CAPE ELIZABETH – A dispute about prime mooring spots in Cape Elizabeth’s Seal Cove, more commonly known as Kettle Cove, has some local lobstermen concerned that they could be squeezed out.

The issue arose when Gary Cummings, who has fished the area for 48 years, put in for a mooring spot permitted to Ron DePietro.

Cummings claims that for the past three years, and possibly longer, DePietro has not used his mooring for the minimum seven days per year required in the town’s Coastal Waters and Harbors Ordinance, for either his lobster boat, or his skiff. Based on presumed abandonment, Cummings applied to Harbor Master Walt Gibson for DePietro’s spot, located closer to shore and in a more protected area than his own.

After letting the issue go last year after being told DePietro had health issues that kept him out of the water, Cummings applied again this year, only to be told in an email from Gibson that DePietro had a registered boat, would be allowed to keep his mooring, and that the ruling was not eligible for appeal.

Cummings appealed anyway in a letter dated Jan. 21 and was granted a hearing held Monday in front of Town Manager Michael McGovern.

During that hearing, Police Chief Neil Williams, who supervises the harbor master, said Gibson is only employed part time and that the town simply does not have the resources to police the seven-day rule.

“We can’t be down there every day, to see who is there and who isn’t every day,” said Williams. “We’re not like the Falmouths and the Portlands that have a guy out there all the time, so they know we’re looking at them.

“Out here, they know we’re not looking at them,” said Williams. “So, we could miss one day out of seven and have somebody say, oh yeah, I was tied up that day.”

Williams said the Kettle Cove moorings have historically been “self-policing,” while McGovern said Cummings’ appeal is only the second in the many years his job description has included acting as an appeal officer for harbor master decisions.

Meanwhile, Gibson, who said he visits Kettle Cove “about a half dozen times per year,” said the ordinance does not require that he pull a mooring permit, even if the seven-day requirement is not met.

“Can everybody comprehend the difference between ‘shall’ and ‘may,’ ” asked Gibson, referring to ordinance language at the hearing.

“You can force me to remain in a hazardous area because that’s the way you want to rule? That’s completely wrong,” said Cummings. “You didn’t even investigate my request? When was the last time Mr. DePietro anchored to that mooring?”

“That’s not my job,” said Gibson, referring to harbor regulations listed on the town website, which states that “Any mooring not used for 30 consecutive days in a year may be considered abandoned,” while cautioning that, “The harbor master will not be tracking or verifying mooring usage.”

Gibson said he did give DePietro a choice of using or surrendering his permit, but was told he wanted to keep the site.

“I asked him if he had any intention of relinquishing his mooring and he said he did not,” said Gibson.

“If everybody just held onto their moorings, nobody would have a mooring out there except on the other side of the breakwater,” said Cummings.

“When I got a mooring, it was because somebody else gave up fishing,” said Ed Gilfillan, who also works out of Seal Cove. “My understanding was always that if you did not use your mooring for 30 days, you forfeit the mooring. Under these new rules, nobody is ever going to get rid of their mooring. If two or three guys could get a couple of moorings apiece, they could just sit on them forever and literally prevent anyone else from ever fishing out of Kettle Cove, other than to put in for the day.

“I would think that the guys that work in the roughest weather would get the better moorings,” said Gilfillan. “That’s why it would be nice to have a harbor master who’d go out there and check just to see if there are vacant moorings. But now you can’t get them. It sounds like someone can say, ‘Nope, you can’t have my spot,’ even if they never plan on using it. I find this very discouraging to find this is the way it is.”

DePietro said back issues prevent him from lobstering, but that he intended to fish for tuna this year.

“I still need a mooring in Kettle Cove, bottom line,” he said.

However, he did not deny Cummings’ claim that his boat is for sale.

Cummings also has applied for the mooring of 79-year-old lobsterman Tom Skolfield, should he ever retire.

“He wants my place when I die and that’s fine with me, but I’m going to live until I’m 130,” said Skolfield. “I’m just ugly enough to do it, too.”

McGovern declined to say what action, if any, the Town Council may take given the police chief’s admission that he does not have the resources to enforce the coastal waters ordinance.

“I’d be happy to comment after the hearing is over, but I’d prefer not to say anything until then.”

McGovern said he would accept additional written testimony through Feb. 27. A ruling on Cummings’ appeal will be made no later than March 3, he said.

“When someone brings a violation of an ordinance to the attention of town authorities, they should investigate it,” said Cummings.

Lobstermen offload their catch in Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth. A longtime fisherman is appealing the harbor master’s decision regarding moorings in the cove.