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Harbor committee renews four seafood-buyer permits, plans ordinance review on 'active use'
Summary
The committee renewed the town’s four seafood-buyer permits under existing terms, heard a public comment from buyer applicant Tegan Candage about how 'active use' is defined, and directed staff to prepare draft ordinance language for future consideration.
The Mount Desert harbor committee voted to renew the town’s four seafood-buyer permits under the current terms and fees, while agreeing to draft ordinance language that would more precisely define what constitutes an “active” buyer.
During public comment, Tegan Candage identified herself as “Mount Desert Island born and raised” and said she is a lobster fisherman who this year became a wholesale lobster buyer and would like to obtain one of the permits. She asked how the committee defines “active” use for renewal and whether grandfathering of existing permit holders would block new applicants.
Committee members replied that the existing renewal process requires the harbor master to forward renewals to the harbor committee, which meets in December; license renewals are to be issued by Dec. 31. The committee noted that Bartlett’s buyers pay a $1,500 fee while other buyer permits were described in the packet as $5,000 (committee members clarified the Bartlett fee is $1,500 and that fee structure varies by berth). One member said he had reached out to each of the four current buyers and had received no complaints about their conduct.
The committee approved a motion to accept the current buyers under the same terms by voice vote, and asked staff to draft ordinance language clarifying “active use,” transaction frequency and possible limits per business for consideration at the January meeting and potential warrant article in February.
Next steps: staff will collect buyer transaction data for the January meeting and work with an attorney to draft proposed ordinance language if the committee chooses to pursue changes.
