Tisbury selectman have designated Drew’s Cove in Lake Tashmoo an indefinite no-anchoring zone to protect fragile eelgrass beds near the head of the saltwater estuary.

A seven-person eelgrass committee formed in May presented recommendations to the board at the end of August, including the establishment of a no-anchor zone in Drew’s Cove for three years to protect eelgrass. Last week the selectmen decided to ban anchoring in the area indefinitely.

Selectmen also asked harbor management to create a plan for phasing out the current moorings and replacing them with conservation moorings, which have less of an impact. The eelgrass committee was instructed to work with harbor management and the harbor master to chart areas without eelgrass that could be used for anchoring, in an effort to designate an anchoring zone, as well as create concrete recommendations for action in the Lagoon. The selectmen asked the committee to complete the work by the first of November.

In further discussion of Tisbury’s waterways, interim harbor master John Crocker gave selectmen an end-of-season rundown. With only two incidents of note (a crashed boat off Eastville and a vessel moored in the outer harbor with a bilge full of gasoline), he said the summer season was smooth overall, with nearly every harbor mooring sold out every night.

“Many weekends we probably turned away something in the neighborhood of about 25 vessels,” Mr. Crocker said. “So we have lot more demand than capacity.” The pump out facilities handled about 23,000 gallons of waste this season.

Mr. Crocker said the harbor master’s office and the department of public works cleaned up the Lake street landing and the harbor department area in Owen Park. Both piers at Owen Park and Lake street need pilings replaced, Mr. Crocker said.

In the Lagoon, the town experimented with voluntary no-anchoring zones in areas with eel grass, offering the use of private moorings as an alternative. Mr. Crocker described the effort as semi-successful.

“I think it’s doable, but it’s not going to be easy,” he said.

Income has increased from transient moorings, dockage and mooring leases by about nine per cent this year, he said.

Mr. Crocker also said the channel into Lake Tashmoo needs dredging, noting it has four years, twice as long as usual, since the channel has been dredged.

“Typically we dredge it every other year,” he said. The town has money allocated to dredge and a dredge committee oversees the process, but the town has been behind on permits.

Chairman Melinda Loberg said the problem has been going on for more than just the last four years.

“This is really unacceptable, the way we operate. It is inexcusable,” she said. “And for us to let permits lapse repeatedly... I don’t get too worked up about many things, but it’s inexcusable for us to do be that incompetent.”

In other business, the Tisbury school building committee shared a tentative timeline for the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s grant process that the school was accepted into earlier this year.

Colleen McAndrews, chairman of the Tisbury school committee, said they have contracted with Daedalus Projects as the owner’s project manager, and the next step is to hire a designer for designs to be completed and approved by Nov. 22. The feasibility and schematic design process should start by January.

During the design process the public can give input on four design concept: a complete rebuild on site, a complete rebuild off site, a renovation on site and a renovation and addition on site. A design decision should be made by next fall and then talk will turn to funding, Ms. McAndrews said.

She promised to be back with regular updates.