With the release of the draft Massachusetts Ocean Plan two weeks ago, Islanders should be alert to a discussion now unfolding in the Island community about sand mining.
As elected officials up-Island balk at the prospect of offshore sand mining, Oak Bluffs is voicing support for the venture. At a selectmen’s meeting early this week, town administrator Robert L. Whritenour said town beaches stand to benefit from new information laid out recently in the draft state Ocean Management Plan.
As leading state environmental officials look to the Island’s offshore resources to further wind energy goals and mine sand for beach fill, a small but vocal crowd of Vineyarders are airing their concerns about tapping these resources to the detriment of the fisheries and other sea life.
