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Advisory board discusses bycatch limits, shellfish closure areas and pending town regulation amendments
Summary
Members discussed clarity needed in town shellfish regulations about bycatch retention when fishing in contaminated or closed areas, agreed to request town-council review status of drafted amendments, and suggested adding dinghy identification rules to future agendas.
The Harbor Shellfish Advisory Board discussed how town regulation language should handle bycatch taken in shellfish closure areas and asked staff to track draft amendments with town counsel.
Tara Riley said the draft amendments to the town shellfish regulations were sent to town counsel after the board previously approved a draft; she said staff will request a status update and timeline from counsel. The board agreed to keep the item on future agendas until town-council review is complete.
Members focused on a recurring question: how to treat bycatch taken from a contaminated or closed area. Several board members said the regulation should make clear that if a person fishes in the closure area on a given day, they may not retain any bycatch for the remainder of that day in order to avoid commingling shellfish from contaminated waters with legal harvest from other areas. One board member noted that bycatch is often given away rather than sold, but members said public-health and traceability concerns support a clear prohibition on retaining bycatch taken in a closure area.
The board also discussed dinghy regulations, mentioning proposals that dinghies carry identifying names and phone numbers and that the draft regulation language be circulated for review. Members asked staff to invite relevant town personnel (for example, Sheila) to a future meeting to discuss dinghy-dock and overcrowding concerns and to circulate the updated draft regulations prior to the next meeting.
No formal regulation changes were adopted at the meeting; Riley said she will follow up with town counsel and have Jeff or appropriate staff propose specific regulatory amendments if counsel has not completed its review.
