The Chilmark select board earlier this month put a size limit on charter fishing boats docking at the town charter dock in Menemsha after boat owners raised navigation concerns. 

The board voted 2-1 on Dec. 17 to limit boats to no more than 36-feet long, based on a recommendation from the town’s harbor advisory committee. The change was spurred by charter captain Jennifer Clarke’s 39-foot boat. 

The harbor advisory committee recommended the threshold in November because nearby vessel owners said it was hard to navigate the harbor with Ms. Clarke’s large boat. 

“I just feel like we have to enact a limit,” said select board member Marie Larsen. 

Ms. Clarke’s boat was “grandfathered” under the new rule, meaning she will be able to continue to dock her boat in Menemsha with conditions. She can't have anything protruding off the bow, and her boat's engines must be down except for maintenance or cleaning purposes.

Previously there was no specific measurement limit, and decisions were left to the harbor master’s discretion. Select board member Jeffrey Maida was the lone dissenting vote. In an email to the Gazette, Mr. Maida said he was in favor of the size limit, but not grandfathering Ms. Clarke's boat. 

According to Ms. Clarke, she had discussed options with harbor master Ryan Rossi and received approval for this boat three times. She also detailed the various situations and boat failures she experienced last year. 

“I need the 39 in order to have the stability and just the fuel range,” she said. “Ryan and I have researched every 36 foot boat and there’s not one built with enough fuel to get me where I need to go. I don’t buy bigger and bigger boats. That’s really a misconception.” 

Mr. Rossi said he didn’t find that Ms. Clarke’s boat posed any safety risks and that any boat that comes into a slip has to have “certain considerations.” 

“In this case, I didn’t find that there was a navigational hazard,” he added.  “I didn’t find that there was an inherently dangerous safety risk.” 

There were also some questions from the public about whether this hearing was necessary and if the decision was being rushed, to which select board chair James Malkin disagreed with. 

“We’ve discussed this at two hearings, there was a question to revisit the issue in a public hearing, which we have just concluded,” he said. “So it’s not that we’re rushing into anything by any stretch of the imagination, and we have a boat owner who is in a situation that needs to get resolved.”