In May 2022, the Department of Marine Resources hosted four workshops to gather input on improving the municipal shellfish co-management system. The workshops were held in Machias, Ellsworth, Brunswick, and virtually on Zoom. Ninety-two individuals—harvesters, shellfish dealers, municipal employees, shellfish committee members, and members of the Shellfish Advisory Council—attended one or more of the workshops. At each workshop, participants were asked about the qualities of a successful municipal shellfish program, what can be improved in the current co-management system, and what is working effectively.
A workshop report summarizes the feedback received at the workshops, and pulls out several key themes, which include:
- ideas for a successful shellfish committee and increasing harvester participation
- ideas for funding for conservation efforts and warden salaries
- regional approaches
- types of conservation activities
- access to the intertidal
- access to licenses
- communication
- resource management
- water quality and shoreline sanitary surveys
The Department of Marine Resources and members of the Shellfish Advisory Council Management Committee pulled 90 recommendations from the report. The Management Committee organized an implementation matrix for the recommendations, which for each recommendation, designated the entity responsible for implementation, timeline, potential strategies for implementation, and existing resources.
The Shellfish Advisory Council is taking up eighteen of the recommendations that will be implemented at the state level by working through a few of the recommendations each quarter. The Shellfish Advisory Council is brainstorming the best way to share town-focused recommendations with municipalities.
The workshop series was effective in bringing together stakeholders to discuss the co-management system and the needs of the wild clam and mussel fishery. As a next step, the workshop report lists ongoing outreach to harvesters, fostering regional approaches for joint solutions, elevating issues of access, improving communication between the DMR and municipalities, and further support for municipal shellfish programs, conservation activities, and data sharing.
Shellfish Advisory Council Priority Recommendations (from Shellfish Co-Management Workshops)
| Define the economic significance of the shellfish industry | Improve coordination with municipal officials to solve pollution problems | Track predator abundance |
| Incentivize landowners to maintain septic systems and remove overboard discharges | Create tax break incentives (or more effectively advertise them) for landowners providing harvester access | Increase/support quahog seeding efforts |
| Incentivize/increase easements on private property to provide more shore access | Create standard language for municipal comprehensive planning that includes preserving harvester access | Improving information sharing to help with understanding of shellfish regulations |
| Evaluation of wild seed transplant activities | Developing a similar program to IF&W “Hunter Access Program” (i.e., book that reviews relevant laws) to share with harvesters upon receiving their state license, or to share with municipal shellfish committees | Improve management of state managed areas (towns without a municipal ordinance) |
| Develop new supply streams to increase hatchery seed capacity for conservation projects | Generate a fund for shellfish harvesters to draw from to preserve access on a statewide level through small grants | Public relations effort to help citizens view shellfish fisheries as part of the community v. “other” |
| Provide resources and training for shellfish committees to learn key skills for running productive meetings | Standardize residency requirements for shellfish licenses (i.e., documents required for proof of residency) | Real-time communication around water-testing results |
Resources
Workshop Series Summary Report
Shellfish Advisory Council – Priority Recommendations Documents
The Mudflat 