Shellfish Communications Crier
Town Shellfish Crier
June 5, 2026
Reminder: Please Fill Out the Anonymous Condo Height Survey
The Shellfish Advisory Board will be discussing condo heights at its meeting on Monday. Currently, SAB is looking at 20” high, while the Shellfish Department is preferring 24”. We need to understand if there is a prevailing height used by most, and how many people will be impacted by a height requirement. Here is the link to the anonymous survey.
Shellfish Advisory Board Meeting this Monday, June 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the Adult Community Center (715 Old Kings Hwy) and on Zoom
Agenda:
1.) Comments from the board
2.) Public comments
3.) Shellfish Department updates - 2026 Cultching plans and quahog relay
4.) Over Wintering by area
5.) Grant Hosting
6.) Discuss possible changes to gear height limits in Reg 7.19.2 - "Height and Arrangement of
Equipment"
7.) "Floating gear pilot program update" to go over what the BOS passed and what changed
8.) Discussion and possible recommendation to allow 2 barges.
9.) Ice Machine discussion including suggested operation hours and months of operation
10.) Discuss copying this section of regulations (6.4.1 Chipman’s Cove on p. 20 of regulations) c. Harvesting Restrictions-All shellfish are to be removed from the area at the time of harvest. No shellfish are to be left on the flats and removed at a later time of day, by any means or methods. Diving for shellfish is prohibited.
to new section 4.15.1 Harvesting Restrictions under:
4.15. Methods of Harvest (p. 14 of regulations)
The taking of any shellfish from the waters of the Town of Wellfleet by any method other than those commonly known as handpicking, long raking, bull raking, jerk raking, basket raking, scratching, tonging, digging, dragging or dredging (See Section 8: Commercial Shellfishing: Dragging and Dredging) will be prohibited. A license holder is permitted to use any approved method of shellfish harvesting within his or her licensed area.
4.15.1 Harvesting Restrictions-All shellfish are to be removed from the area at the time of
harvest. No shellfish are to be left on the flats and removed at a later time of day, by any
means or methods.
11.) Increase the Shellfish Revolving Fund for Propagation spending limit for FY27 by $38,700 for a matching fund for a Seaport Economic Council grant, if awarded.
12.) Board member reports
13.) Next meeting date
14.) Adjournment
More Information on Yesterday’s Squid Strandings (June 4, 2026)
We witnessed and got lots of calls about the squid strandings observed in shellfishing areas around town from the Herring River to Indian Neck to Field Point. We reached out to the best squid guru we know, Owen Nichols from the Center for Coastal Studies, who has done extensive research on squid, and here is what he said:
“The squid we're seeing on the beaches in Wellfleet and Provincetown are shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus), also known as summer squid. These are different from the squid that we've come to think of as common in inshore waters and are jigged in harbors by fishermen, which are longfin squid (Doryteuthis/Loligo pealeii). This phenomenon of summer squid on beaches is not a new one, but it's one we haven't seen often in recent years (2017 was a recent exception) - I remember seeing this a few times growing up here, but in the 1970s and 80s it happened a lot! See the paper linked below for some background (note co-authorship by Henry Lind!*) - fifty years later we still don't really know why it happens, but I suspect it is related to a combination of predator/prey interactions, wind/tide, and local abundance of this oceanic squid species.” *Henry Lind was the Eastham Shellfish Constable for decades. This was fascinating to us, so we thought we’d share:
https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-content/MFR/mfr401/mfr4015.pdf
Contact Nancy at nancy.civetta@wellfleet-ma.gov or 508-349-0325 with ideas on how the Shellfish Department can help or improve shellfishing. Thank you!
Nancy Civetta John Mankevetch Chris Manulla & Sarah
Shellfish Constable Assistant Shellfish Constable Comstock
617-901-7193 508-962-0691 Deputy Shellfish Constables
508-962-8934 (C)
774-801-9320 (S)
