(Jan. 5, 2022) The Select Board on Wednesday overturned its revocation of fisherman Ted Lambrecht's oystering license for lack of production, and sent the matter back to the Shellfish and Harbor Advisory Board for further consideration.
The board in May gave Lambrecht 60 days to bring his oyster beds into compliance with his license after he failed to produce shellfish for at least three years on his plot in Head of the Harbor.
In September, it ruled he was not in compliance, and gave him a final chance to remove his deteriorating oyster gear from the bottom of the harbor, voting 3-1 to extend the deadline for removal by 90 days.
The board last month revoked his license after determining he had not removed the gear. He was also cited by the state Division of Marine Fisheries in November for improper handling and storage of shellfish, town natural resources director Jeff Carlson said.
But Lambrecht told the board Wednesday he had removed the gear by the Dec. 8 deadline, cleaned it, restocked it with oyster seed and returned it to the water.
“I’ve been at this for 10 years, trying to rebuild this thing. I’ve made every effort to do everything everyone wanted me to. I have a huge amount of money and hours invested in this,” Lambrecht said. “I just want to work. I never had any intention of skirting the law. If you nix the lease right now, I’m sitting on tons and tons of gear, on live stock. What do you do, just throw it away?”
The board voted 3-2, with chairman Jason Bridges and Kristie Ferrantella dissenting, to overturn the revocation and seek a new recommendation from SHAB on what to do with Lambrecht’s license, and the live oysters currently in his cages.
“If we’re going to revoke his license, we need to know the next steps. I think Ted has made a real effort,” Select Board member Mat Fee said before the vote. “From what I understand from other people, he’s made a real effort over the last six months or a year to do what we asked him to do. I’m not in favor of revoking the license until I know what we are going to do from this point.”
Lambrecht was not supposed to restock the cages or continue oystering after their removal from the harbor, Carlson said.
Melissa Murphy, who spoke strongly in favor of upholding the revocation, in the end voted to overturn it.
“I’m feeling frustrated we’ve given Mr. Lambrecht a number of chances, on top of the chances SHAB has given him,” she said before the vote.
“We want Mr. Lambrecht to be successful, and we want the shellfish program to be successful, but he does not seem to be able to manage his business given the rules. I feel a little taken advantage of in some ways. It’s a simple issue of the gear not being resolved satisfactorily in the time we gave him. When we set a timeline, we mean it.”
The board’s decision sets a bad precedent, Carlson said.
“I don’t have any confidence given his track record, given that the gear went abandoned for four or five years, that things will change,” he said.
“Strictly looking at the regulations in place, the guidelines in the lease were not met. He was asked to meet certain deadlines, and we don’t believe they were met. The remedy we’re seeking is what the regulations call for. I have a real hard time explaining why compliance is so important to the guys on the wait list for a plot and the guys working their leases when this has dragged on and on.”
SHAB chairman Andy Lowell said he would be happy to reconsider the matter, but predicted the board, which next meets Jan. 18, would again recommend revocation.
“My heart pours out for Mr. Lambrecht. I consider SHAB to be the liaison between fishermen and the Select Board. We want to see fishermen succeed. But we also see oyster farming as a very viable and free way of keeping the harbor clean. SHAB believes every acre should be in use and producing. The delay in this revocation process will most likely result in these eight acres not being productive in the next season.”
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