After polling a group of commercial shellfishermen in the room, the Edgartown shellfish committee agreed on Tuesday that the commercial scallop limit should stay at four struck 10-gallon washbaskets. The new limit went into effect on Dec. 10, and was previously set at three 10-gallon washbaskets.

After more than three decades of leadership, Camille Rose has quietly resigned from the Aquinnah planning board and plan review committee, citing personal reasons. She is chairman of both committees.

Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced new fisheries measures that would encourage the use of sector management whenever possible in the New England region in an effort to restore depleted stocks such as cod, flounder and pollock.

Despite the snow and cold, the winter sports season is off to a hot start at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School with the boys’ basketball and hockey teams posting early big wins.

Meanwhile, the girls’ hockey team has been shaken by the sudden departure of longtime head coach Sam Sherman just two games into the season. Athletic director Sandy Mincone said Mr. Sherman turned in his resignation last Friday; the Vineyarders were 0-2 on the season after opening with losses to Whitman-Hanson last Saturday and Sandwich last Wednesday.

A severe coastal storm that spread snow from Virginia up into Maine, a day before the first official day of winter, shut down the Vineyard for most of Sunday with gale winds and heavy freezing snow. Chappaquiddick went without electricity for nearly a full day, and Martha’s Vineyard Airport remained closed until Tuesday afternoon.

Gale winds began Saturday afternoon; snow arrived before midnight and didn’t let up until midday Sunday.

Clarification

A story in last week’s Gazette about Bridge Housing made reference to two letters written by the Island Affordable Housing Fund to Bridge Housing Corp. A September 2008 letter which was discussed by the housing fund board but never signed, contained contingency language for “the commitment of all other financing.” A March 2008 letter that was signed by former housing fund executive director Patrick Manning did not contain the language.

A proposal to renovate and expand Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown saw strong support during a public hearing last Thursday before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. The commission is reviewing the plan as a development of regional impact (DRI).

The Steamship Authority is on track to finish a difficult year in reasonably good financial shape, the last board meeting of 2009 was told last week.

As of the end of October, the boat line’s net operating income was almost $12 million, some $2.8 million better than forecast.

The monthly business summary continued the good-in-parts trend of recent months: revenues were sharply down, but so were costs.

The weeks leading up to Christmas are filled with longing and expectation. This is the season of Advent, which culminates in the birth of Jesus. As we sing in the hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem, “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” We know quite a bit about these hopes and fears from reading the Hebrew prophets and the Gospels. And the age-old hopes and fears are not so different from ours today — the longing for peace, and the desire for economic security and vitality for all people.

Despite ongoing protests from a handful of small farmers, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last Thursday continued on its path to develop regulations for wind turbines at sea and on land, voting to designate a sweeping land-based district of critical planning concern (DCPC) for airspace over the Island.

The vote was 12-0; it follows a vote by the commission six weeks ago to create a wind DCPC over the waters around the Island.