To the editor:
Town Meeting is democracy in its basic form by allowing all registered voters the opportunity to participate directly in our town governmental affairs.
Marblehead Town Meeting has been our form of government since the town was settled in 1629 by fishermen and formerly established, and incorporated, by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.
Open Town Meetings continue to be conducted since our date of incorporation.
This year’s town warrant (2025) consists of 52 articles, one of which directly affects the town’s oldest (legal) profession: commercial fishing.
“Article 45: Zoning bylaw by adding provision for the Storage of Fishing Gear and Lobster Traps”
This article, though well intentioned, establishes a number of restrictions which will cause a great deal of harm to the town’s fishermen, both commercial and recreational.
Since the town’s founding, residents have traditionally been allowed to store lobster and fishing gear at their residential property. Although this article seeks to protect our fisherman’s “right”, or privilege, the way it’s proposed will harm our way-of-life, which has been the norm for almost four-hundred years.
If you attend the 2025 Town Meeting, please vote for indefinite postponement of Article 45. Postponing the article will allow a new article to be drafted for your consideration at a future Town Meeting.
In the meantime, we, the commercial lobster fishermen of Marblehead, beg the town to exercise discretion and latitude when dealing with the issue of stored lobster traps.
To protect our town’s “character,” the town’s “characters” must be protected, of which we are some of the best examples.
Jay Michaud
Ocean Avenue
