Selectmen amend shellfish bylaws with stricter penalties
BY PETER B. BRACE
Penalties for harvesting bay scallop seed got tougher Oct. 18 when the Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 to amend the town's shellfish bylaw.

SHAB Chairman Patrick Sullivan

Acting on recommendations from the Shellfish & Harbor Advisory Board (SHAB) Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto, the selectmen added stricter reprimands for both commercial and recreational scallopers.

The board also added the word "conch" to its definition in the bylaw of shellfish to prevent fishermen from other coastal towns in the state from harvesting conch within Nantucket waters, three miles out from the island.

Commercial scallopers caught taking seed would have their license suspended for one day and be required to take a two-hour course provided by the Marine Department on seed identification for their first offense. Second-time offenders would lose their license for one week and seed scofflaws caught a third time would lose their licenses for one year from the date of the infraction.

Recreational scallopers would be issued a written warning the first time they were caught, be fined $50 to $300 if they took seed a second time and lose their license one year from the date of their third mistake.

The impetus for SHAB to develop tougher seed harvesting penalties arose last winter when the Nantucket Shellfish Association contacted SHAB after learning of several scallopers who were seen with copious amounts of seed scallops in their bushel boxes.

Rather than request tougher enforcement by shellfish wardens, the NSA decided handling the situation with SHAB would work better for all.

"Last winter, a number of commercial scallopers came to our board concerned that people were taking for than the five percent than allowed," SHAB Chairman Patrick Sullivan explained to the board. "We just felt taking seed was a much greater impact on the fishery."

Fronzuto concurred. "With our industry in decline and our intention to protect it for the future, we want to deter the taking of seed," said Fronzuto.

With the selectmen's say-so, Fronzuto is applying that same conservation attitude to the conch fishery even though only two Nantucket fishermen currently fish for conch in Nantucket waters. Over the summer, these to conchers had to deal with fluke fishermen hauling in thousands of pounds of conch as bycatch unregulated by the state.

"One of the things we have gone to great lengths over the last ten years is to try to protect our two conch fishermen so they can make a living," said Fronzuto. "I want to be able to protect all the fisheries. Conch is an interesting animal. Years ago, we couldn't give them away. Now we have fishermen going for them. I want to be able to protect all the fisheries whether it be limpets or razor clams."

By including conch in the definition of shellfish in the town code, the selectmen made year-round island residency and the maintenance of domicile a requirement of getting a $150 shellfish license to fish for conch within Nantucket waters. This bylaw change means Fronzuto and Nantucket's environmental police officer Dean Belanger can prevent fluke fishermen and other off-island fishermen from taking around Nantucket.

Both regulation changes became effective at the time of the board's unanimous vote.

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