A five-year feud over oyster farms divides two New England towns

livemint.com:

Cohasset and Scituate were friendly for more than 250 years. Now, the Massachusetts neighbors can’t find common ground. The reason: oysters.

Scituate, a seaside town of less than 20,000 people that shares a harbor with the smaller Cohasset, wants to allow oyster farms in its portion of the bay. Cohasset says the farms inhibit swimming and boating. Political feuds in small-town New England are nothing new.

But this one stands out for its stamina—five years and counting—and spite. Five lawsuits have been filed, including one against the Massachusetts attorney general. More than 30 boat moorings have been seized.

And a proposed joint sewer system that advocates hoped would stimulate development and clean up waterways? Circling the drain. Technically the fight is over 3 acres of oyster farms in a more than 250-acre harbor. But for those involved, much more is at stake.

“For Cohasset, it’s about shellfishing. For Scituate, it’s about sovereignty," said Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau. “It’s a real failure of government," Cohasset Select Board member Jack Creighton said of the oyster farms.

“We have an opportunity to preserve and protect from privatization and industrialization." The nonprofit and Cohasset leaders say they believe Scituate plans to eventually expand the oyster farms to occupy much of the harbor, impeding activities including those of the Cohasset Yacht Club (founded in 1894) and the town’s youth nature programs. Although part of the bay is within Scituate boundaries, historically Cohasset has regulated the harbor, paying for it to be dredged and watching over the navigation of boats. Scituate officials said they could envision expanding the oyster-farming project a few acres but aren’t planning the