The Tisbury board of selectmen took the first step this week toward regulating activity in Vineyard Haven harbor by placing a proposal on the table to nominate the waterway as a District of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC).

If the plan moves forward, much of the harbor could be designated by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as a resource to be protected, beginning a process of establishing development guidelines for the area.

Carmel Gamble glared at the chain-link fence surrounding the beachfront lot next door to her Vineyard Haven cottage. “This is not the Vineyard Haven I knew,” said Miss Gamble, a veterinary technician and self-described “clown on sabbatical” who returned to Martha’s Vineyard two years ago after five years in Hawaii. “But this ugly steel chain-link fence, I mean, what we love about the Vineyard is that it’s beautiful. That’s why people come here,” she said.