2011 Report of the

Harbormaster/Natural Resources Department

Harbor Change

After 25 years of charging all boats a common rate by the square foot (length x beam) a selectman persuaded the Waterways Committee to change its recommendation on fees and move the system to more common length per foot rates. The three year debate resulted in the Board of Selectmen changing the dockage fee system we use to one that now charges seven separate rates. The largest vessels get a cost break and the smallest boat owners are hammered with more than a 20% higher annual bill, resulting in 14 families deciding to give up their berths at the marina for the coming season. With more than $10 million in needed harbor maintenance and improvements identified over the next ten years, the message from the Capital Outlay Committee is to match revenue with expenses, which may mean future rate increases. Cost savings are equally important. A new rubbish contract that will save the harbor nearly $4000 annually was awarded to Fraser Disposal of Wellfleet.

Other changes include a decision to have all fees collected at the Treasurers office. This will rule out paying by credit card and make accounting for moorings, slips, and other permit fees harder on the customer. Also, because we must have assurance that boat excise has been covered (required by law), and paperwork received as required at the time of payment, this creates a huge challenge in our office at the harbor. We are adjusting to these challenges in the Harbormasters Office.

Based on structural deficiencies cited in a report completed two years ago, the town pier at Wychmere Harbor is functioning at limited capacity. A technical assistance grant has helped fund a consulting engineer to further examine those conditions and uses at the pier. The town sought a state Department of Housing and Community Development District local technical assistance program grant, administered by the Cape Cod Commission. $7,500 was approved for the study with the balance of monies coming from free cash. Vine Engineering was hired at $46,000 as an engineering consultant to analyze options for reconstruction and reuse of the pier. The consultant is to review existing engineering and planning reports regarding the condition of the all the facilities and desired uses and then meet with town officials to discuss needs in January of next year.

HARWICH HARBOR RECEIPTS FY09 through FY11
	FY11		FY10		FY09
Saquatucket Dockage	533,674.10	-1.26%	540,491	19.81%	451,112
Visitor Dockage	145,718.69	-3.29%	150,670	27.69%	117,995
Mooring Permit Fee WIF	75,655.00	2.10%	74,099	14.66%	64,625
Allen Town Dock	25,265.22	8.28%	23,333	3.07%	22,637
Ramp Fee Collected	21,490.00	-4.96%	22,612	0.22%	22,562
Wychmere Town Pier	21,377.01	-4.61%	22,411	9.52%	20,462
Electric Use	20,960.00	-4.20%	21,878	13.90%	19,208
Offload Permit Fee	15,693.00	-7.88%	17,035	35.23%	12,598
List Waiting Fee	13,380.35	-5.16%	14,108	-13.47%	16,304
Waterways User Fee WIF	19,780.56	55.14%	12,750
Shellfish Permit	6,758	-22.06%	8,671	26.58%	6,850
Fuel Commission	7,207.11	-7.88%	7,824	3.21%	7,581
Ice Receipts	1,871.00	14.50%	1,634	-5.33%	1,726
MSA Fee	800	0.00%	800	-11.11%	900
Restaurant Tie-up	221.00	-39.45%	365	-10.76%	409
Fish Weir Permit	50.00	0.00%	50	0.00%	50
Allen Parking Lot Rental	15,093	10.25%	13,689
Mooring Drop/Haul/Inspection.	80.00	300.00%	20	-90.00%	200
TOTALS	925,074	0.69%	918,749	20.06%	765,218
Contribution to Waterways User Fund	95,516	9.98%	86,849	34.39%	64,625

Our marina clerk Michelle Morris has done an outstanding job once again this year in billing, collecting and distributing receipts. The Harbormaster received many many nice comments about her ability to work with customers and keep things running smoothly. Michelle took maternity leave at Thanksgiving to deliver a baby girl, Paige Morris, and has been replaced for now by Danielle McKenna until her return to work in March.

In its second year of collection, the enigma of a waterways user fee is somewhat settled but the number of people that begrudgingly pay remain significant. The list of delinquents that must be chased in court is growing. Unlike taxes, the user fee helps defray dredging costs for the town from boaters that actually use the channels or require other services.

Boat Ramps

A striped bass blitz off Nauset beach for the past two seasons and a policy change for boat ramp use by the Town of Chatham caused non-resident fishermen to over-run ramps and parking areas at other near by landings including Round Cove once again. The heavy wear and tear of the trailers and power loading that went on at the ramps has caused undermining and pieces of concrete from the lower ramp to tear away. The DPW has stabilized the ramp for the time being using larger cobbles. However, replacement of this ramp is vital for boaters on Pleasant Bay. Unfortunately, parking space here is at a premium and until this frenzy calms down we can expect more seasons ahead of the same use. Meanwhile the ramp and eventually the bulkhead need to be replaced. An article is in the coming May Town meeting for this purpose. Although recommended, the state motorboat regulations do not prohibit power loading onto boat trailers.

The Movies

In August, a scene for the Columbia Pictures movie ‘I Hate You Dad’ a.k.a. ‘Danny’s Boy’ with Adam Sandler, Susan Sarandon, Andy Samberg and Leighton Meester was filmed at the exclusive Wychmere Harbor House, formerly known as Thompson's Clam Bar, in the renovated Hydrangea Room. Perhaps the best vantage point was at the Stone Horse Yacht Club, across the Wychmere Harbor channel, where yacht club members and others perched during periods of the three days of filming. Columbia Pictures also leased the Saquatucket Harbor parking lot for production trucks and vehicles for $4,000 a day and hired assistant harbormasters to control boat traffic in the channel during the cinema takes.

Dredging & Beach Nourishment

Spring dredge projects for the entrance channels to Allen and Saquatucket Harbors ran into some difficulties and had to be altered because of piping plover nesting grounds. Additional issues with the dredging permit delayed the Allen Harbor channel because the language in the Army Corps of Engineers permit did not match the commonwealth DEP water quality certificates permits. After a productive discussion, the Army altered their permit to be consistent with the state permits.

The Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program informed the town it had until May 25th to get sand onto Red River Beach before the fledgling piping plovers were due to hatch. Delays meant changing the disposal site and pumping sand instead to the west from Saquatucket approach channel nourishing Wah Wah Taysee Road, Zylpha Road and Wyndemere Bluff beaches. At Allen Harbor 4,000 cubic yards of sand was removed near the entrance marker and pumped west to Grey Neck Road Beach. In total, 16,050 cubic yards was placed along the shoreline. The sand provided to public and private locations came from 8,000 cubic yards taken from the Saquatucket Harbor approach channel and another 8,000 cubic yards from the approach at Allen Harbor. The bids for sand from the private property owners defrayed the cost of the dredge project, leaving more than $45,000 in the dredge reserve account.

Mooring Services

There has been a change in the mooring service agents serving some of the harbors for 2012. AGL Mooring has replaced Chatham Mooring Company for Round Cove and Pleasant Bay. The company will also do the Outer Wychmere Harbor mooring field and Herring River once again. Allen Harbor Marine Service will continue working the Allen Harbor mooring field and Harwich Port Boat Yard will work the Wychmere Inner Harbor mooring field. The winning bids were based upon the range of services and rates being charged the mooring customers.

Docks and Docking

The Conservation Commission is weighing the importance of shellfish grounds to the community against the quest by three private property owners to locate docks on Wychmere Harbor, considering what their impact may be on the channel or mooring field. One of the many important roles of the Natural Resources Department is to protect the environment for clams. This includes defending the harmful effects to the historic shellfish flats by dredging or invasion of docks, etc. In many cases these impacts can be mitigated, while in other more valuable locations, dredging must be prohibited. The Town has significant limitations on the actual area of quality hard bottom that is available for natural set. Removal of sand/gravel from the shoreline leads to the void being replaced by silty mud which is not conducive to the settlement of shellfish. The Harwich Protective By-Law is in place to help answer many of these issues for members of the Waterways committee and Conservation Commission. However, their decisions can be appealed. It is often the Natural Resources Departments job to be the eye witness and is regularly consulted in such environmental legal cases.

In another channel issue, we received many complaints about the 81’ vessel SPECULATOR for partially blocking one lane of the Wychmere inlet while tied up to the Wychmere Beach Club. The vessel’s 23 foot beam impinges on the requirement that a vessel tied to any dock not reduce the useful channel width to less than 50 feet. The hotel owner agreed to pay for channel dredging in that area of the channel to improve opportunity for two vessels to pass, however, the waterways committee was concerned about the appearance of a "quid pro quo". However, selectmen agreed to accept the offer to pay for dredging services and the inlet was dredged in October. The material was deposited at Saquatucket Bluffs. The dredge later returned to Allen Harbor inlet for a second time in the same season and removed more sand between the jetties.

More Beach Nourishment

Gray Neck Road residents praised the effort of the Town in restoring the beach for their summer use. More than 3,000 cubic yards of sand was placed on the beach in January and another 4,000 in June from the Allen Harbor channel dredging, only to have Tropical Storm Irene remove several thousand yards of sand from Grey Neck beach in late August. Finally, in October 2,000 cubic yards were deposited at Wah Wah Taysee Road; 4,000 cubic yards. at Atlantic Ave ; 4,000 cubic yards at Wyndemere Bluff; and 50 yards in the final round of the season making this year one of our largest in delivery volume of sand to beaches in more than 25 years.

Selectmen appointed Tom Leach to serve on a regional committee on beach management. The formation of the committee has been spearheaded by the Orleans selectmen, who are concerned about laws that impact the overall management of the beaches and restrict access to the general public. Among those regulations are the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.

Gray Seals

In June, NOAA Office of Law Enforcement officials were on the trail of the serial killing of six gray seals which washed ashore with gunshot wounds to their heads. It has become routine for members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's marine mammal rescue team to check every dead seal for evidence of such wounds which can be cryptic. A reward totaling $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator remains in effect.

Investigators are questioning people on the Chatham waterfront about the crime. Under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is illegal to harass or kill all marine mammals, and violations can result in both civil and criminal penalties. Gray seals are not an endangered or otherwise listed species; they are rapidly increasing in numbers and the population off the Lower Cape is one of the fastest growing groups in the world. Fishermen are not happy about Gray seals because they are prodigious predators of many kinds of fish, and so have traditionally been a nuisance to commercial fishermen. For decades, ending in the 1960s, the government put a bounty on seals and paid up to $5 each for seal noses.

Propagation Closure

Muddy Creek and the flats of Jackknife Harbor were closed to shellfishing in January as the area needed to rest. Harvesting shellfish in those flats disturbed seed clams from deep winter hibernation. The harvesting in the dead of winter subjects seed clams to frostbite and damage from anchor frost because they can longer dig into the bottom. The BOS reopened the area in June. The creek was also subject to unrestricted harvesting by several members of the Wampanoag tribe as a sovereign nation with certain aboriginal rights. We have been meeting with the tribal council in an attempt to find an agreeable situation with respect to Harwich family limits and legal shellfish size.

Stimulus Funds

Several Natural Resources and Soil Conservation Service water restoration project grants in the works have moved along since last year. The ‘Stormtreat’ tanks at Wychmere Pier parking area were razed and replaced by under ground storage vaults which will mitigate storm water from Harbor Road and Wychmere Pines. The project was completed in December by Robert B. Our, Inc. and the area has been regraded and paved with new drains.

At Red River Beach, there is a plan to replace and widen culverts under Uncle Venies and Deep Hole Roads to improve flushing of the marshes with a $354,000 grant from NRSCS. Harwich's contribution will be no more than $88,500, most of which will be covered by the in-kind donation of labor from the town's highways and maintenance department. When it's done, the marsh will be healthier, more productive, and maybe even a bit less stinky on hot summer days.

These projects are among 76 being carried out under the auspices of the 10-year, $30 million Cape Cod Water Resources Restoration Project, which includes improvements to 26 salt marshes, 26 stormwater discharge sites, and 24 fish passages. The grants are funded by stimulus stabilization monies. The project is also funding a feasibility study of ways to improve tidal flushing in Muddy Creek. The town received word that a Coastal Pollutant Remediation grant sought to redirect runoff at the Allen Harbor parking lot was denied.

Cape Wind Farm

Selectmen propose to provide three slips to accommodate support vessels, in an effort to bring 40 to 50 skilled jobs to town by the Cape Wind company. They plan to construct 130 large-scale wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. The exact location of the slips is still under discussion. However, the selectmen plan to provide the use of the existing storage shed by the former fuel dock on the east side of the harbor. The board pointed out the shed is presently being used by the fire department and officials are working on relocating the fire rescue boat and associated equipment. Should the shed need to be expanded, a conservation commission review will be required and a lease of these properties will require a vote of town meeting.

The east bulkhead at Saquatucket Harbor has many uses, especially for commercial fishermen and tuna permit holders. The town pump-out boat is located there and it has to be near the pump-out tank. The Fire Department boat is also docked there seasonally. There are 11 suits against Cape Wind and they still need to get the building permit from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Shellfish Laboratory

The coastal storm that passed through at the end of August caused the shellfish lab, as well as home owners surrounding Wychmere Harbor, to lose power for five days. Tropical Storm Irene directly impacted the Harwich Shellfish lab by knocking out power to the Town Pier, which provides electricity for the water pumps in the shellfish lab. With help of the Highway Dept., who provided us with a diesel powered generator, we were able to keep the Shellfish lab up and running until normal power was restored. The power was again interrupted at the Town Pier late in the year. It was discovered that the underground service line is inadequate and will need replacement in the future.

We nurtured over 800,000 quahogs in the lab this year bringing our total to over 29 million quahog seed raised in the lab since 1994. We also continued with our direct purchase of shellfish seed from (ARC) Aquacultural Research Cooperation in Dennis. Since the seed purchased from ARC directly (3-5mm) was a bit larger than the County Seed Grant Program (2-3mm), our overall average seed size at the end of the growing season was very good. Our lab continues to have an excellent survival rate (99% this year) and the seed grew to an average of 12.5 mm at the time of seeding. Support from the Division of Marine Fisheries/County Seed program is becoming more difficult each year. We soon may be facing a year in which the DMF/County Seed program is unable to help towns on the Cape with shellfish seed.

The Harwich Shellfish Lab also continues to be an inspiration some of our younger citizens. This was the 14^th year that the Harwich Shellfish Lab conducted its high school summer aquaculture internship program. The six week program, managed by Heinz Proft, enabled students, Madison Greiner, Cheyenne Gingras, Peter Spalt, and teaching supervisor Jill Eastman to work closely with the Natural Resources Department to monitor and maintain the Shellfish nursery during its’ busiest time. The lab, open to the general public, received over 150 visitors this year, bringing our total to over 5,500 visitors in the past 14 years. The shellfish from the lab were seeded in Herring River, Allen Harbor, Wychmere Harbor, Saquatucket Harbor, Pleasant Bay/Muddy Creek, and Round Cove.

Our seed continues to be tested prior to seeding (per order of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries) for Dermo, QPX, and an array of other harmful parasites. Our seed was tested by Mirco Technologies Inc. in Richmond Maine and received a clean bill of health.

Oysters

100,000 Seed oysters (3-4mm) were once again reared in the Lab that were obtained from ARC in Dennis. These bivalves were grown in the lab and eventually seeded in Wychmere Harbor. We are beginning to see positive results as recreational fisherman harvested some of the legal sized Oysters (3 inches) that we planted last year. We hope this trend continues.

The Harwich Natural Resources Department continues to receive assistance with many of our projects from volunteers. A great deal of thanks is extended to Bob Sarantis and John Reynders who spent yet another summer/fall tending to the needs of the shellfish lab. Their help is truly appreciated.

Volunteer Shellfish Wardens

To patrol the local shellfishing flats we again relied on the assistance provided by our dedicated group of volunteer shellfish wardens. Ron Saulnier, Jim Coyle and Dean Knight were very generous with their time and energy. Patrolling the shellfish flats throughout the year, they not only enforce the shellfish regulations, but educate the public as well. The Natural Resources Department is more efficient and more productive because of their help. We thank all our volunteers for their effort.

2011 Shellfish Permits Sold

Resident Family 232 $4640

Non-Resident Family 23 $1380

Commercial 5 $250

Seniors 123 $738

One-Day Non-Resident 36 $720

TOTAL 419 $7,728

We ask shellfish permit holders to fill out a shellfishing survey when renewing their license at the Harbormaster’s office. From those surveys we are able to compile the following:

Average days someone went shellfishing in 2010………….....8.0 days

Average # buckets of quahogs taken in 2010/person..........…...4.24 (10qts)

Average #buckets of oysters taken in 2010/person.........….…..0.13 (10qts)

Average #buckets of softshells taken in 2010/person.........……1.55 (10qts)

Average #buckets of scallops taken in 2010/person.........……..0.11 (10qts)

Note: When someone buys a permit we get the previous year’s survey results. The 2011 data will be available after everyone has purchased their 2012 license and will be included in the next year’s town report.

Herring Run and Eel Ramp

The Herring Run remains closed due to the moratorium enacted by the Division of Marine Fisheries on the taking of herring anywhere in Massachusetts. This moratorium in Harwich was extended through 2011. DMF has not made a decision regarding herring runs across the state for 2012 and beyond. However, if Harwich is any indication of the general herring population, it doesn’t bode well. The Natural Resources Department along with our volunteer herring wardens did not encounter many strong days at the run this past spring.

With the help of many Americorps volunteers we kept the Herring River clear of debris and blockages. Many early spring days were spent cutting dead wood, removing brush, and clearing debris that would inhibit the migration of herring to their freshwater spawning sites.

Harwich Conservation Trust once again had 30+ volunteers on a fixed schedule for 2 months stationed at the point where herring enter Hinckley Pond. Several times a day volunteers would tabulate fish counts for a 10 minute period. The estimated size of this year’s Herring River run was 10,466 which was less than both 2009’s run size of 19, 336 and 2010’s run size of 41,254 fish.

The eel ramp located off Bank Street, also managed by HCT, had volunteers counting eels making their way into Grassy Pond in the spring. A small electric pump keeps an inclined ramp moist in order to assist the passage of eels from Cold Brook into the pond.

This was the third year that eels were counted making their way up the artificial mesh raceway into the pond. In 2011, 9,247 eels were counted migrating up the ramp. This was greater than last year; 2010 (5,000 eels) however much fewer than the first year; 2009 (25,000 eels).

Harwich Tuna Landings

The 2011 tuna season at Saquatucket Harbor ran from Sept. 4^th through Nov 1^st this year. The data for the past 3 years were:

Year Dates #Tuna Largest Tuna

2011 9/4-11/1 102 884 lbs

2010 9/11-11/3 238 795 lbs

2009 9/24/11/8 147 1100 lbs

Harwich Water Quality Task Force (HWQTF)

Local water quality monitoring continued in Saquatucket Harbor, Wychmere Harbor, Allen Harbor, Herring River, and 11 freshwater ponds. These areas were sampled several times throughout the summer in order to continue collecting reliable water quality for our database including nitrates, phosphates, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen levels, and fecal coliform levels. A project of this magnitude could only be completed with the dedication of our hard working volunteers – Ellen and Chris Geanacapoulos, Bob Smith, John Preston, Bill Otis, Chet Berg, Jane Chase, Kathleen Welch, Anne Hynes, Mary Ann Jones, Abigail Hynes-Houston, Richard Houston, Ralph and Jane Anderson, Jack Lohr, Peter DeBakker, Tony and Marian Piro, George Meyers, Patsy Lightbrown, Janet O’Leary, Richard King, Art Winterhaltler, Julie Gammon, Paul Erickson, Norma Spignese, Deborah Aylesworth, Joe Seidel, Bill Clary, Walter Gonet, Ron Bellengi, Jay Kennedy, Richard and Nancy Gifford, Chuck Winans, Jim Brennan, Bill Myers, Ed McCarthy, Jim Brennan, Ray Sacramone, Connie Doherty, Sam Simonis, Ray Finnegan, Bill Sliney, Mary and Bob Reynolds, Pete Watson, Terry Barry, Ted Janse, Mary Henry, Frank Sampson, Bob Sarantis, and Gillian Dudeck.

Results from the Harwich Water Quality Task Force can be viewed at the website – www.hwqtf.com. It not only provides details about the program, but contains interim reports and data from the sampling ponds Aerial photos, some of which illustrate algal blooms, can also be accessed via web links within the site.

Oceanographic data collection from Nantucket Sound was once again collected by the shellfish lab interns. They collected Nantucket Sound water data including water temperature, water salinity, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. Data was only collected on two dates this summer due to the fact that the interns also helped collect Water Quality Task Force data in Wychmere and Saquatucket Harbors.

Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP)

Harwich continues its march to the completion of a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan. The town has contracted a water engineering firm CDM, now called CDM-SMITH, to assist in planning the town’s future wastewater needs. The degradation of Harwich’s estuaries and bays is one of the main reasons that the town is changing its approach to wastewater management. Harwich’s goal of maintaining a high quality of life for its residents and restoring its bays and estuaries can only be achieved by developing such a plan.

Through a combination of determining the wastewater needs and identifying potential areas that require improved methods of wastewater treatment, Harwich can meet current and future developmental needs in regards to nitrogen daily loads. The goal is to have the CWMP draft report completed in the fall of 2012. As with anything this large and complex, it will be through adaptive management that the plan gets implemented.

A very special thank you and debt of gratitude is extended to Mr. Frank Sampson. Frank was the chairman of the Water Quality Task Force and stepped down this year. He has championed the CWMP and without his dedicated volunteer service for so many years we would not be where we are today. The new chairman Peter DeBakker has taken the reins and the WQTF will continue the goal of completing the CWMP as planned.

Hinckleys Pond

Hinckleys Pond experienced yet another algae bloom. This year it occurred in mid-August and lasted for more than a week. On August 10^th it was determined that it was primarily a filamentous blue-green algae, Oscillatoria, creating mats of green colored water in the pond. In order to determine the causes of these blooms the town contracted the services of Camp, Dresser & Mckee Inc. to complete a diagnostic assessment of the Pond. Work began immediately in September and the report will be completed in 2012.

Pleasant Bay Alliance (PBA)

Harwich also continued water quality sampling as part of the Pleasant Bay Resource Management Alliance. The Pleasant Bay Alliance sampled three locations in Harwich waters; two in Pleasant Bay and one in Round Cove. Volunteers Tina Maloney, Elise Trelegan, Evan Ridley, Nick Klaucke, Al Williams, as well as Dave and Peggy Bennett were generous with their time and we thank them for their assistance. Special thanks to the Wequassett Inn for providing us a boat and driver for those early morning sampling runs. The website for the program is www.pleasantbay.org

The Pleasant Bay Alliance has also continued to make progress on the hydrodynamic study of the Muddy Creek/Rt 28 culvert interface. Plans are being finalized so that the both towns, Harwich and Chatham share in the design and completion of the project. Some additional work is needed to be done to size a trapezoidal culvert there. One advantage of the 22-ft trapezoidal channel compared to the 24-ft box culvert is that the maximum tide currents are reduced. Modeled average maximum tidal currents in the 22-ft trapezoid channel are 4.8 ft/sec, which is close to 2 ft/sec less than the maximum currents in the previously evaluated 24-ft box culvert (6.7 ft/sec). For both scenarios, the maximum currents are sufficient to mobilize sand-sized particles; therefore channel shoaling would not be problematic. The lower maximum currents associated with the 22-ft trapezoidal channel would improve safety associated with recreational use.

Looking Back

Many people, including some who are no longer with us, are to be thanked for all the help and support they have given me during the four decades I have worked for you. You know who you are. In addition to our community members themselves, almost too numerous to count, I would especially like to thank more than thirty selectmen, their secretaries and two town administrators I have gotten to know. In addition, backing was welcome from more than a hundred seasonal and regular town employees that were supportive of our mission to keep the harbors a safe and friendly place to work and play. I more than ever thank Donald Ryder, Heinz Proft, Michelle Morris and Tom Telesmanick for the great job that has been done.

We take pride that the harbor and its facilities are maintained as the cleanest and most respectable on Cape Cod. Routinely visitors comment on this fact. Looking back, many changes and improvements have happened, including: expanding and replacing parts of the original marina, creating a formidable dock at Wychmere Harbor to serve the fishing fleet, establishing an intensive channel maintenance dredging and beach nourishment program, establishing an on going shellfish growing and seeding program, improving the alewife runs, upgrading harbor patrol boats at little cost to the local taxpayer, and checking pollution from boaters. Harwich was one of the very first towns to both implement a Federal No Discharge Area. and to develop a comprehensive set of governing regulations into a workable Harbor Management Plan.

We nurtured the establishment of a ferry service between Harwich Port and Nantucket, and continue to help whenever possible all businesses in town, from realtors and restaurants to boat yards and shop owners. In addition, when politics often seem at an imbalance, we continue to remind everyone that just as importantly the commercial fishermen are businessmen who create jobs in our community and also deserve our support.

Together we saw many changes in the dynamic of the Saquatucket Harbor. In recent years it has gone from a peak of 70 sailboats to barely more than ten, with little understanding of why this was happening at a time when fuel prices soar. The last 15 years the harbor became a jumping off place for most of the transient tuna fishermen in the northeast as it once had for a robust offshore lobster fleet in the 70's, sea scallopers in the 80's, and ground fish fleet in the 90's. With aging facilities comes the need to replace and upgrade. Over the next twenty years, there is a lot to be done. How Harwich faces this challenge will be up to what responsibility taxpayers want to take for our five harbors.

The work never ends. In an effort toward being a good steward of the environment, we ended the year by preparing a Community Innovation Challenge Grant application for a portable closed loop pressure wash water recycling system for managing commercial fishing vessels that necessitate using our town landings for haul out in Harwich and Chatham.

Hero

Harwich commercial fisherman John Zuzick, posthumously received the "Act of Courage" Hero Award from the American Red Cross in March. He suffered a fatal heart attack while rescuing a drowning crewman during a fishing trip off Nantucket in 2010. John will always be remembered in our hearts as a great sailor and even a greater person.

Respectfully,

Thomas E. Leach, BS, CHM Harbormaster
Heinz M. Proft, BS, MS Assistant/Environmental Science Director