Members Present: Mike Cienava, Bill Myers, Fred Clancy, Alan McMullen, Bob Pistel

Others: Ted Barrett, Tom Leach.

Call to Order: Mike Cienava called the meeting to order at 5 PM and apologized for not yet having minutes ready for approval from the April 24th, 2001 meeting.That meeting basically generated a letter that the majority of the Commission voted (Alan McMullen abstaining) and sent on to the Board of Selectmen recommending the Harbormaster no longer grant waivers for local boats from the $500 tuna landing fee and it be applied to all boats landing tuna regardless. Copy of that letter is with these minutes.

Follow-up on the Tuna Landing permit fee. The chairman had sent a letter on to the Board of Selectmen recommending that the $500 tuna landing fee be applied across the Board. Fred Clancy is concerned that the charterboats are getting taxed again and that it seems that the A permit commercial boats seem to be not paying anything extra. Alan McMullen said he thought that the commercial fishing vessels should be brought into line and all boats should pay offloading fees, not have them "incorporated" with the regular dockage, just a cute way of making a waiver of convenience.

Alan proposed that the Commission write to the Army Corps to see how they feel about the local commercial groundfishing boats not pay the tuna fee, while the rest of the tuna chasing boats in the fleet pay the fee, he said this was not on equal terms. Bill Myers said that this would surely open a can of worms with the Army Corps which is already concerned about inequities of the existing T permits. Tom Leach said he though any such requests to the Army should come from or go through the Board of Selectmen. Also the Harbormaster believes the A, C, D, and E permits are already on equal to all terms, as they all are assigned via waiting lists which are open to the public on equal terms. The issue the Corps was having was the Tuna fee for visitors but not local sportfishing boats.

A motion was made by Alan to have the Harbormaster "phone the Army Corps of Engineers, William Kavanaugh, to explain the different categories of Offlaoding permits in the Harbor Management Plan and ask can the categorically some permits be excluded from the $500 hike. In other words can A, C, E permits be exempt. Voted unanimously.

Ted Barrett suggested that the port just has too many competing interests now and it would make absolute sense to have the Town "re-negotiate" the 1966 terms of agreement.

The chairman passed around a list of issues he has collected from members on things that seem to still be unresolved. Mike wanted to take these one at a time:

Percentage of Ownership (partnerships and corporations) – Fred Clancy told how the AHYC requires insurance policy binder and registration or documentation info to help prove who is the boat owner. Alan told how he knows some gerrymander on these points to hide partner or real owner. The chairman raised the question why not no joint owners? Alan exp[lained how many boats are corporation owned though the slip holder is the "owner". He also said he had ask the Town Adminstrator about this and was told he should right checks as an individual on his persoanl check book then get Freedom corporation to reimburse. Alan said he asked an attorney and was told this is sublease (not allowed by our regulations). Alan said we should ask Town attorney how to set up the ownership determination thing.

Alan also seemed to know that this ownership thing was something that could not be granfathered. He explained that if we went sole ownership then the following year all would have to comply or lose berth.

Ed. Note. This old issue goes back to a presentation that was rejected by the Board of Selectmen formulated at the Waterways Commission Meetting February 11, 1998

REQUIRE ENTRANCE DREDGING ANNUALLY

Chairman answered this one. Nice try wouldn’t this be nice. Reality is dredging is burdened by budget, permitting and survey. You don’t dredge if you don’t need it and you need survey to dredge.

Chairman wants commission to pursue the burdened parking situation . Suggests revenue would offset gate expenses and make money for town. Alan and Mike both said Selectmen want to see revenues increase.

Fred Clancy said that there is one charter boat which holds a permit but did not run charters. The permit was just a convenience for fuel savings. This prompted discussion to determine what should be a minimum number of charters to continue with the active permit. Bob Pistels motion was seconded "That C Permits must do a minimum of 30 charter trips per season, otherwise the Town will take back the permit." Voted Yes 5-0, (Alan abstained).

The Harbormaster said that he agreed with this comment, especially where it comes to allocating offloading permits. He has begun a waiting list for E permits and is concerned that there are applicants in line who for all intensive purposes fish only seasonally and work 90% of their income from other source businesses. They dabble as commercial fishermen and might barely comply with the "vessel in the port 8.5 months" regulation. So this leads to people getting one of these very limited permits when other full-time fishermen who need that permit to support a family would be out of luck. The chairman suggested that it should be in the perview ofthe Harbormaster to refuse issuing the permit, however, suggest to that applicant he/she seek a hearing with the Commission if he has an issue. However, a more clarified definition or setting the standard at "full-time" commercial fishermen for A, B and E permits is needed.

NEXT MEETING

The commission voted that they want to meet twice monthly over the summer.

Committee adjourned at 6:45 PM.

TEL