Small Boats, Big Science Event Highlights the Importance of Working Waterfronts

Six years ago, Dan McKiernan, Director of Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, got a call from Captain Domenic Santoro who couldn’t get a winter berth at a port on Cape Cod Bay.

That meant he couldn’t access fishing grounds.

“It dawned on me how important municipal policies and decisions are for accommodating the commercial fishing industry,” McKiernan said. “These are state and federally managed activities, yet it is the municipalities that can be the choke point relative to the business being successful.”

McKiernan was speaking to a full house earlier this month at “Small Boats. Big Science,” a series started by the Fishermen’s Alliance in 2022 as a way to bring people together to discuss scientific advancements and how they relate to our coastal communities.

“We have fishermen, scientists, students, educators, community leaders and supporters in the room tonight. The fact that so many perspectives are represented is exactly what this series is all about,” said John Pappalardo, CEO of the Fishermen’s Alliance.

This event, the second of the year and funded by a grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, was entitled “Protecting Working Waterfronts: A Path to Resiliency,” and featured Greg Berman, Chatham Director of Natural Resources, Story Reed, deputy director of DMF, Nate Sears, Orleans harbormaster,  Kristin Uiterwyk, director of Urban Harbors Institute at UMass Boston, and Katy Acheson, executive director of the Blue Economy Foundation. It was organized by Sara Cornell, a Brewster resident and summer intern at the Fishermen’s Alliance who attends the University of Miami. Amy Kolb Noyes of WCAI, public radio, served as moderator.

Read Doreen Leggett's full story at:
Plumbing the Depths, July 29, 2026