The Town of Harwich is a resort and residential community located on the south side of the Cape peninsula, with an extensive shoreline on Nantucket Sound. It was settled around 1665, and incorporated in 1694. Its early economy included agriculture and maritime industries and its history has included boom and bust cycles from the earliest days of the community. When the whaling industry collapsed with the discovery of oil, the community's emphasis shifted to cod fishing. By 1802, 15 to 20 ships were shore fishing and another four ships were cod fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador, and by 1851, there were 48 ships employing 577 men and bringing in thousands of tons of cod and mackerel. The eventual decline of the fishing industry in Harwich by the latter part of the 19th century was caused by increases in the size of ships which eventually outstripped the shallow port's ability to house them.

Today, the fishing power of the Harwich fishing fleet rivals its ancestors due in part to the maintenance of adequate harbor entrance channels and the development of the diesel engine. There are a total of 40 fast small groundfishing vessels (31'-48') plying the pelagic Atlantic for cod and haddock. In addition Harwich Port becomes the seasonal home to an additional 85+ boats chasing tuna from August through October. In the winter months, an additional 20 commercial vessels may use the Town docks under special permit. There are also 10 charter boats that take passengers for hire. In all this fishing effort currently employs more than 400 people.

Dodge Morgan
as a young man worked for his uncle Bill Lee at the Harwich Port Boat Works
Dodge in 1983 set the around the world single handed non stop sailing record (220 days) in AMERICAN PROMISE

Harwich mooring gear now includes ground tackle, a buoy, and a lawyer

"A mooring in Wychmere or Allen Harbor is like a piece of gold," says Harwich Harbormaster Tom Leach.

Moorings are rare gems all over the Lower Cape, but in Harwich in particular they have become not only hard to get, but virtually priceless. Those rare gems lay in a mooring scheme that basically shipwrecked.

Conflict over mooring access turned the mooring fields into political minefields, prompting selectmen to overhaul the entire Harwich harbor management plan. The new system is meant to make the mooring scene more equitable, but it won't be until after this upcoming recreational boating season that it's clear whether the town has made the leash on moorings too tight. With boat owners, marina operators, the state, and local officials each pulling in different directions, Leach is the guy who has to keep it all straight.

He believes that selectmen are recasting the mooring system in a sincere attempt to "try to answer to their constituency, and they had some cause here."

With 946 people on the mooring waiting list, Leach says, "We need to do something to make it possible for people to get a mooring in a reasonable amount of time. We need to force people to use it or lose it."

But no one is sure how the strict new regulations will work in practice. ....