Board Considers Disbanding Fishermen’s Group

CHATHAM – For more than six decades, the Aunt Lydia’s Cove committee has advised town officials on issues related to the town’s commercial fish pier and commercial fishing in general. But noting the committee’s lack of input on the recent fish pier reconstruction project and its failure to meet regularly for the past several years, the select board is proposing to disband the group.

Harbormaster Stuart Smith advised against doing away with the group, and one member said he felt there was still a role for the group to play.

“It’s been there for 60 years and definitely serves a purpose,” said commercial fisherman Nick Muto.

Muto, an Orleans resident who fishes out of the Barcliff Avenue Extension pier, acknowledged that the cove committee had problems recently, which he tied to personality issues among members. But he was also “skeptical” of the select board’s proposal.

“I feel like there’s another agenda behind it,” he said. “I haven’t figured out what yet.”

The committee last met in June. Then-chair Doug Feeney’s term was ending, and the group reportedly named Muto as the new chair. However, reorganization was not on the meeting’s agenda so the vote was not official.

The committee was scheduled to meet to discuss the select board’s proposal on Dec. 1 and again on Dec. 5, but there was no quorum on either date. Another meeting was called for today (Dec. 7), according to Smith.

A review of the town’s official meeting schedule shows that the committee met only seven times between June 2019 and this past June, its last posted meeting prior to this week.

According to the committee’s charge, members should consist of “individuals interested in and familiar with issues related to Aunt Lydia’s Cove,” the location of the commercial fish pier. The group should meet “from time to time” to “discuss and make recommendations on related topics to activities on or about Aunt Lydia’s Cove as either their initiative or as the board of selectmen direction requires,” the charge reads.

The seven-member committee currently has two vacancies; three of the five current members are active or retired commercial fishermen.

Select Board member Dean Nicastro first raised the possibility of disbanding the committee during the board’s annual review of town boards and committees in October.

“I personally think we have too many committees,” he said at the board’s Nov. 28 meeting, a public hearing called to discuss disbanding the cove committee. “I think the idea was that the duties of the Aunt Lydia’s Cove committee could be subsumed by the waterways committee,” perhaps with additional members added, he said.

The waterways advisory committee advises the select board on issues related to the town’s waterways, and it wouldn’t be a big leap to include Aunt Lydia’s Cove, said Select Board member Shareen Davis, who has worked in the commercial fishing industry. Another option could be to establish a commercial fishing committee to advise officials on policies related to both the fish pier and the town’s commercial fishing facilities in Stage Harbor, she said.

“I just don’t think the way this committee as structured is functioning properly,” she said of the Aunt Lydia’s Cove group.

“I do think the commercial fishing industry needs a strong voice,” said Select Board member Jeff Dykens, a former commercial fisherman. He said he was bothered that the cove committee did not weigh in on the fish pier project and was leaning toward incorporating the group into the waterways committee. He was “intrigued” by the idea of a commercial fishing committee, but added that “it will take a lot more vetting” to put in place.

Harbormaster Stuart Smith urged the board to delay any action until there can be a wider discussion about either retaining or restructuring the cove committee. The Aunt Lydia’s Cove committee has been, to him, “a helpful group. We don’t always agree, but that’s good.”

“I don’t think we want to disband the committee prior to having thought out what might come after it,” Smith said.

Given that the group has been around for 60 years, taking more time to consider its disbanding is “not a bad thing,” said Select Board member Michael Schell. However, given the group’s track record, it would be “the last stay of execution, shall we say.”

Board Chair Cory Metters, who is the liaison to the cove committee, agreed that the group’s failure to meet more often is “disappointing,” but noted that many of the members are at the fish pier on a daily basis and provide information and insights to town staff on an informal basis. He’s also liaison to the waterways committee, which he said currently works well.

“They’re a functioning committee, they’re engaged, they weigh in, and if they have to have a meeting, they have a meeting,” he said of the waterways committee. “I’m a little reluctant to add a couple more bodies that may disrupt the process just by the pure volume of the committee.”

He wasn’t optimistic about the cove committee being able to “pull things together,” but said the board should give the members time to respond before taking any action.

“But I do think we all recognize that we want to have that representation to the fishing industry present in our town government,” he said. “How do we still provide that voice? Removing that voice in its entirety is not part of my master plan here.”

Board members agreed to continue the public hearing until Dec. 12 to provide the cove committee with time to respond to their proposal; Nicastro also suggested that the waterways committee consider the option of expanding the committee and assuming the duties of the cove committee.

In an interview last week, Muto said he had hoped to rebuild the committee with new members and a new mission, to focus more on commercial fishing issues and improvements to the traffic and general flow at the pier. The group should remain separate from the waterways committee and focus on commercial fishing, he said.

“I want to make this a committee of real commercial fishermen,” he said. If town officials want commercial fishing to remain viable, they need to work closely with fishermen to smooth access to the industry for young people and assure the availability of shoreside facilities.

“Barriers should not be the town and the politics,” he said.

He acknowledged schisms within the local fishing community — groups like the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and the Chatham Harvesters Coop don’t always see eye-to-eye.