SWAMPSCOTT — Members of the Harbor and Waterfront Advisory Committee are considering asking the Select Board to formally define and protect commercial fishermen’s historic rights at Fisherman’s Beach.
Committee member Mike Gambale, a commercial fisherman and member of the Fishermen’s Alliance, told the committee Monday that confusion has grown over how commercial fishermen may use the beach, parking area, and surrounding land, particularly as new residents and town leaders arrive without knowledge of the property’s history.
“We’re very, very close to having no fishing fleet in Swampscott at all,” he said. “Period. That’ll be the end of an era. So not only do we have to protect the fishermen, we have to encourage them to come back.”
Gambale proposed developing a written policy that could be presented to the Select Board, giving future town administrators, board members, and residents a clear explanation of the fishermen’s rights and permitted uses of the property.
He said he intends to bring the matter before the Select Board, either with support from the Harbor and Waterfront Committee or as a resident and member of the Fishermen’s Alliance.
“Either way, I’m going to the board,” Gambale said. “They want to set a policy, so when we get a new town administrator or somebody — he doesn’t understand — so they’ll have a policy that says ‘okay, I guess they can do this, and they can do this as their right.’”
The discussion centered partly on whether commercial fishermen retain the right to store traps, boats, parking, and other equipment on the reservation. Fishermen previously reached agreements with town officials to limit summer storage so more of the property could be used by beachgoers, Gambale said, but never permanently surrendered their underlying rights.
Committee members acknowledged that prior agreements between the town and the fishermen pertaining to storage and parking might have been precipitated by complaints from neighbors. Gambale, however, noted that the fishing industry has been a staple of the Swampscott community for many years.
“I think you don’t like next to a bakery and not expect to smell donuts,” he said.
The area’s relationship with the fishing industry stretches back over a century. The Swampscott Fish House was constructed in 1896 on land acquired by eminent domain, consolidating fish sheds and equipment shanties that had taken up large portions of the shoreline. The building, which remains in active use, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and is commonly described as the country’s oldest active municipal fish house.
Committee members said any proposed policy should be supported by the original deeds, agreements, and other historical documents governing the property. The Fishermen’s Alliance representative said those records contain strong language reserving the land for commercial fishing purposes.
Gambale said that, after speaking with other members of the alliance, he believes there are strong enough records and documentation to support the historical legal protections on the reservation. He said he intends to present deeds, agreements, and other historical documents supporting the proposal.
“We have very strong language protecting the fishermen of Swampscott, and we can’t lose sight of that,” he said. “We can’t lose sight of it.”
Gambale also said that in prior years he had engaged in conversations with a legal defense fund for displaced commercial fishermen, and that those attorneys had reviewed materials and said the case would be a “slam dunk.” Even so, Gambale said he believed the matter would be better settled by the Select Board than by the court.
“We don’t want to go to that, because if it ever went to that, we would lose our trust,” he said.
Committee members generally supported continuing the discussion, and said that it would be good to see the historical documentation at their next meeting before forwarding any recommendation to the Select Board.
