Essex Select Board Defers Shellfish Permit Vote, Seeks State Resource Study

ESSEX — April 27, 2026 — Essex Select Board defers action on reducing commercial shellfish permits, directing staff to consult state fisheries officials before setting a new cap. Shellfish Constable Billy told the board that only about 25 of the town's 94 permitted commercial clammers are active and that the Essex River's N7 flats are nearly barren, asking the ceiling be dropped to roughly 65 or lower. A resident of 18 Sagines Road who has held a clamming license for 25 years urged the board to freeze permits at current levels and commission a scientific carrying-capacity study, noting the 94-permit ceiling was set decades ago at a moment of historical depletion and was never grounded in data. Town Administrator Brendan advised that any cap change would affect only next season, not the current one, and recommended the town first contact the Division of Marine Fisheries. The board also reconfigured a May 13 sewer-betterment informational meeting — covering Essex's estimated $4 million to $6 million share of Gloucester's secondary treatment plant debt — from a public input forum to a working session for the Select Board, Finance Committee, and Board of Public Works after Finance Committee Chair Jody argued that key financial modeling remains unresolved. The board approved the weekly warrant of $122,733.96 and appointed Pam Stone as Animal Health Inspector for one year.