July 31, 2024 — Cohasset and Scituate were friendly for more than 250 years. Now, the Massachusetts neighbors can’t find common ground. The reason: oysters.
Scituate, a seaside town of fewer than 20,000 people that shares a harbor with the smaller Cohasset, wants to allow oyster farms in its portion of the bay. Cohasset says the farms inhibit swimming and boating.
Political feuds in small-town New England are nothing new. But this one stands out for its stamina—five years and counting—and spite. Five lawsuits have been filed, including one against the Massachusetts attorney general. More than 30 boat moorings have been seized. And a proposed joint sewer system that advocates hoped would stimulate development and clean up waterways? Circling the drain.
Technically the fight is over 3 acres of oyster farms in a more than 250-acre harbor. But for those involved, much more is at stake.
“For Cohasset, it’s about shellfishing. For Scituate, it’s about sovereignty,” said Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau.
“It’s a real failure of government,” Cohasset Select Board member Jack Creighton said of the oyster farms. “We have an opportunity to preserve and protect from privatization and industrialization.”