The Scarborough Town Council has given its official support to the local clammers fighting for access to the Spurwink River.

“Fishing and clamming are very important to our community,” Chairman Jeff Messer said at the Feb. 21 meeting. “It’s important for the council to show support.”

At issue is a fishing pier on Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge property that became inaccessible to motor boats when the organization rebuilt it last summer to be handicap accessible. Local clammers had used the boat launch to access the river in the winter in order to get out to the clam flats. The town, too, had a problem with being unable to access the river for emergency rescue purposes. Though the town has been granted a permit to access the river, the council believes the few local clammers who rely on the launch for their business deserve the same right of way.

Councilor Shawn Babine, chairman of the finance committee, presented the resolution, proposed with the hope that the town’s support would give the clammers “leverage” for their cause, Babine said. The town and the fishermen are working with Bill Vail, from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office, with the hope that her support will help facilitate negotiations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, which will ultimately decide whether to grant the access.

“It’s gone very well,” Vail said, calling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services “very responsive” to the clammers’ case. “I think we’re going to have a positive resolution,” he said.

Under the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s mission is “to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people,” according to its Web site. The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

Ward Feurt, manager of the wildlife refuge, said Monday that despite the rebuilding of the pier, no change was made to the refuge’s policy – motor boats have not been allowed to launch from the site for the past 11 years, he said. “Wildlife comes first,” Feurt said, particularly migratory birds.

Babine said that during the few winter months that the clammers need to use the launch to access the river, migratory birds are not present. Babine said the committee tried to find alternative access points, but were not successful.

Babine said clammers would be “very amicable to any restrictions.”

Clammers Pete Angis and Tim Downs, who attending the meeting, seemed pleased with the resolution

“I think it’s right thing to do,” Downs told the council – and the council agreed, unanimously voting in favor of the resolution.

Scarborough council backs clammers on river access