Posted on August 24, 2020
Residents have asked the Falmouth Waterways Committee to make Waquoit Bay, Perch Pond, Megansett Harbor and Rands Canal priorities for dredging projects.
Several residents submitted written comments or called into the committee at its meeting on Wednesday, August 19, to comment.
Molly Kammerer of North Falmouth advocated for Falmouth Inner Harbor.
“Sure, we’ve got the access to Megansett, but what I’m looking for is in addition to the access from Megansett Outer Harbor to Megansett Inner Harbor. We have some serious challenges from Megansett Inner Harbor through into Current River, which is still a part of Falmouth,” Ms. Kammerer said. “I think this is an opportunity to work with Squeteague Harbor. They are, of course, in Bourne, and they are very much in need of some assistance there. We constantly see people going aground, and these are not people who haven’t been in the harbor. These are people well versed in where the harbor is and wise to the challenges there, but are still going aground.”
Noting Megansett area residents have spoken with the Bourne Waterways Committee, Rick Wedge said Bourne is interested in dredging Squeteague Harbor. In order to do so, Falmouth needs to dredge Megansett Inner Harbor so the dredge can access Squeteague Harbor.
Committee member Kevin King asked if the town has a permit to dredge Megansett Inner Harbor. Harbormaster Gregg Fraser said the town does not.
“We do have records that show Megansett was dredged in the past,” Mr. Wedge said. “We thought that would make it easier to get permits, but you know better than us.”
Brian Crowley also advocated for dredging Megansett Harbor, noting the harbor has “changed dramatically” over the past 30 years.
“I’d say, within five years, you’re going to be able to walk from the Falmouth side of the harbor on the lower end over to Bourne at low tide,” Mr. Crowley said. “Right now, there is probably only another 10 to 15 yards at low tide before you’re over your head.”
In addition to benefiting Falmouth residents, he said, dredging the harbor would help Bourne and improve water quality.
Megansett Harbor also opens into Rands Canal, which North Falmouth resident John J. Gallagher requested be dredged.
“Rands Canal, that is a very difficult channel to navigate at all,” Mr. Gallagher said. “It is very much becoming unnavigable, especially at the end, near that approach along that jetty.”
Peter Walsh of Teaticket asked that the committee address Perch Pond.
“On Perch Pond alone there are 18 docks, according to Google Maps, and some community launching areas,” Mr. Walsh said, noting that while Perch Pond has an adequate depth, the connection between Perch Pond and Great Pond is a problem.
Falmouth Harbormaster Gregg Fraser noted that connection is a soft-shell clam habitat. Due to the presence of shellfish, the Division of Marine Fisheries was opposed to granting a dredging permit for the pond. He also noted that the initial reason for dredging the channel was not to accommodate boats
“This was sold to the board of selectmen and several other permitting agencies as a water quality-only issue, and that dredging would not result in the increase of docks in Perch Pond,” he said. “Well, we all know what happened. The minute the dredging started, docks started popping up all over Perch Pond and now, they have these docks and boats attached to docks that can’t get in and out. That was exactly what Selectman [Edward] Marks [Jr.] feared way back when the minute we started dredging that.”
Noting the historical use of the channel and its exemption from the Area of Critical Environmental Concern designation, John Eldert asked the committee to consider dredging Waquoit Bay.
“As we’ve documented over the last three years, that depth is down below four feet of the entrance to Little River, way off of the specifications,” Mr. Eldert said. “Our feeling is, given the size of the channel and the amount of population that has access, both from Mashpee and from Falmouth, that is a significant waterway to be managed.”
Mr. Fraser noted that while the bay is exempted from the Area of Critical Environmental Concern designation, this exemption does not mean local or state permitting authorities have to grant a permit to dredge the area. The Falmouth Conservation Commission has previously denied an application to dredge Waquoit Bay. While the committee appealed the decision and received a superseding order of conditions, the project remains subject to the town’s local wetland regulations.
“That, by itself, did nothing for us because we would have had to go to Superior Court in Barnstable and fight the conservation commission, and the town was not interested at the time, and probably not interested now, in having one board fight another board, particularly when one is a regulatory board and one is not,” Mr. Fraser said.
Committee member Daniel H. Shearer advocated for dredging West Falmouth Harbor. Like Perch Pond, Mr. Fraser said, dredging West Falmouth Harbor faces environmental obstacles.
“The Army Corps of Engineers will not allow dredging without significant mitigation within 25 feet of mapped eelgrass territory,” he said. “There doesn’t have to be eelgrass there. Some of the eelgrass has died in West Falmouth, although based on some of the studies the Division of Marine Fisheries has done lately, some of the eelgrass is actually coming back around the environmental moorings out there.”
Noting there are 67 environmental moorings in West Falmouth Harbor, Mr. Shearer said that “is where someone like myself has screwed themselves.”
“Should we have to pay $1,000 for these moorings, which have to be serviced every year, and not be able to use our boats?” he asked.
Mr. Fraser said with or without the moorings, West Falmouth Harbor is a mapped eelgrass habitat and subject to the regulation. The maps are available on the Division of Marine Fisheries website.
Mr. Fraser also addressed a request to dredge Fresh River, which runs from Siders Pond to the sound. While Fresh River is included on the Waterways Committee’s list of potential dredging projects, it falls outside the committee’s jurisdiction. The committee recommends navigational dredging projects rather than water quality management dredging projects. The DPW oversees water quality dredging projects. Fresh River is permitted for dredging.
“The issue that is most pertinent to Fresh River is that the permit only covers a very small amount, right at the inlet itself,” Mr. Fraser said. “The area he is talking about dredging is not covered under the permit.”
The committee will consider this public input when creating its dredging priority list. The committee identified more than 30 embayments, inlets and approaches for this master list, which includes both navigational and water quality dredging projects. Committee members will review this list and create an individual priority list, which will be compiled and discussed further at a future waterways committee meeting.
Committee chairman Jeffrey Thomas said the finished list would be a recommendation and guidance for the Falmouth Select Board. As an advisory committee, he said, the Waterways Committee holds no authority to mandate what gets dredged when.
In addition, he noted dredging is a long process that requires an assessment, engineering study and permitting, and the actual dredging work is subject to time-of-year restrictions.
“Many of these infrequent navigational dredging projects, other than the ones maintained yearly or every other year, are not within the town’s capital budget,” Mr. Thomas said. “We have to set the expectation that dredging projects could take years to achieve.”
Source: Cape News
