Most meetings in Wellfleet are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting that interests you on the calendar at wellfleet-ma.gov for details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Thursday, Aug. 28
- Cable Internet and Cellular Advisory Committee, 10 a.m., online only
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m., NRMS, Orleans
Tuesday, Sept. 2
- Select Board executive session, 5 p.m., Adult Community Center
- Select Board, 6 p.m., Adult Community Center
Wednesday, Sept. 3
- Historical Commission, 5 p.m., online only
Conversation Starter
Cultching Letter
The select board on Aug. 26 voted to co-sign a letter authored by the shellfish advisory board and addressed to the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs in support of expanding the town’s permitted areas for cultching.
Cultching — the use of recycled bivalve shells to form beds for oyster spawn — is “an essential effort to keep the wild oyster fishery productive” and benefits ecological health, the letter says. But the currently permitted areas for cultching are outdated and overly restrictive “decades-old rectangles on a map” that limit cultching to a fraction of its historical area and current usefulness, the letter says.
The advisory board consulted with state and federal agencies on how best to approach the labyrinthine permitting process, Shellfish Constable Nancy Civetta told the select board. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection suggested a “zone of cultching” approach to allow more flexibility, she said.
The letter is a preliminary step in a long process, Civetta said.
Select board chair John Wolf told the Independent that he hoped broader permitting would improve the wild oyster fishery and environmental conditions in Wellfleet Harbor. “The more wild shellfish there are, the more wild shellfish there are for people to harvest,” he said.
The vote to endorse the letter was 4 to 0, with board member Sheila Lyons absent. —Tyler Jager
