Waldoboro Town Manager John Spear and Shellfish Committee member Glen Melvin have written to a Maine Dept. of Agriculture official, asking for assistance in protecting the town’s clam fishery.
In his letter, Spear told Agricultural Compliance Specialist Matthew Randall that the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to support Melvin’s request for assistance in efforts “to improve the water quality in the Medomak River.”
“As you may be aware, due to pollution from the impact of rainfall runoff, shellfish harvesting in the Medomak River is conditionally managed,” Spear wrote. “What this means is that one inch of rainfall in a 24-hour period leads to a two-week harvesting closure.”
Rain events may lead to an increase in the presence of E. coli, a type of bacteria that lives in the intestines of human and other warm-blooded animals. According to the website at foodsafety.gov, some types of E. coli can cause serious illness that may lead to kidney damage.
“Shellfish harvesting in the Medomak River is the largest employment sector in Waldoboro, supplying 175 jobs,” Spear wrote. He said the fishery adds value of more than $1 million to the local economy.
“If the river were open on a continuous basis it could supply as much as $2,000,000 a year in product value. With periodic closures is can be as little as $400,000,” Spear wrote.
Introducing himself as a shell-fisherman, Melvin wrote that he also planned to contact the Dept. of Marine Resources in regard to the clean-up effort.
Shellfish Committee Chairman Abden Simmons said July 16, that DMR did not have the staff to pursue possible pollution sources that might lie in agricultural runoff or municipal storm drains.
He said DMR tests have shown the clam flats to be healthy within four to eight days after a rain event, but that regulations require the two-week closures.
Simmons said rainfall closures have cut between 160 and 230 days from the amount of time Waldoboro clammers can harvest each year. He said Waldoboro currently has 150 resident and 19 non-resident license holders.
He said the impact of pollution from land-based sources could be felt by those harvesting elvers and lobsters as well.
“I do realize how important farms are to our community,” Melvin wrote in his letter to Randall. He said water quality was being compromised, at a cost to the town of thousands of dollars. “We hope, with your expertise, solutions can be found,” he wrote.
