State fisheries agency seeks to repair Wings Pond fishway; Commission continues hearing for DEP number

Brad Chase, representing the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, told the Falmouth Conservation Commission on Sept. 11 that the agency proposes a targeted repair of a 1974 fishway that currently connects Wings Pond and Buzzards Bay. The project would remove three concrete weirs the agency judged no longer needed, reform one degraded weir with a concrete form, and install bank-stabilization measures such as fiber rolls and toe stones where flows have eroded the banks. Chase said one of the weirs (weir 10) might be difficult to reach with the excavator and could be left in place if removal would cause more bank damage.Staff asked Chase to provide the DEP submission; Chase acknowledged he had not yet delivered the full package to the Southeast Region. Jen (Conservation staff) told Chase the Commission needed a DEP file number for its record and suggested continuing the hearing. The Commission voted unanimously to continue the Wings Pond hearing to Sept. 25 specifically to allow the applicant to secure and provide a DEP number and for any further agency review.Chase said the Division had already secured Massachusetts historic- preservation approval and was coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for their review. He described the work as “a fairly simple project” limited primarily to bank stabilization and the selective removal or reformation of a small number of weirs to improve fish passage. Commissioners and staff generally expressed support for restoring the herring run while urging care to avoid extra disturbance when excavating inaccessible weirs. The hearing will be reopened on Sept. 25 when the DEP number is available.