CapeCodOnline.com – For the past month, sea clam vessels have been dredging thousands of shellfish from a 2-square-foot mile area off Herring Cove Beach.
The Provincetown Conservation Commission ratified enforcement orders against four vessels Tuesday, mandating that the boat captains cease and desist from fishing up to 40 feet offshore, which is within the town’s jurisdiction. The fishermen have also been ordered to submit plans to repair the area they are accused of damaging. These plans must be approved by the Conservation Commission, said Dennis Minsky, commission chairman.
But as of Wednesday morning, at least one of the boats, the 70-foot Tom Slaughter, of Gloucester, was out there again dredging clams, McKinsey said.
The fishermen don’t have to obey the local regulation because the state Division of Marine Fisheries, which has jurisdiction over fishing, allows it, said Monte Rome, owner of the Tom Slaughter.
“Provincetown has no authority,” he said. “The enforcement orders are paper tigers. There is nothing to them.”
Oh snap! Don’t forget to tip your waiter P-Town, because your ass just got served! Monte Rome coming out swinging against the conservation committee and tossing origami tigers right in their face. I haven’t read about a middle finger going up towards a Cape town like this since Marc Finneran hung that “town hall needs an enema” sign on the front of his house. This is such an absolute and total disregard for authority that I am inclined to love it just on principal. This amount of douchiness commands respect.
P.S. The real story here was just glossed right over though, what is this all about?
A 2006 state survey of the ocean floor didn’t find eelgrass but it did find a curiously large number of porcelain toilet bowls in that area, according to Diodati’s letter.
Um… hello? Can we elaborate on this a little? You can’t just casually mention curiously large numbers of toilets on the sea floor in one random sentence and leave it at that. Someone call James Cameron and send out Alvin, we may have just stumbled upon the ancient lost city of Poopopolis.
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No, the conservation committee won't elaborate on the illegal dumping of thousands and thousands of toilet bowls and other unregistered illegal gear used to trap lobsters for divers (without permits) in state waters. The town imposed a bylaw taking the state waters and these fishermen are fighting that- the state is on their side. The town also will not elaborate on their illegal use of the Department of Environmental Protection forms and letter heads when issuing their cease and desist orders. When contacted by the vessels owner, the DEP indicated that while they are involved in Coastal Zone Management issues, they do not get involved in coastal zones involving shellfish activities. They encourage agriculture and shellfishing activities and rely on DMF to set policy. DMF says this is legal open fishing grounds. DEP indicated that the use of their form WPA Form 9 without permission from their agency constitutes an improper use of their form. So, in a nutshell, Provincetown is trying to take fishing grounds from the state and illegally using a state agency form to do so.
A 2 square foot mile? Lmfao off right now! Am I the only one who saw that in the first paragraph?
A 2 square foot mile? Lmfao off right now! Am I the only one who saw that in the first paragraph?
Monte Rome? Didn't he own the Metro in Ptown, before it became Velvet Sake Dough?
Katherine Davis you are spot on. These vessels have been clamming in this area for years. The Town of Provincetown is way out of bounds.
To those who remember Mo te Rome from 20+ years ago. Monte left Provincetown a very long time ago.
Katherine, you wouldn't happen to be the same Katherine Davis that is the wife of a clam dredge fisherman, are you? Because that would explain why you don't present any fact-based arguments, and instead resort to making up claims bordering on absurdity, beginning with your very first sentence. It is absolutely false that there are "thousands and thousands of toilet bowls" out there.
IN FACT, I have a copy of Diodati's letters – as I'm sure you do as well – in which, curiously, he says NOTHING WHATSOEVER on the topic. To be fair, in one of the attachments he included, there is a single paragraph – JUST SIX LINES OF TEXT, OUT OF A TOTAL OF NINETEEN PAGES – devoted to that topic. It describes one site near the entrance to Hatches Harbor, which is just a minute fraction of the overall shelf. Compare that to the MORE THAN TEN ACRES PER DAY, PER VESSEL that dredge vessels are capable of destroying.
You refer to these as "illegal gear used to trap lobsters", and yet, DMF's memo says, "These structures were observed to be functioning as lobster shelters." Last I heard, a device actually needs to "trap" a lobster to be considered a lobster trap. Flounder and sea bass also love to nest in them, so if we follow your logic, aren't they also "illegal fishing nets"? The Environmental Police have not found that any of their regulations have been violated, nor is there any evidence that they cause any substantial detriment to the land under the ocean or to the interests of the Wetland Protection Act.
That being said, I must also point out that the presence or absence of toilets has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the complaints against Mr. Rome & his colleagues, nor does it have any relevance as a defense against the same. I find this argument, as well as his comparison to the level of destruction being caused by his own actions, to be completely specious. If he honestly believes that the toilets pose an important threat, equal to the devastation that is left in the wake of his dredges, then by all means, he should bring a separate complaint before the ConsComm. When he does so, he should be prepared to present the science explaining those threats. As a guideline, perhaps he might like to refer to the balanced, impartial and irrefutable science presented by NOAA, entitled "Review of the Ecological Effects of Dredging in the Cultivation and Harvest of Molluscan Shellfish", available at: http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/tm/tm220/tm220.pdf
As to your other false claim about "illegal use of the Department of Environmental Protection forms", I'll point out that Conservation Commissions – according to state law – act as an agency of the STATE, not of the individual Towns. They are REQUIRED to use those forms, so yeah, I can't wait to hear the judge's laughter over that one.
As to the line about "taking the state waters", I'll refer you to page 2 of Diodati's 12/11/2007 letter to Mr. Rome, which states, "From a regulatory perspective, Marine Fisheries acknowledges that municipalities have the authority to adopt local wetland protection bylaws, administered by their conservation commissions." Any questions?
And finally, simply because the DEP has chosen to look the other way and not enforce these violations does nothing to alter the force and effect of the Wetland Protection Act. I submit to you that DEP's *policy* of deference to DMF violates the very *law* that they are sworn to uphold.
To be fair and balanced I would refer to Katherine as the wife of the HYDRAULIC clam dredge fisherman
To be fair and balanced I would refer to Katherine as the wife of the HYDRAULIC clam dredge fisherman
Thats right, thank you Maggi
Thats right, thank you Maggi
LOL, why thank you, Maggi, I stand corrected. Katherine, please accept my humble apology for that glaring misnomer. 😉 I do, however, stand behind the rest of my statements.