East Lyme Harbor Management/Shellfish Commission

The East Lyme Harbor Management/Shellfish Commission meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 7:30 PM at East Lyme Town Hall.  Our Agenda for this coming months meeting is available from the Agenda's page and our minutes from last month's meeting is also available.

Current projects for the commission:

• Developing a Mooring Grid system to manage the limited town resource.  East Lyme has room for a limited number of mooring spaces.  By state mandate, all moorings must be registered in the town in which they are placed annually and inspected once every two years.  To maintain the safety of the natural shellfish beds and to protect marine traffic, there is a limit to the number of moorings which can be placed in any location.    The goal is to prevent over crowding of the town water ways with illegally placed moorings.  There is no cost for the registration of moorings.  Watch this area for future progress updates.
  To register your mooring, contact Harbor Master Joseph Selden at 739-0502.
  Mooring Permit Form.PDF

  ANNUAL MOORING PERMIT RENEWAL

  All non-commercial mooring and mooring pole owners should complete this form and return it to the Harbor Master:

  Joe Selden, Harbor Master

  190 Roxbury Rd.

  Niantic CT  06357

  This form is designed to be completed once and resubmitted annually if there are no changes.  If fully and legibly completed it will be returned to you with your mooring tag.  It then should be resubmitted the following year.  If there are changes a new form may be requested.  If the changes are minor and can be made clearly, the form can be reused.  Please attach a note listing any changes.

• Establishing signs and markers in the town waterways as aids to navigation and to promote public safety.  

• Establishing Recreational Shellfishing grounds in Niantic Bay.  1999 marked the first year that public shellfishing grounds have been open in Niantic Bay in over a decade.  After 2 years of water sampling after adverse rainfall events, the State Department of Agriculture/Aquaculture Division permitted the commission to re-open two conditionally approved areas and one approved area for recreational shellfishing.  

A map of the Niantic Bay Shellfishing Grounds -

 

Click on the Picture to Enlarge. 

Additional information includes:

East Lyme Shellfish Management Plan

A description of the area boundaries.  

The general shellfishing regulations .

Permits are available from East Lyme Town Hall, Hillyers Bait and Tackle, Captain John's Sport Fishing and Macky's Bait and Tackle.

The East Lyme Harbor Management/Shellfish Commission is dedicated to improving public safety on the waterways and opening new recreational shellfishing grounds for public use.  If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please email Don Landers at dflanders@snet.net.