Westport Shellfish Board Defers Ram Island Opening, Votes to Buy 200 Relay Totes

Other Committee · Meeting of June 30, 2026

Westport Shellfish Advisory Board defers Ram Island opening and buys 200 relay totes at June 30 meeting. Director of Marine Services Bill Chase reported a Shellfish Propagation Fund balance of $312,440.85 and told the board that relay supplier Bruce Ingram — facing equipment failures, a crew walkout, and a production rate of just 50 to 60 bushels per day — remains behind two other towns in the delivery queue. The board voted unanimously to hold Ram Island closed for now, citing a badly depressed wholesale market worsened by Rhode Island's release of 5,000 bushels the prior day.

The board also voted to open the West Branch and Pompfish conditional area north of Thompson Point, pending water quality test results, and to remove four marker buoys from the zone. A unanimous vote authorized purchase of 200 shellfish totes — estimated at roughly $3 each, totaling approximately $600 — from the Propagation Gift Fund, with members agreeing to bring portable scales to randomly verify that incoming deliveries meet the contractual 40-pound net shellfish weight per box.

In the full story:

• Background and stakes
• Substantive content
• Background and stakes
• The deliberation
• Outcome
• Background and stakes
• The complete report — 2,119 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of June 30, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.