The Pocasset River is a small
tidal river
A tidal river is a river whose flow and level are influenced by tides. A section of a larger river affected by the tides is a tidal reach, but it may sometimes be considered a tidal river if it has been given a separate name.
Generally, tidal ri ...
and
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
on the eastern shore of
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
, in
Bourne, Massachusetts
Bourne ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census.
For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Bourne, please see the articles on Bourne (CDP), ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It is located between the villages of
Monument Beach and
Pocasset along the western coast of
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
. The river flows westward through a series of small ponds and wetlands, with a total length of about 2 miles (3.2 km).
The river's Mill and Shop Ponds were historically used by the
Pocasset Iron Foundry (1822–81) and Tahanto Art Works (1882–1900), which made use of the native
bog iron
Bog iron is a form of impure iron deposit that develops in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation
Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. O ...
. In 1980 the Pocasset River was listed as an
Area of Critical Environmental Concern
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) is a conservation ecology program in the Western United States, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ACEC program was conceived in the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (F ...
by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
.
List of ACECs
/ref>
Alewife spawn during April and May, and the river contains bluefish
The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...
, flounder, scup, striped bass, blue crab Blue crab may refer to:
* Blue Crab 11, an American sailboat design
* ''Callinectes sapidus'' – Chesapeake or Atlantic blue crab of the West Atlantic, introduced elsewhere
* '' Cardisoma guanhumi'' – blue land crab of the West Atlantic
* '' Dis ...
, lobster,softshell clam
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...
s,and huge 14' sharks.
See also
* Back River
References
External links
The Coalition for Buzzards Bay
Massachusetts Estuaries Project
Rivers of Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Rivers of Massachusetts
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