HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-3-21Agenda
Shellfish Bylaw Review Workgroup
March 21, 2013 6 p.m.
Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill Blount, Jo Perkins, Ron Shepherd, Stephen Estabrooks,
Peter Brace, Ted Lambrecht, Doug Smith, Matt Herr
MEMBERS ABSENT: Carl Sjolund
STAFF: Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley
OTHERS: Wass students, Neil Cocker, Dan Pronk
CALL TO ORDER
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APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
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Approved unanimously
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APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
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Approved unanimously
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CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
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OLD BUSINESS
Mussels — Neil Cocker
The group revisited mussels with Mr. Cocker sharing his knowledge of the fishery in
Nantucket waters and the group agreed that 1.5 inches should be the minimum legal size
for harvesting because the thousands of eider ducks that feed on blue mussels during the
winter don't care what size they are, so a two -inch minimum would be too restrictive. Mr.
Cocker advised and the group re- affirmed that commercial mussel fishermen should use a
maximum of four scallop dredges to harvest mussels because that amount is enough to
catch all the mussels in a given bed while not scouring a trench through the mud.
NEW BUSINESS
Quahogs
The group agreed with the current commercial season of year-round, commercial hours
of sunrise to sunset and the state minimum size of one inch. The group discussed whether
the daily limit should be 20 bushels. Mr. Pronk, who the town granted a commercial
quahog permit in 2012 to take 20 bushels of quahogs a day, reported that he had yet to
come close to getting that many a day since he got that permit. The group agreed that 20
bushels a day works.
On methods, the workgroup decided that dredges and toothed hand rakes would be the
gear. Mr. Herr noted that the state regulations allow a 48 -inch hydro-dredge for the taking
of quahogs. Mr. Shepherd asked if quahogs caught as bycatch could be sold to island
fishmongers, noting that it had been done in the past, but Mr. Blount reminded the group
that the general shellfish bycatch was not on tonight's agenda. Mr. Shepherd said the
group should determine which areas would be open to commercial quahogging and which
would be closed, and who designates these areas. Mr. Herr said commercial quahoggers
can't go for quahogs in and around the town part of the harbor including the Horseshed,
but that they can dig on Hussey Shoal. Mr. Pronk confirmed this for the group. Mr.
Shepherd said he thinks it's reasonable to designate certain areas as recreational -only for
quahogs, but that there shouldn't be a regulation preventing recreational quahoggers for
digging wherever they want to. Mr. Riley said she'd never heard of areas closed to
recreational people and that it isn't written down anywhere that commercial guys can
only dig on Hussey Shoal. Mr. Carlson said the group should expect to encounter a lot of
unwritten rules, which either need to be formalized or done away with. Ms. Riley said
there is an area outside of the harbor in Nantucket that the state closes to the taking of
quahogs April I to April 30 and from June I to Sept. 15. Mr. Herr said these seasonal
closures were set sometime in the 1970s. Mr. Shepherd said he recalled a state regulation
prohibiting hydraulic dredges, but Mr. Carlson said that use of hydraulic dredges is a
limited entry fishery for which the state isn't issuing anymore permits.
Mr. Cocker described the stick dredge used by quahoggers on Cape Cod, which was a
bull rake attached to the bow of a boat that the fishermen pumped up and down to loosen
the clams, but that it was banned on the Cape because it worked too well and also
destroyed the bottom. He added that some of the regulations for quahogging were
hatched around that time. Mr. Blount said that if an offshore fishery is started in town
waters, a hydraulic dredges would be needed to get these clams. Mr. Pronk agreed,
indicating that it's nearly impossible to pull a dry dredge through sandy bottoms. Mr.
Blount said the group should not outlaw hydraulic dredges because should this fishery
expand, fishermen would need this dredge to get their catch.
Mr. Shepherd asked Mr. Pronk to confirm that he was going by state regulations. Mr.
Pronk said he was following town regulations. Mr. Shepherd asked where these
regulations could be found. Ms. Riley explained that Mr. Pronk's commercial quahog
permit was issued by the town last fall with conditions from the selectmen including 20
bushels per day, fishing only within the three -mile limit, the permit is invalid in all other
waters, that he could not fish inside the 20 -foot contour line and he has to turn in weekly
catch reports to the town shellfish biologist.
Mr. Cocker noted that fishermen are prohibited from using a sea clam dredge for
dredging quahogs and aren't allowed to use them anywhere there are quahogs and bay
scallops. Mr. Shepherd asked staff if it's even the workgroup's mission to discuss the
various types of clam dredging equipment. Ms. Riley said the group should treat the
template in three different ways; look at the average quahogger, then the recreational and
then define areas and dredge types. Mr. Blount suggested working on recommendations
for these between this and next meeting. Mr. Shepherd offered that a short sentence be
sentence be included in these revised quahog regulations, something like, "any other
equipment must be sanctioned or approved by the selectmen and SHAB ". Ms. Riley
agreed, but added that situations fitting this sentence would go through the Natural
Resources Department and then the selectmen. Mr. Her suggested using the area
delineated in Mr. Pronk's commercial quahog permit for all Nantucket's commercial
quahoggers should this fishery restart in the future.
Mr. Shepherd recommended that this segment of the quahog conversation be put on hold
until Mr. Sjolund returns to the meetings because he's been going for quahogs all of his
life. Mr. Pronk said there's not a lot of money. The group, led by Mr. Blount, agreed to
continue the quahog discussion when Mr. Sjolund returns.
The workgroup agreed that legal minimum size should be one inch thick and that the
methods for quahogging should include, rakes, bull rakes, tongs and poles; essentially,
only by hand. The group also discussed various other types of quahog harvesting
equipment not widely used. Mr. Herr suggested defining what types of bull rakes could
be used, but Mr. Blount said the bottom is too hard in our waters to pull such rakes
through.
Ms. Riley recommended that recreational quahogging should by hand only and no
dredges. Recreational hours will be sunrise to sunset.
Mr. Cocker told a large bed of quahogs exposed near Esther's Island in 1984, a situation
in which Mr. Shepherd recalls Nantucket fishermen bringing in 2,000 pounds of quahogs
per boat using scallop dredges. Mr. Shepherd asked how the regulations should be crafted
to allow commercial harvest quahogs should this happen again. Mr. Shepherd said his
inclination was that all commercial quahoggers should be prohibited from using scallop
dredges to get quahogs unless the selectmen issued a special permit to do this. Mr. Pronk
asked Mr. Shepherd if a large bed of quahogs opened up, what's the difference between a
fisherman getting them with scallop dredges or hydraulic dredges. Mr. Shepherd said Mr.
Pronk's point was valid because if such a bed of quahogs opened up in the harbor,
scallopers could easily be tempted to go after them given no regulations against scallop
dredges, which Mr. Shepherd said would tear up the bottom if used for quahogging.
Mr. Herr said, and Ms. Riley concurred that this is a bycatch discussion issue. He added
that if fishermen could take quahogs with a scallop dredge, they could get a $150 permit
for quahogs and then also take bay scallops as their bycatch. And, Mr. Herr noted,
fishermen with commercial quahog permits would be able to scout for bay scallops while
dredging for quahogs before the commercial scallop season began and so, be ahead of the
game.
Mr. Her suggested, and the workgroup agreed, that if a bed of quahogs is discovered
similar in size to the one found near Esther Island in 1984, the regulations should allow
fishermen to apply for a special permit to use scallop dredges to go after the quahogs, get
a recommendation from HSAB and approval from the selectmen. Mr. Pronk told the
workgroup that he knew of six places, including the lagoon at Tuckemuck where it's
"paved with quahogs ", around island waters where he could do this right now. Mr. Her
qualified this suggestion by saying that in general, dredging for quahogs is not a good
idea year-round because of how much "prospecting" for quahogs would chew up the
bottom. It would be only happen under special circumstances. Mr. Pronk offered to take
Ms. Riley and anyone else quahogging and to see the quahog bed over in the lagoon on
the south end of Tuckemuck. He added that he wants to go prospecting in Tuckemuck's
tidal ponds sometime.
Conch
Mr. Blount and Mr. Her noted that there are three commercial conch permitted
fishermen on Nantucket. Mr. Her said the commercial conch season is April 15 to Dec.
15 because this is the only time they can be caught in pots and as bycatch. The group
agreed that sunrise to sunset are the commercial hours and the legal minimum size is 2 %
inches. Mr. Her said the state's Division of Marine Fisheries is currently discussing
possible new size measurement methods in order to standardize the gauge and increasing
the size of the legal limit. He added that the DMF estimates that 75% of the conch taken
in Massachusetts waters is under 2'/4 inches. He further added that currently, the only
limit on harvesting conch is the season and that pot fishermen are allowed a maximum of
200 pots, but there is no limit on conch as a bycatch. Mr. Herr said that DMFF doesn't
allow towns in the state to regulate conch. He added that it's the third largest fishery in
the state, 75% of the landings in the state come from Nantucket Sound and there are 80
active permits and 3/4s of the permits are used in Nantucket Sound. He added that he's
been assured that the DMF won't be doing anything to keep conch fishermen from other
coastal towns out of Nantucket's waters. Mr. Cocker and Mr. Blount recalled how fishing
in Nantucket waters used to be enforced so that only Nantucketers could fish in them.
Mr. Hen said it's pointless to try to keep other conch fishermen out of Nantucket's
waters because there's so much money at stake and these fishermen would hire a lawyer
that could easily convince the DMF of their position, which the DMF pretty much
already supports, which is that each town's waters out to the three -mile limit are also
state waters open to all. He added that DMF's head shellfish biologist Mike Hickey said
that because Nantucket abandoned the conch fishery for the last decade with former
harbormaster Dave Fronzuto encouraging this because at the time, conch were considered
predators of bay scallops, fishermen from other towns established themselves in our
fishing grounds. Mr. Hen mentioned that there is some maritime law on squatter's rights
that allows these fishermen to keep fishing in our waters. He reiterated that Nantucket
gave this fishery up to the Vineyard fishermen and that now, getting them out would be
next to impossible even though Nantucket requires fishermen in its waters to prove year-
round island residency before purchasing a commercial shellfish permit. Mr. Pronk noted
that many conch pot fishermen are fishing 200 pots in our waters and 200 in theirs.
The workgroup agreed that conch fishermen in Nantucket waters should fish only with
conch pots, same as with a state permit and that areas of fishing should be Nantucket
waters. Although Mr. Carlson said the $150 town permit for conch is worthless because it
doesn't fund any kind of enforcement against outside fishermen in our waters, Mr. Hen
said having that paper license may deter fishermen from away from actually fishing
within Nantucket Harbor and added that the $150 license should remain as is with the
option for the amount to be lowered.
For recreational conch fishing, the group discussed if there was anyone actually going for
them and when they can be harvested. It was agreed that those commercial fishing for
other species could not recreationally fish for conch. The group agreed that the season
should be same as for commercial, April 15 -Dec. 15 and sunrise to sunset during the day.
A daily limit of 10 quarts per day or a half - bushel a week was agreed on.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT
RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
ADJOURN—
Future Meetings:
April 4 and April 18