Conflict of interest alleged in Brunswick oyster farm appeal
COURTESY / MERE POINT OYSTER CO.
Mere Point Oyster Co. in Brunswick was granted a 10-year lease in December to grow oysters, scallops and quahogs. An appeal has been filed to reverse the Department of Marine Resource’s decision.
A legal appeal to stop development of a new oyster farm in Maquoit Bay, off Brunswick, alleges the plan represents a conflict of interest and a violation of the public trust.
Maquoit Bay LLC filed the appeal Jan. 17 in state Superior Court against the Department of Marine Resources and Mere Point Oyster Co. in Brunswick.
The petition asks the court to reverse the department’s Dec. 19 decision to grant a 39.84 -acre lease in Maquoit Bay for 10 years to Mere Point, according to a news release.
Maquoit Bay LLC is owned by Paul C. Dioli and Kathleen M. Dioli, who own shorefront property on the bay, roughly 1,250 feet southeast of the lease site, according to the petition.
Among its concerns, the appeal says the lease grants exclusive private commercial use of a public resource and so is in violation of the public trust doctrine ensuring water access to all.
The appeal notes that company co-owner Dan Deveraux is also Brunswick’s harbormaster and claims he has a conflict of interest. As harbormaster, the petition says, Deveraux is charged with “protecting public trust uses that might be impacted by the private commercial enterprise of an industrial scale sea farm.”
The lease allows the company to grow American oysters, European oysters, bay scallops, sea scallops and northern quahogs using suspended culture techniques.
The department’s original decision concluded the aquaculture activities will not “unreasonably” interfere with other local activities, such as navigation and fishing, according to the DMR document.
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