Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting you’re interested in. The agenda provides provide information about how to view and take part remotely.
Monday, Dec. 28
- Search Committee, 4 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of Dec. 17, Eastham had 13 new cases within the previous 14 days and 44 total cases to date, according to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health weekly Covid-19 report.
Commercial Shellfish Limits Increased
The select board agreed to a request from the commercial shellfishing community to temporarily increase limits on the daily commercial catch of quahogs, voting at its Dec. 21 meeting to increase the limit from four bushels to eight bushels until Jan. 2, with no more than two of the bushels being cherrystones or littlenecks.
“It’s my understanding from the shellfishing community that we have so many chowder sizes out there right now,” said chair Jamie Demetri at the meeting.
The larger quahogs tend to get thrown back in the water, as they’re not considered worth the time or space, noted Demetri.
“So we end up with just a ton of chowders and less and less of the smaller sizes, so this is kind of an opportunity to move some of that and also a chance for some of these folks to make a little extra money before the new year,” said Demetri.
Vice chair Aimee Eckman said the increase might become an annual event should studies indicate a glut of large quahogs.
“There’s a few people, maybe in the winter, that can take care of that,” said Eckman. “I think that would really help them out and, apparently, right now, there’s a good market for it.”
Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe noted in a memorandum on the topic that demand for the larger quahogs increased at this time of year. “Think clam pie, stuffed clams, and chowders,” she wrote.
Orleans, which has a joint fishing agreement with Eastham, was expected to be included in the increase. But the Orleans Select Board was unable to get the proposal on the agenda for a vote in time to participate the two-week program.
“We just didn’t get it to them in time for them to vote on it as a board because it wasn’t advertised,” said Beebe.
“The timing just didn’t quite work out. Next year we’ll have it together,” Demetri said on Tuesday.
—Linda Culhane
