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, Sept. 14
- Cape Cod Commission Committee on Planning and Regulation, 1 p.m.
- Herring River Executive Council, 3 p.m.
- Local Housing Partnership, 4 p.m.
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center and Zoom
Monday, Sept. 18
- Select Board, 5 p.m., Wellfleet Elementary School
- Special Town Meeting, 6 p.m., Wellfleet Elementary School
Tuesday, Sept. 19
- Select Board, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center & Zoom
Wednesday, Sept. 20
- Conservation Commission, 4 p.m.
Conversation Starter
Being ‘Natural’ on the Flats
The select board has been combing through the town’s shellfishing regulations to weed out ambiguities that would allow any kind of institution to work on a town-owned shellfishing grant license.
During its Sept. 5 meeting, the board held a three-hour public hearing in which it reviewed revisions to the regulations drafted by Town Counsel Gregg Corbo. Those revisions clarified the definitions of resident, person, and license holder as a “natural person.” The regulation change’s aim is to close legal loopholes that could allow corporations on the flats.
Last June, the town asked the Aquacultural Research Corp. (A.R.C.), the Cape’s hatchery, to forfeit the grant it had held since 1982.
In an Aug. 10 letter to the select board, Shellfish Constable Nancy Civetta wrote: “It has become abundantly clear to us that the shellfishing community believes that the privilege and benefits of running a shellfish business on Wellfleet’s tidal flats should be reserved for domiciled natural person residents of the Town only.”
The draft regulation changes come after the board voted in April to place a moratorium on commercial shellfishing license transfers to “non-natural persons” until the end of this month. At that meeting, select board member Michael DeVasto had applied to transfer his shellfishing license to his corporation, Northern Collective Inc. The board rejected his application.
DeVasto wrote to the board ahead of the Sept. 5 meeting that the regulation changes would limit the kinds of protection grant holders could seek against personal liability, like assigning their grants to an LLC. “We are farming a raw food product in a public waterway that is open to recreating. It is fraught with liability,” DeVasto wrote.
Civetta asserted that shielding grant holders from liability is not the responsibility of the town. “Each business is different, each family situation is different, and therefore, shellfishermen business owners should be seeking legal and financial counsel to understand how to best protect themselves,” she said. “This is not the town’s responsibility.”
The select board deferred to the shellfish advisory board a review of draft regulation changes that would prohibit the subleasing of grants. —Sam Pollak
