Sandy Creek Pen Rearing Volunteers,
It is unfortunate that I have to announce to the group today that there will not be a pen rearing project for us in 2016. As many of you already know, we were notified four weeks ago that the Marina that we have been using in the past will no longer be supporting the pen rearing project. This came as a surprise to us all and that leaves us currently as a project without a pen site. At this point, we have exhausted all possibilities for an “emergency†site for this year. As a whole, what Sandy Creek lacks is commercial waterfront with reasonable depth to support the project. It has been tough to find a location that access, deep water, good dockage, and space to hold 3 pens, so needless to say, it has been a struggle to find a site that can support our needs in such short notice. Although the project has struggled finding a permittable site for this year, we have been overwhelmed with new site locations by numerous residents of the creek. It has been great to see the support. I have spent the past couple of weeks doing site visits and all of these sites have the possibility in supporting us in the future. It is important for us to get started on a plan for 2017. We have a year to make things happen.
I have schedule a meeting for this Saturday, April 9 from 10:00 – noon at the Hamlin Town Hall Gymnasium. I hope you all can attend in hopes to discuss the future and get some input from the project volunteers.
See you all there!
Captain Rob Westcott- Sandy Creek Pen Rearing Project Coordinator