BRISTOL - In an effort to increase shellfishing in the area and keep waters cleaner, the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) wants the town to consider removing or moving moorings from three of the town's nine mooring fields.

DEM regulations, in line with the federal Clean Water Act, could force Bristol to re-align some or all of 89 moorings in areas classified as SA waters, or very clean waters. One of the mooring fields runs from the northern end of Bristol Town Beach to the southern end of waters off North Farm Condominiums. The other two mooring fields are off Hopeworth Avenue and King Phillip Avenue, respectively.

Another 142 moorings further north in the Kickemuit River may also come under DEM scrutiny, said assistant harbormaster Matt Calouro. The DEM regulations would not affect the riparian moorings owned by waterfront property owners, but other nearby moorings would be affected. If DEM adopts a firm stance, it could force the town to move dozens of these moorings to other waters. However, Bristol has no other place to put them.

"We're very concerned because our harbor is closed, that's at capacity," Mr. Calouro said. "The field south of the Coast Guard station is just about at capacity and the Kicky is at capacity. Those are the fields we were accommodating the public with, and we can't do that anymore. It's not fair."

The Coastal Resources Management Council has already delayed approval of the town's five-year update to its harbor management plan for six months while the mooring issue — and some minor deficiencies in the plan — are ironed out. Mr. Calouro said the town presented its list of mooring fields, but DEM had problems with the locations of some of them.

Protecting the shellfish

Angelo Liberti, DEM's chief of surface water protection, said his agency is merely trying to keep as many shellfishing areas open as possible. They don't want to remove moorings, but they are ready to if they feel it is necessary.

The moorings will not have to be removed entirely "as long as we can limit the number of moorings in waters currently classified as SA to the point where we don't have to close waters to shellfishing," Mr. Liberti said.

Currently, the western portion of Bristol Harbor, with its capacity for 500 moorings, is only open to shellfishing during the winter, when boats aren't in the water. Those waters are classified under a sub-section of type SA, which enables partial use for shellfishing. Other mooring fields in Bristol likely won't have that option.

"I'm assuming the town isn't thinking they are all going to look like Bristol Harbor," Mr. Liberti said.

Mr. Liberti said a closer examination of the town's mooring fields is necessary before any specific course of action is recommended. If the mooring fields in question are not densely populated with boats, then a realignment could be in order. If the field has closely-bunched moorings, though, removal of the moorings could occur.

In the past, Mr. Liberti said, moorings have been realigned in the Kickemuit River, so he hopes realignment of Bristol's three fields would be possible.

"Otherwise, we would need to come up with a plan to eliminate those moorings," Mr. Liberti said. "The worst case scenario would be that there is some large area we should close to shellfishing."

Mr. Calouro hopes the town can set up a series of workshops with DEM and/or CRMC to further discuss the matter. Mr. Liberti acknowledged that further dialogue between the town and DEM is necessary.

"Nothing is official yet," Mr. Calouro said. "This isn't something where we have to say, we have to get the moorings out. We have to have a workshop, we have to go before the commission. This is something that's becoming more and more of an issue. We need to get a grasp on these problems."

Mooring trouble

DEM has targeted three coastal areas in Bristol where some moorings may have to be moved or removed in order to strengthen shellfishing in the area.

* Bristol Town Beach north to off North Farm Condominiums

* Off King Philip Avenue

* Off Hopeworth Avenue

BY MICHAEL LYNCH

mlynch@eastbaynewspapers.com