Commercial fishermen are traditionally a hearty lot. But members of the shellfish advisory board are debating the merits of a plan that could one day keep them off the water if the temperature drops below a certain point.

It’s been talked about for months and will likely be debated for months more. But the plan — to establish a 28-degree cutoff for commercial quahogging in the Westport River — drew a fair bit of discussion at the board’s most recent meeting.

Nearly a dozen towns along the South Coast to Cape Cod have similar temperature cutoffs below which commercial shellfishing is not allowed, and board member Ken “Skip” Manchester said those local ordinances were borne out of safety concerns:

“These towns have this for one reason,” Manchester said. “It’s for the safety of first responders and human beings. That’s why those degree (limits) are in there. To me, I just think that when there’s ice in the river, heavy ice and low temperatures, we should not be shellfishing. I’m not trying to take days away (from fishermen). I’m trying to protect people and first responders.”

Not all are sure it’s a good idea here. Marine services director Chris Leonard said that while safety is paramount, commercial fishing is inherently dangerous and predicted that shutting down a permit holder’s opportunity to make money based on a thermometer won’t sit well.

“Taking days away from fishermen over one degree, and putting them out of work for a day for one degree, is going to upset a lot of people,” he said. “What if you were to put this degree regulation on a lobster boat, on a crab boat, on a monkfish boat, gillnet boat, dragger? So you’re telling the captain, the crew, the boat owner, ‘Oh, you can’t land those lobsters today, it’s 27 degrees out.’ How do you think they’re going to take that? Probably not too well.”

Another issue is the number itself, board member William Chace said:

“So, The Weather Channel says it’s going to be 28 tomorrow, and maybe Tony Petrarca from Channel 12 says it’s going to be 30. Who do you believe? I’m not against regulations to protect the integrity of the shellfish. But there’s so many variables to this.”

The integrity of harvested shellfish also plays into the discussion, members said, because clams are generally put into totes as they’re harvested. With the colder weather comes a greater likelihood that they’ll freeze before they’re landed, but Leonard said he asked state officials whether there is any problem with putting clams in fresh, clean five gallon buckets on cold days, and filling them with seawater to keep them from freezing.

“The division of marine fisheries came back and said that they do not have a problem with that.”

In actual practice, he said, the temperature “is self-limiting because when it’s 20 degrees, the whole area is frozen over and nobody’s going out.”

Leonard said he has to take it on faith that professional mariners will use common sense:

“We have some hearty individuals,” he said. “We can’t really keep them from going out. But we can ask them who their next of kin is."