Published: June 14, 2007 12:00 am in the Gloucester Daily Times

Council sticks with one flag, one diver rule; Compromise rejected

The tense coexistence of working lobstermen and recreational divers in the waters around Gloucester will continue as it has for years - governed by an ordinance neither side is inclined to obey.

But it was lobstermen who won a political victory Tuesday when a divided City Council rejected a "compromise" that would have repealed the city ordinance requiring each diver to take a red identification flag into the water.

The same ordinance bars lobstermen from bringing their boats within 50 feet of divers' flags.

The compromise, worked out by diver Patrick Scalli and lobsterman Peter K. Prybot, who writes a column about the waterfront for the Times, would have left Gloucester subject to state law that allows teams of divers to use a single flag and require boats within 100 feet of flags to maintain a 3-mph speed limit.

By a 6-3 vote, the council opted for the status quo.

Divers sought the repeal of the one diver, one flag rule a year ago after getting signals that lobstermen were agitating local law enforcement officials to enforce the ordinance. Divers told the council then, in hours of winter hearings and again Tuesday night, that the rule created a life-threatening risk of tangled lines.

"People get tangled all the time," Scalli said.

"The stuff about getting tangled up, that's bogus," lobsterman Manuel "Buddy" Silva said.

"Lobstermen wanted enforcement last season," said Scalli, who was placed on the defensive repeatedly during Tuesday's heated 90-minute debate.

"That'll teach me never to volunteer for anything again," he said afterward, despite being praised by Councilor Bruce Tobey, chairman of the Ordinance and Administration Committee, for at least trying.

Tobey said his committee "spent hours and hours and hours" in vain search for a compromise before turning the problem over to Scalli and Prybot. "They didn't have to get involved," he added.

In his thanks, Tobey touched on "a complicating issue," the penchant of divers from New Hampshire and Maine to drive to Cape Ann's lobster-rich inshore waters to compete with local lobstermen for prey and space.

Massachusetts allows licensed divers to take lobsters. Maine and New Hampshire do not, resulting in extreme concentrations of divers and commercial lobstermen along Gloucester's shoreline.

The number of divers, especially in the two-mile stretch of water along the Annisquam and Lanesville shoreline favored by commercial lobstermen, aggravate the lobstermen, who believe a small number of divers are guilty of stealing lobsters from their traps.

Silva years ago reported finding a Seiko watch - but no lobsters - in one of his traps.

"We can't tell where divers are," Silva said. "We want to identify where these people are."

The city ordinance, described as subject to being overturned by court action according to Steven Coren, attorney for the Bay State Dive Council, would do that if divers obeyed it and authorities enforced it.

Neither is likely.

"Multiple lines won't be complied with," Scalli said.

Under harsh questioning from Councilor Sefatia Romeo, Scalli conceded the ordinance is flaunted, but added, "Nor do lobstermen really comply."

Romeo was making the point that under state law, allowing multiple divers per flag, authorities would be unable to know how many divers were in the water.

She cited a recent incident in which multiple public safety agencies and the Coast Guard were called to the Back Shore by a report of a free floating flag.

The Waterways Board favored the compromise repeal of the local ordinance, and Harbormaster James Caulkett told the committee last winter the local ordinance was effectively unenforceable.

Councilor Michael McLeod, who opposed the repeal, suggested divers take advantage of ordinance language that allowed the harbormaster to issue a waiver from the one diver-one flag requirement.

"You already have what you need here," McLeod said. "This is all about lobster, let's face it."

Council President James Destino, who voted for the repeal, said he couldn't understand the hubbub over an ordinance that neither side obeys and isn't enforced.

But Councilor Jackie Hardy, who represents Annisquam and Lanesville, said the local ordinance was important for the livelihood of her constituents and voted to keep it on the books.

"You're all doing it illegally," she said to the audience, which had more divers than lobstermen.

Councilors Walter Peckham of Ward 5 and John "Gus" Foote of Ward 2 upheld the ordinance on behalf of lobstermen.

"Leave it the way it is," said Foote, a retired fisherman. "One diver, one flag."