Oyster Farmer Drops Plan, Blames 'Harassment' from Neighbors

A Bristol man seeking to establish an oyster farm in Tiverton has reportedly dropped his plans.

After debating with Tiverton residents for months, Peter Sebring of Bristol said Thursday that he finally decided to throw in the towel.

"We gave it up," he said. "The bottom line was harassment. It was getting to the point where it was really messing with people’s lives."

Sebring faced strong opposition from the Nanaquaket Neighborhood Association, a group that formed a year ago. Members had testified that they felt the farm would negatively impact current pond habitats and recreation in the area.

Sebring said the association not only disputed the farm during public hearings and meetings, but he claims that the group allegedly harassed his partner, who is also a Tiverton resident.

"It was just too much harassment," he said. "My business partner’s family from that area were getting harassed. Basically what they formed was a group to harass us."

The Coastal Resources Management Council was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the application tonight in Tiverton, but confirmed this morning that the meeting has been canceled.

Sebring says that his business venture was not only meant to benefit him, but the town as well. 

"Even though they think they live on a pristine pond, they haven’t lived there more than 20 years, so they don't realize that it really has a lot of problems," he said. "The pond takes in a ton of runoff from the high school, private yards, etc., that all contain nitrates. Filter feeders take in the nitrates and help the water."

Sebring's plans were to establish a three-acre oyster farm operating off Delano Island Street. He had proposed growing oysters on Nanaquaket Pond to sell on the East Coast. The proposed oyster site would have had trawl lines of 50 to 100 oyster bags with cylindrical floats, eventually covering the three-acre site.

"I don’t need to go to that town to get treated like dirt. What I had to offer them was good for both of us," Sebring said. "I’m sure they are going to feel that they won the battle, but in the long run they’ll realize that they lost the war."