November 19, 2015 — PROVINCETOWN — A judge has temporarily barred a Gloucester fishing vessel from dredging for clams off Herring Cove while a dispute about who governs such dredging in that area makes its way through court.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Raymond Veary issued a temporary restraining order Nov. 3, after the Provincetown harbormaster’s staff followed the 70-foot Tom Slaughter as it dredged for surf clams the previous two days, Harbormaster Rex McKinsey said.

The Slaughter is one of three clam draggers whose owners are in court in separate actions fighting cease-and-desist orders issued by the Provincetown Conservation Commission to keep them from dredging up to 40 feet offshore without a permit.

Veary’s temporary order was to last until Friday, but according to Monte Rome, owner of the Tom Slaughter, it has been extended to Jan. 5 at his request.

Provincetown officials want to stop hydraulic dredging, a process that involves shooting water at 50 to 100 pounds of pressure into the sand to release the clams, because it disturbs the ocean floor and damages the habitat for fish, clams and other marine life, McKinsey said.

In 2007, the Conservation Commission passed a regulation banning hydraulic dredging in that area without a permit.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times