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.
Friday, Sept. 1
- Taxation Aid Committee, 10 a.m., back parking lot of the Adult Community Center
Monday, Sept. 4
- Labor Day — Town Hall closed
Tuesday, Sept. 5
- Recycling Committee, 11 a.m.
- Select Board, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center & Zoom
Wednesday, Sept. 6
- Historical Commission, 5 p.m.
- Planning Board, 5:30 p.m., Adult Community Center & Zoom
Conversation Starter
Indian Neck Shellfish Lotteries
The town will host a lottery for four 1.5-acre deep-water shellfish grants on Indian Neck on Oct. 17. Originally announced as two 3-acre grants by Shellfish Constable Nancy Civetta in November 2022, the select board voted at its Jan. 31 meeting to divide the area into four grants.
Applications open on Aug. 31 and will close on Sept. 29 at 4 p.m.
The area was previously farmed by the Aquacultural Research Corp. (ARC) and Allison and Buddy Paine. ARC forfeited its grant because the company is not domiciled in Wellfleet, a town requirement for the holders of shellfish grants. The Paines gave up their grant because they were not meeting minimum productivity requirements.
In the last lottery, held in December 2022, 19 applicants vied for two one-acre grants on Egg Island. Karen Johnson and Rosh Shermer won.
Members of the shellfish advisory board complained about the timeline of the Indian Neck lottery at the select board’s Aug. 15 meeting. A letter from shellfish advisory board chair Karen Johnson called the delay in the lottery since the four grants were established in January “unreasonable.” Getting a shellfish grant “can be a life changing experience,” Johnson wrote.
Civetta said that she had originally intended to hold the lottery in March, but staffing shortages in the shellfish dept., as well as the development of a dredging mitigation plan, pushed back the timeline.
The four grants, because they were subdivided and moved inshore, constitute entirely new grants and will require proper permitting with the state, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Wellfleet Conservation Commission before grant holders will be able to use them.
Applicants must live in Wellfleet and have held a commercial shellfishing permit for at least three of the four calendar years preceding the date of application. Applications must include state-filed catch reports or a letter from a license holder who employed the applicant, substantiating the applicant’s experience in aquaculture.
Applicants must also submit a five-year plan detailing how the grant will be used, including shellfish species to be grown, gear to be used, and access routes. —Sam Pollak
