Who's in Charge?

Who is in Charge?
February 28th, 2009

Who is in Charge?

The Town has a serious problem on our hands. The scallop industry was effectively shut down by the new state so-called regulations. These so-called regulations first surfaced without any forewarning at the Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board (SHAB) meeting on Tuesday, October 21st. SHAB held their regular meeting on October 28th including the Marine Department and many of the scallopers. On November 4th, SHAB held a special meeting with the BOS, the Marine Department, and the State Department of Marine Fisheries.

The so-called regulations were based on an interpretation by the Chief Shellfish Biologist of the State and should not have the standing of a regulation. The Marine Department has considered the interpretation as a regulation. Effectively the Town invited the State to manage the Nantucket fishery.

The scallop season opened on Monday, November 3rd. The harbor has a very large biomass of scallops. This includes both the classic adults and late spawn adults (a.k.a nubs), and an excellent crop of seed for next year. The new state so-called regulations will cause a productive season to be turned into the worst season on record. On the opening day, most of the fleet came back empty handed because of the new so-called regulations.

The magnitude of the problem is as follows. There is a shortfall of approximately 350 bushels per day. If each bushel yields 8 pounds of scallop meat and the wholesale price is $11 per pound, the fishermen lost $31,000 per day. This $31,000 has a trickle down effect on the Nantucket economy estimated to be 7 to 10 times. The overall Nantucket economy is loosing between $200 thousand to $300 thousand per day. On top of this, many scallopers spent their last dollars in getting their boats and equipment ready, and they don’t have money in the bank.

I have several questions as follows. Why were the so-called state regulations imposed on the fishery at the very last moment? Do these so-called state regulations have any legal standing? Why hasn’t the BOS stepped in and become pro-active, determined the legal ramifications, and sent a supporting letter to the State? What is the BOS going to do about this situation in the future?

As of Monday, November 10th, the Town has lost 6 days of fishing or $1.2 million to $1.8 million to the local economy. Where is our Town leadership?


Whitey Willauer, President
Nantucket Shellfish Assoc