Letters: Oyster poll should have included Wellfleet restaurants

May 30, 2023

Your very obvious misses as in the Times' "Poll: Vote for your favorite place to eat raw oysters on Cape Cod" (July 29): Mac's Shack and the Bookstore & Restaurant. Both are located in Wellfleet and are oyster "institutions" that grow and farm their own or support others who do — as other restaurants do in town as well.

Wellfleet by far has the most people per capita growing oysters by aquaculture and farming — we basically invented aquaculture in this town! Please Google Dr. Belding in Wellfleet during the 1800s to look at our history of aquaculture. There are approx 140 grants in Wellfleet. That does not even take into account the wild farmers and pickers.

You are misinformed about the number of farms on the Cape. There are about 108 farms alone in Wellfleet. And, Wellfleet has been famous for its oysters for about 400 years.

Does that not deserve a nod from the Times, as a place that grows and serves the oyster that is truly world famous?

We have more "merrior" (taste variation due to the uniqueness of our natural harbor to grow oysters in different conditions, temperatures and salinities) than any other oyster in the world. A bold claim — and undisputed!

Your piece is skewed to Up Cape information and readership.

Folks, listen up, if you want a true original choose Wellfleet oysters.

Wellfleet's are the queen and should be treated as such. You can find them in almost every restaurant in our town.

Lisa Brown, Wellfleet

Member of the Wellfleet S.P.A.T.(Shellfish Promotions and Tasting) Board of Directors

I am a senior citizen and Brewster resident thoroughly enamored of where I live. I have just returned from daily exercise which involved some walking on our much-loved bike path. Sadly, I witnessed something which is of increasing concern. Ahead of me was a young girl riding with her father. Her bike was equipped with training wheels, she seemed perfectly able and confident.

We all heard the whirring noise heralding the arrival of e-bikes. Two very large e-bikes overtook us traveling at an excessive speed. The little girl got off her bike, too terrified to continue.

This mixture of motorized, traditional bicycles and walkers is destined for disaster. There have to be enforceable limits on size and speed of e-bikes traveling on our bike paths.

Mary Gamerman, Brewster

Peter Kalmus, climate scientist and author, responded to the news about the possible Atlantic current collapse in the Guardian: “Joe Biden must declare a climate emergency. And he must do so now”. I agree. Read the Times story: "Study: Atlantic current may collapse. How could it affect Cape Cod?" (July 28)

President Biden and all world leaders need to listen to the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres who is hollering at the fossil fuel industry to “drive clean energy” and “stop drilling for new oil and stop leaking methane.” Maybe that would slow the collapsing Atlantic current.

The Environmental Defense Fund has launched a campaign that says stopping methane leaks would have the single most immediate impact on reducing global warming. The Biden/Harris team completed an extensive Summit on Methane a few days ago. All it needs is a declaration of a climate emergency to rapidly go forward!

Jan Kubiac, Hyannis

I work as a Senior Policy Advocate at Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund.

Clean Water Action was pleased to read Heather McCarron’s article, “Banning food packaging: is this plan enough to get rid of PFAS on Cape Cod” (July 25), which described Sen. Julian Cyr’s recent presentation on PFAS to the Cape Cod Chapter of the Sierra Club.

We are grateful to Cyr for his leadership on PFAS. Clean Water Action was one of the environmental groups that worked, in previous legislative sessions, to ban PFAS in food packaging. But, as we have learned just how many products have PFAS, it has become clear that we need much more comprehensive action to keep our communities safe from FPAS.

Per-fluoroaklyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are in at least 200 product categories — dental floss, clothing, children’s products, food packaging, firefighter personal protective equipment, firefighting foam, and much more.

Both Maine and Minnesota have passed comprehensive bills that ban PFAS in most products, with some exceptions for products that are needed for health, safety or critical functioning of society. Cyr and state Rep. Kate Hogan have introduced a bill that would do the same in Massachusetts.

This bill — An Act to Protect Massachusetts Public Health (H2197/S1356) — also establishes a fund to help public water suppliers and private well owners pay for testing and clean-up of drinking water.

Many of us never even heard of PFAS before a couple of years ago. Now, cleaning up this highly toxic class of chemicals is absolutely essential to protect our health and environment. Thank you to Cyr for leading the fight.

Laura Spark, senior policy advocate at Clean Water Action

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