Westport Island Shellfish Committee

July 11, 2006 meeting minutes

 

The following is a summary of discussions held at the July 11, 2006 Shellfish committee meeting.

 

The committee met at 6:00PM in the town office.  Committee members in attendance were David Bertran, Clement Sledge, Joe Donohue, Donna Curry, Jerry Bodmer and Lincoln Richardson.   Ron Aho attended as DMR advisor to the committee.  Also attending the meeting was Forest Smith who is commercial harvesters.

 

Minutes:     A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes as read.  This was approved by the members of the committee.  After signing the minutes by committee members, a copy of the minutes will be given to the town selectmen and a copy will be posted at the town office and an additional e-copy will be sent to the town administrative assistant.

 

Status of Squam Creek South Opening:  David reported that he had not heard anything from Amy Fitzpatrick or Darcie Couture about their progress towards opening the now area.  He will send them an email requesting further information. 

 

David made a motion that once the new area is opened by DMR he would compose a letter of announcement that would be sent to all holders of Shellfish Licenses.  Jerry will provide a map to be included in the letter showing the exact location of the new flats.  All agreed to this motion.

 

McCarty Cove Seeding:         David reported that he had received from Clem all the billing for the seeding operations at McCarty Cove which was performed on May 13.  The total cost was $1367.37 which included $990 for 45 thousand clam seeds.  Joe reported that he had been at McCarty Cove during the past week and observed that the netting and stakes were still present in the flats.  Clem requested that we inspect the netting monthly in compliance the seeding requirements from DMR.

 

 Warden’s report:  No significant incidents were observed by either Joe or Lincoln during their patrols this past month. Joe stated that he had received a call from Jerry a few days ago telling him that a possible poacher had been seen down the cove from Jerry’s home.  However after investigating the report Joe found that the person had already left the area.  Also, while patrolling Squam Creek area this past Friday, Joe talked to Forest Smith who was harvesting there.  Forest told Joe that he had not seen any other harvesters working any of the open flats on Westport with the exception of two resident harvesters during the past several months.

 

New Business:  Dave announced that he had received from DMR Lincoln’s certificate for taking and passing the Shellfish Warden course.  Dave also announced that Clement had accepted the position of Vice Chairman for the Shellfish Committee. 

 

David attended the Selectmen meeting last week and reported that the following appointments and re-appointments to the Shellfish Committee were approved by the board of Selectmen:

Donna Curry,        re-appointed for 5 years            expires 7-12-2011

Joe Donohue,        re-appointed for 3 years            expires 7-1-2009

Clement Sledge,     re-appointed   4 years                expires 7-12-2010

Mike Muchmore    re-appointed   2 years                expires 7-12-08         (alternate)

Lincoln Richardson appointed 1 year                      expires 7-12-07 (alternate)

Jerry Bodmer                  appointment expires August 2007

Dave Bertran                   appointment expires January 2007

Note: these dates are the actual expiration date that was voted on by the Selectmen at their meeting on 7-12-2006.

         

David discussed the availability of an insurance policy to cover volunteers while performing committee work which was passed on to him from the Selectmen.  All agreed that we would be interested in being covered by such a policy.  Dave will write a letter notifying the selectmen of our decision.  The policy premium is $3.75 per year.

 

Jerry went over recent concerns about the availability of legal size clams at Squam Creek and along the west shore of Montsweag Bay.  After a discussion about this matter the committee agreed that we all need to visit the flats and sample for ourselves the current conditions there.  The committee will further discuss this issue at our next meeting.

 

Next Meeting:  A motion was made by David that we adjourn.  The Next meeting will be held on August 7, 2006 at 6:00 PM.  

 

 

Chairman – Dave Bertran                _______________________________

 

Vice Chairman - Clement Sledge                ________________________________

 

Secretary – Joe Donohue                              _______________________________

 

Member– Jerry Bodmer                               _______________________________

 

Member – Donna Curry                                _______________________________                                                              

                                                                                   

Member – Lincoln Richardson    (Alt)         _______________________________

 

                                                                                                 

Member – Mike Muchmore (alt.)                 _______________________________

 

 

                                                                                            Signatures

 

 

Submitted by Joe Donohue - Secretary