The January 25 meeting of the Mattapoisett Marine Advisory Board was the first meeting held since October 2023. The members reviewed ongoing and/or upcoming projects such as dredging between Long Wharf and Holmes Wharf currently reaching completion and the status of designs for renovation work planned for Long Wharf.
Recently, moon-tide flooding events in the harbor were discussed and the need for Long Wharf designs to take elevations into consideration when engineering the project begins.
Several members wondered aloud if logs were kept documenting such incidents. Chairman Carlos DaSousa said he would look into that topic. DaSousa also asked the members of the board to bring their thoughts and ideas to the next meeting so that he could provide a framework for upcoming meetings.
One topic DaSousa said the board should plan on is an updating of the town’s harbor-management plan. He said the current plan was written in 2012 and is overdue for updating.
An earlier concept presented by the previous harbormaster Jamie McIntosh was to apply for grant(s) and hire a professional to write a plan that could then be certified by the state. However, the Select Board believed the town’s portion for the writing of such a document didn’t equate to value.
“They thought it would sit on a shelf,” DaSousa said.
While discussing the importance of having a plan, even one not certified by the state, member Bob Moore said, “Our harbor isn’t big. We need to jealously guard our harbor – this is not the coast of Maine.” DaSousa asked the committee to review Dartmouth’s harbor plan due to the similarities between the two harbors.
A subcommittee was established to begin the work of editing and updating the current plan with members Moore, Ned Kaiser, Mike Costa and Eric Beauregard spearheading the effort.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Marine Advisory Board is scheduled for Thursday, February 29, at 7:00 pm.
Mattapoisett Marine Advisory Board
By Marilou Newell