Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Wellfleet are remote only, but some are held in person. Go to www.wellfleet-ma.gov/calendar and click on the meeting you want to watch, then follow the instructions on the agenda.
Thursday, June 1
- Housing Authority, 10 a.m.
Friday, June 2
- Commission on Disabilities, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, June 6
- Board of Water Commissioners, 4 p.m.
- Select Board, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center and Zoom
- Conservation Commission, 4 p.m.
Conversation Starter
Town Requests Harbor Survey
The select board and the natural resources advisory board wrote a joint letter to the state’s Div. of Marine Fisheries to request a survey of the life and health of Wellfleet Harbor. The last harbor study, according to the letter, was performed over 50 years ago by DMF. A survey is “long overdue,” the letter says.
The letter asks that DMF fund, design, and perform the survey and begin work as early as this summer.
“With dredging and the Herring River work beginning, this is an opportune time to develop a comprehensive baseline for both the life in the harbor and the chemistry of the harbor itself,” the letter says.
According to an NRAB infographic, when the last survey was published in 1972, the total value of the annual commercial oyster harvest was $18,000. In 2019, the value of harvested shellfish from the wild fishery and aquaculture was $7.7 million.
The survey would examine the success of harbor management projects to date, trends over the past 50 years related to water quality and biodiversity, and what can be predicted about the future health of the harbor.
A final report will be due by Jan. 1, 2025. —Sam Pollak
