In 2013 a report was created by a project team of graduate students from the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Department at Tufts University.
The report evaluates the history and current status of seven lesser-known traditional uses:
- beach plum harvesting
- cranberry harvesting
- eel fishing
- smelt fishing
- herring fishing
- oyster harvesting
- salt marsh haying
There were two overarching goals of this report: to research and document information about the Great Marsh’s lesser-known history, and to identify ways that education about these historical uses could help to promote the Eight Towns and the Great Marsh Committee’s goal of preserving, protecting, and enhancing the environmental resources of the Marsh. Promotion of these traditional uses could be an important way to generate public knowledge about and stewardship for this important environmental resource.