of Wilmington, MA ($500) |
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Aruda presented a slideshow at area schools that showcased the aquaculture practices involved in cultivating a market-ready oyster from its larval stage and created a poster exhibit for the library. |
| Karen Dowcett of Yarmouthport, MA ($1,000) |
| SPAT provided financial support for ten individuals to participate in Dowcett’s mask-making workshops in preparation for her comedic mask and puppet review, Cirque de Sea, which was performed at that year’s OysterFest. |
| Nate Johnson of Wellfleet, MA ($1,000) |
| Johnson, a local oysterman with a passion for conservation and an eye for photography, crafted “Faces and Lives of Wellfleet Waters,” a photo essay of the people behind commercial aquaculture. Johnson’s photographs have been exhibited at the Wellfleet Public Library. |
| Abraham Storer of West Dennis, MA ($1,000) |
| In support of his interests in both art and shellfishing, Storer’s grant went toward his tuition at Waltham’s Brandeis University, where he explored the images, emotions, smells and tastes of a lifestyle marked by the shellfishing industry. |
| Wellfleet Public Library, Wellfleet, MA. ($1,000) |
| SPAT enabled the library to collect and purchase new aquaculture materials and literature, properly archive aquaculture films and improve access to these new materials through publicity and programs. |
