PROVINCETOWN — On a calm, sunny day, the word was out among fishermen: big schools of Atlantic bluefin tuna were active and feeding just a few miles off the backside beach. But on a late July day perfect for fishing, many of the commercial boats that go after tuna remained tied up at the pier.
MacMillan Pier
ON THE WATERFRONT
Attorney for Fishermen Goes After Pier Corp.
Meeting on June 11 could be a showdown
PROVINCETOWN — An attorney for two fishermen whose dockage fees were raised this year is charging the Public Pier Corp. with Open Meeting Law violations and with changing the rules in the middle of a pandemic.
In a virtual meeting set for Thursday, June 11 at 1 p.m., Bill Henchy, who is representing Jeff Souza and David Flattery, will argue that his clients and other commercial fishermen were unfairly reclassified as “limited commercial” by the Pier Corp., thereby doubling their dockage fees. Last week, the Pier Corp. denied the reclassification appeals of two other fishermen, John Browne and Leo Rose.
All four men are among seven who have been reclassified this year by the Pier Corp., which is making an effort to “professionalize” the business of running a town-owned pier after years of “lax management,” according to Leslie Sandberg, who was recently hired for $100 an hour to be a public relations strategist for the Pier Corp.
Henchy is claiming that deliberations about new policies and classification criteria were made during meetings that cannot be reviewed by the public, because there have been no published minutes of Pier Corp. meetings for nine months.
“Neither the board nor its subcommittee have approved any minutes since September 2019,” Henchy stated in his formal complaint to state Attorney General Maura Healey. “The subcommittee met, deliberated, and rendered decisions without providing notice of its meetings, without keeping minutes, and without providing minutes.”
Pier Corp. members are preparing a response to Henchy’s complaints. Sandberg said Henchy is wrong on both counts. There have been no changes to the definition of commercial fishing in the harbor regulations, she said.
“The harbor regulations specify that on the application for renewal of a dockage slip, a person must provide ‘sufficient information’ to help the [Pier Corp.] determine commercial fisherman status ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ and that they spend ‘a major portion of their annual working time fishing/working said license,’ ” Sandberg said.
What did change in 2020, she added, was actual enforcement of the rules.
“Due to the lax management of MacMillan Pier by the former harbormaster [Rex McKinsey] for close to 15 years, many tenants did not properly follow harbor regulations because they were not made aware of the proper criteria for their application,” she said.
To help all tenants follow the harbor regulations, a new “checklist listing the information needed was sent out with the 2020 dockage applications,” she said. “We are trying to professionalize the process.”
But Henchy said this effectively has changed the rules. In Pier Manager Doug Boulanger’s March 28 email sent to dock tenants with the 2020 applications, his language makes clear that something new will be expected of the slip holders.
“We have new documentation requirements that this memo will describe what is necessary to supply with your renewal application,” Boulanger wrote in the email.
Sandberg said Henchy is incorrect about the minutes, too. They were actually posted on the town’s website through Jan. 14, she said. The others had not been approved or posted because of delays related to Covid-19. But the Pier Corp. took care of that on June 8 by approving all the minutes from February going forward, and they will be posted by town staff as soon as possible, she said.
She added that all Pier Corp. meetings have been recorded and are available for viewing on PTV, like most other town meetings.
THE WATERFRONT
Pier Corp. Cleans House, Hires PR Firm
Mayflower II visit is canceled; blessing of fleet will be ‘private’
PROVINCETOWN — The Public Pier Corp. has raised the slip fees on seven MacMillan Pier tenants and rescinded permission for the Mayflower II to land here in September.
The Pier Corp. board also reviewed plans for the pandemic-altered Portuguese Festival, which will this year be a private affair where boats will be blessed from the harbormaster’s launch rather than from the pier, packed with onlookers, or from the 900-passenger Provincetown II Boston ferry.
In an action-packed virtual meeting on May 28, the Pier Corp. denied appeals by Leo Rose and John Browne. Those two fishermen were among seven who had been paying discounted slip fees as commercial fishermen, but have now been reassigned by the Pier Corp. staff, said Leslie Sandberg, a public relations consultant for the Pier Corp. board.
Pier Corp. staff found that Rose and Browne, both tenants for the last 17 years, failed to meet the definition of “commercial fisherman” — that is, someone who spends most of his working time at sea fishing, according to Pier Corp. board member Scott Fraser.
Rose landed only four tuna last year, Fraser said.
Brown’s landing reports stated that he caught five fish in 2019, Fraser added.
The Pier Corp. reclassified both men as “limited commercial fishermen,” which means they must pay $128.62 per foot for a spot at MacMillan Pier instead of the commercial rate of $64.10 per foot.
For Rose, that means his fee went from $2,564 for his 40-foot boat to $5,144.80, according to Sandberg.
Browne shares a slip at the pier, and though sharing slips is not really allowed, Sandberg said, it was tolerated under the management of former harbormaster Rex McKinsey. Last season, Browne paid $1,282 for his 20-foot boat. His new rate as a limited commercial fisherman is $2,572.
There are people who spend 150 or more days fishing, Fraser said, and some of them are waiting for those slips.
Chris LaMarco, who identified himself as Rose’s spokesman, argued that the rules are vague and the distinction between “commercial” and “limited commercial” isn’t clear.
“Changing rules in the middle of the pandemic isn’t fair,” said LaMarco, “and sounds like discrimination based on Mr. Rose’s age.”
“We’re not changing the rules,” Fraser replied. He said the Pier Corp. was simply enforcing existing regulations that were not being enforced.
Browne’s wife, Frances Coco, argued that Browne, who caught his first striper at age 12, has not had a lot of landings because “it’s like a fish desert” these days, with very few striped bass.
Fraser said Browne had failed to report the number of his trips, as required in the application for a commercial slip.
Two other commercial slip tenants, David Flaherty and Jeff Souza, are also appealing their reclassification as limited commercial fishermen. Their appeals will be argued by attorney William Henchy of Orleans at the Pier Corp.’s June 11 meeting.
The three remaining fishermen who have been reclassified have not appealed the change, Sandberg said.
The reclassifications are part of the Pier Corp.’s efforts to reform the way the waterfront is managed. It has added two new staff, a pier manager and harbormaster, and given Rex McKinsey, who previously did both jobs, the title “marine coordinator.”
The discounted rates for 54 slips on MacMillan Pier are designed to support the commercial fleet, said Sandberg.
Sandberg’s job is also new, though it’s not full-time, but based on an hourly fee. Her firm, Rose, Sandberg & Associates, was hired on an “as needed” basis. Faced with harsh criticism from some fishermen and others in town, the Pier Corp. members decided a public relations strategist would help them, said Regina Binder, chair of the Pier Corp.
So far, Sandberg has done “public affairs advising, including drafting correspondence, research issues, drafting talking points, and strategic problem solving,” she said. Her rate is $100 an hour. She has been paid $3,500 for services rendered between Feb. 1 and May 31, she said.
In two final pieces of business on May 28, the Pier Corp. rescinded its invitation to the Plimoth Plantation’s Mayflower II, a replica of the Pilgrims’ ship, which was due to come to Provincetown in September as part of the 400th anniversary of the original Mayflower’s landing here.
The 400 celebration events have gone the way of the Fourth of July parade and Carnival — cancelled in order to stop people from gathering in large groups to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
And the board discussed the plan to discourage crowds from gathering at the pier during the annual Blessing of the Fleet by having the blessings done from a small boat. Even getting Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha, of the Fall River Diocese, to come to Provincetown as usual is not a sure thing, said Donald Murphy, organizer of the Portuguese Festival. But the festival committee members are determined to celebrate a Mass, as usual, followed by a private blessing of the boats in the harbor.
“No parade, no dancing — it will not be as it was in the past,” Pier Manager Doug Boulanger said. “It is private. The thought process is to have one harbormaster vessel driving around and blessing the boats by water.”
currents
This Week in Provincetown
Meetings Ahead
All meetings will be held using video conferencing. For details: provincetown-ma.gov/27/Town-Boards and from there click on Upcoming Meetings.
Thursday, April 9
- Planning Board, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, April 13
- Select Board, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14
- Licensing Board, 5:15 p.m.
Wednesday, April 15
- Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.
Thursday, April 16
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Coronavirus Update
As of April 6, there were five confirmed cases of coronavirus in town, with one death and 16 additional cases considered recovered and cleared from quarantine, according to the town’s website.
Pier Corp. Meeting Delayed
The Provincetown Public Pier Corp. delayed a controversial meeting that had been scheduled for April 2, said Leslie Sandberg, a consultant hired to conduct public relations for the Pier Corp.
Members of the Pier Corp. had planned the meeting to review the current criteria by which boats are selected to rent slips on MacMillan Pier. Several commercial fishermen were not happy with the changes that members of the Pier Corp. had suggested. Fishermen worried about a dockage fee increase and a new parking fee. They also worried that the new rules would push out some of the current tenants.
On April 3, Dan McKiernan, acting director of the state Dept. of Marine Fisheries, sent a letter to the Pier Corp. arguing for further delay of regulation changes until after this summer. “The DMF is working to assist the commercial fleets through this crisis by assisting them in opening new markets for seafood and encouraging direct sales of lobster and finfish to local residents,” McKiernan wrote to Pier Corp. Chair Regina Binder. “Other agencies are looking to relax rules where possible to avoid unnecessary burdens at this critical time. I hope you will take a similar approach and suspend the deliberations on altering fees and eligibility for longstanding commercial fishermen who depend on your port.”
Shellfishing Extended
The recreational shellfishing season will be extended until April 26 in three areas: east of the West End Breakwater; from Captain Jack’s Wharf to the Provincetown Inn, and in the East End by Johnson Street, for bay scallops only. No new licenses will be available for purchase until the town clerk’s office reopens. —K.C. Myers
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 11 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass. Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Pacific Loons (2), a Short-eared Owl, 110 Black-legged Kittiwake, 600 Razorbill, and an Ispwich subspecies Savannah Sparrow are among some exceptional sightings continuing at Race Point in Provincetown.
Black Guillemot, the arctic subspecies, continued at MacMillan Pier in Provincetown this week.
8 Thick-billed Murre, 4 Common Murre, 3 Purple Sandpiper, and a Barrow’s Goldeneye were also sighted at MacMillan Pier.
A Chipping Sparrow flock of up to 17 birds continued at Evergreen Cemetery in Eastham this week; a Clay-colored Sparrow was also in the group.
If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at (508) 349-2615 or send email to [email protected].
ECONOMY
Huge Wave Attenuator Is Installed in Provincetown Harbor
Protection from storms, future berths for fishing vessels
PROVINCETOWN — A 600-foot floating concrete structure is being installed in Provincetown harbor over the next two weeks. Each 60-foot segment is six feet tall and 15 feet wide, and weighs more than 20 tons. This height and heft will reflect and dissipate wave energy away from MacMillan Pier.
The attenuator will protect all four of the smaller piers that project from MacMillan’s east side, which are the berths for Provincetown’s commercial fishing fleet. The two floating finger piers that have been repeatedly damaged by winter storms will also be rebuilt as part of the project.
The overall cost of this undertaking is about $4.6 million. Provincetown is paying one-fourth, with the other three-fourths being paid by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
When it was rebuilt in the 1990s, MacMillan Pier was meant to have a wave attenuator, according to Rex McKinsey, Provincetown’s marine coordinator. It would have been a 15-foot-high wooden wall; neighbors objected strongly to its design. It was eventually stripped from that project and never built, which left the east side of MacMillan vulnerable to the strong winter storms that blow from the northeast.
Storms in 2004, 2006, 2010, 2013, and 2015 all did major damage to the two floating piers on MacMillan’s east side. The floating piers support 40 smaller commercial fishing vessels — nearly the entire Provincetown lobster fleet — as well as the dinghy dock, where locals and visitors tie up the small watercraft that allow access to boats in the mooring field.
The February 2013 storm was different. It was so severe and did so much damage that it qualified Barnstable County for FEMA disaster relief. The town developed a new floating concrete attenuator plan, applied for FEMA grants for both past damage repair and future damage prevention, and was selected by FEMA to receive a 75-percent matching grant.
The project is coming through just in time, according to McKinsey and Pier Manager Doug Boulanger; they agree that the floating piers would not survive another bad nor’easter.
Segments arrive by night
After nearly seven years of grant writing, permitting, and design work, the project is now being installed under the supervision of Pier Manager Boulanger. The enormous attenuator segments arrived by barge on the night of Oct. 15. The crane barges that lower them into the water arrived on Oct. 18 and began unloading the panels into the harbor on equally enormous moorings. Thirty-six-inch diameter pilings began being set into the harbor floor on Monday and should be fully in place by the week’s end, said Boulanger. Also on Monday, demolition of the south floating pier began.
During construction, the commercial fishing vessels that normally berth on that pier will tie up at the Provincetown Marina. By early November, those vessels should be able to berth on the new attenuator itself, which will be temporarily connected to the north floating pier (also known as the dinghy dock). The south floating pier should be fully rebuilt by the end of November, and demolition and reconstruction of the north floating pier will begin in December. The entire project should be near completion by the end of January 2020, according to Boulanger.
The completed attenuator will not be connected to any part of MacMillan Pier. Instead, it will float on its own in the harbor. According to Boulanger and McKinsey, it will not contain berthing space for any kind of vessel — at least not yet. The permitting and design for the project do allow the town to connect the north floating pier to the attenuator at its own expense. That would involve a 95-foot floating extension of the north floating pier that could support four extra berths for fishing vessels, McKinsey added.
Beyond that, no other use of the attenuator is permitted, both men confirmed, though the attenuator is designed to allow for potential future uses. It was engineered to allow electrical and running water hookups, and if the town so chose it could pursue additional uses.
“FEMA is here to fund an attenuator,” said Boulanger. “That’s what it is. We have to fully install it according to their parameters to close out the grants. Once that process is totally complete, the town is free to have a discussion about adding berthing capacity to the structure — what it would cost, who it would be for, how to pay for it.
“It’s possible the attenuator could offer enough sheltered space along its inner edge for 10 to 12 new berths, which could help us to expand the commercial fishing and shellfishing fleet,” continued Boulanger. “The outer edge of the attenuator isn’t sheltered, so it’s really not suitable for year-round vessels, but it could be good for transient fishing vessels coming in for a few days at a time from nearby ports.”
Asked by a reporter what other kinds of vessels might seek to use the attenuator for docking space, Boulanger said, “MacMillan is Provincetown’s commercial wharf. First and foremost we are a commercial fishing pier, as well as a transit gateway into town. We are not looking for the leisure yacht business. We are happy to have the Lagasses have that business at Provincetown Marina, and we are focused on commercial fishing, transit, and the excursion fleet.”
Docking at the attenuator would also be limited by the depth of the harbor. The harbor floor at the northern end of the attenuator is dredged to a depth of 7.5 feet below the extreme low-tide line. The south end of the attenuator will float 13 feet above the harbor floor at extreme low tide. Most fishing vessels have a four- to six-foot draft, according to McKinsey; the American Constitution cruise ship has a draft of 10 feet; while the Seabourn Quest cruise ship has a draft of 20 feet.
“Access to the attenuator would be through the north floating pier, which is both the dinghy dock and a working fishing pier full of equipment,” said Boulanger. “It’s not a place you’d want to see a line of passengers holding tickets. We’re trying to remain a commercial fishing pier.”
