Duxbury Bay Management Commission
Meeting Minutes – Thursday, October 12, 2006
A meeting of the Duxbury Bay Management Commission was held at the Duxbury Senior Center at 7 pm.
In attendance:
Shawn Dahlen, Kathy Gould, Jack Kent, Don Gunster, Corey Wisneski (Secretary), John Brawley, and Emmett Sheehan.
Absent:
John Carnuccio (Chair), Ned Lawson, Don Beers (ex officio)
Other Guests:
Skip Bennett
Gregg Morris
A quorum was reached.
Votes
Aquaculture Moratorium Report
S. Dahlen suggested that the DBMC hold a public meeting on Thursday (October 26th) to get feedback on the report from the shellfish industry and other concerned residents. Notices will be posted in the Duxbury Clipper announcing this meeting.
Several changes to the report were suggested:
· All mention of “grant” will be changed to “lease”
· A recommendation should be added stating that the Shellfish Advisory Committee will be in charge of drafting a Shellfish Management Plan for
Duxbury Bay.
o The DBMC will have the opportunity to review this report, but will not be an integral part of writing it.
· The assertion that “the number of leases in Duxbury Bay may be approaching a level of concern” needs to be clarified. Evidence supporting this
assertion needs to be presented by Mike Hickey of Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), who originally made the statement in 2005.
· The report needs to clarify which seagrass maps show “historic” seagrass locations, as the shellfish regulations mandate that oyster leases cannot
be placed in areas where seagrass is known to occur historically. It was decided that both the 1995 and the 2001 maps will be considered “historic”.
· There is some concern about the following assertion:
“The greatest risk for conflict between leases and boating occurs where leases are located close to channels or areas where boats are moored. The conflicts are caused by the impact of nursery racks and buoys marking racks on boating. The most serious problem at the present is in the area between the main channel and the west shore of the bay north of Eagle’s Nest Point.”
Seeing as how no official study has been done on this topic and most of the “conflicts” are anecdotal, the language in this bullet point should reflect less certainty and a recommendation should be made to study this issue.
· Regarding the transfer/renewal of leases upon a current leaseholder ending his claim
o DBMC suggested leaving the standard as it is stated in the regulations, that is, that leaseholders will be allowed to name the person to
whom they wish to transfer the leases. This person will then have to go through the normal lease-approval processes.
o Consequently, the final recommendation in the report (suggesting a lottery system) will be removed.
· Regarding the draft recommendation:
“To eliminate conflicts between the main channel and the western shore of the bay, it is recommended that when leases in that area come up for renewal, a condition be included prohibiting the use of bottom structures.”
The risk that this would significantly affect the livelihoods of several established shellfish growers was raised and the consensus was that this language should indicate that the DBMC recommend further evaluation of how to reduce conflicts between competing users of this area of the bay.
Conservation Commission Referral
A Request for Determination Application (RDA) from Robert Knecht was referred to the DBMC. His request has already been approved by DMF and is waiting on Conservation Commission approval. The DBMC determined that the RDA should be approved consistent with previous decisions made.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Corey Wisneski
Secretary
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