TOWN OF MOUNT DESERT
SHELLFISH COMMITTEE
Minutes
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Town Hall Meeting Room, Town Hall
21 Sea Street, Northeast Harbor
Chairman Tom Falt called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Also present were committee members Jock Crothers, Steve Hamor Jr., Earl Moore, John Stanley, and Barry Thomas; Wardens Shawn Murphy and Kevin Edgecomb; and DMR Biologist Hannah Annis.
II. Election of Officers
MOTION: Barry Thomas moved, seconded by Jock Crothers, to elect Tom Falt as Chairman and John Stanley as Vice Chairman. The vote was unanimous in favor, 5-0.
Discussion focused on commercial licensing, the importance of monitoring the flats, and enforcement. It was pointed out that commercial diggers often self-enforce.
Hannah Annis pointed out that commercial clamming is a good resource to enable someone to make a living; 25,000 pounds were reported as landing in Mount Desert last year. She also stated that most towns have commercial diggers put in mandatory conservation time on the flats.
There was discussion regarding how other Towns do re-seeding, and the fact that DEP will work with commercial diggers to re-seed.
Regarding commercial licenses, Hannah explained that if the Town sets a specific number of licenses to be sold, such as 5 residential and 5 non-residential, after 90 days from the date of the first sale, any resident licenses not sold become available for sale to non-residents.
As for this year, members discussed selling more non-resident recreational licenses. The mandatory minimum allowed is 1 non-resident for every resident recreational license sold.
MOTION: John Stanley moved, seconded by Tom Falt, effective immediately, to allow the sale of up to 10 non-resident recreational licenses, pending approval from DMR. The vote was unanimous in favor, 6-0.
At the request of committee members, Hannah will report back with a list of any local people with State commercial licenses. Members also agreed it would be helpful to have input someone local interested in commercial digging that would also be interested in monitoring the flats.
None presented.
Meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Joelle D. Nolan
Recording Secretary
| 
