A rule change in Brunswick will impact when and how shellfish can be harvested.

Ordinance changes have been in the works for a year, and were reviewed by the Brunswick Marine Resources Committee and Maine Department of Marine Resources. The changes bring town regulations into compliance with state regulations.

No one from the public spoke during the public hearing on the changes held Monday by the town council.

Marine Resource Officer Dan Devereaux said those with student licenses will now be allowed to harvest during holidays over the school year and on weekends.

There had been complaints that, while young people were permitted to work at jobs such as at fast food restaurants during the school year, they weren’t allowed by the town to harvest shellfish.

Devereaux said the changes also include the definition of “aquaculture,” which is a growing segment of Maine’s marine industry.

Taking shellfish

The changes also define how people currently take shellfish, such as using commercial grade rakes — known as bull rakes — now being used to harvest shellfish on New Meadows Lake.

Councilor Jane Millett asked whether bull rakes give an “unfair advantage to the clammer over the clams?”

Devereaux said by defining the long-handled rakes, the town can define their use.

“Technically, a clammer could go out at low tide and dig clams with a rake, and then go out at high tide with a bull rake and dig clams with a bull rake,” he said. “What the committee has done and is considering is enacting conservation closures when the water is covering the mud flats. So if the water is covering the mud flats then harvesters can’t harvest on it because with a bull rake you really can’t see what you’re disrupting down there, and that’s problematic.”

He noted that most of the shellfish harvesters in town are responsible and avoid shellfish they shouldn’t be harvesting or that isn’t big enough to be harvested, knowing they’re “biting themselves in the butt” if they dig and kill the resource.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu