It is clear to me that Mr. Leuvelink wishes the demise of the Fennellys’ business. He has shown no remorse or a sense of contrition; quite the opposite. His response to every incident has been met with claims of ignorance of the regulations and with a (lack) of any responsibility on his part.”

Harbormaster Bill Chace

My family never caused any trouble to nobody. I feel like I’m being targeted a little bit. I’ve been a wharfage holder since 2020 — five years with no problems at all.”

Capt. Ben Leuvelink

I did not accept the apology for various reasons — there are a laundry list of things that Ben has done. I don’t need an apology, I just don’t want to deal with it any longer. I’ve got three kids, I don’t know what he’s going to do. I believe he’s got a license to carry …”

Kerian Fennelly, Westport Sea Farms

A Westport fisherman whose family has worked out of the Point for 70 years is on the thinnest of ice with the town after a series of ugly incidents, alleged threats of violence and bad blood with a neighboring business owner spilled over this summer into what harbormaster Bill Chace called an untenable and unprecedented situation at the town’s commercial docks.

Members of the select board put Ben Leuvelink, of the commercial lobster boat F/V Hard Labor, on probation for one year Monday evening and warned him that any further bad behavior could cost him his spot.

In doing so, they didn’t go as far as harbormaster Bill Chace wanted — he had sought the revocation of Leuvelink’s wharfage privileges.

“I cannot accept a solution where there are no consequences for these actions,” Chace said.

“I apologize and I’m sorry, that’s all I can say,” said Leuvelink.

Tough summer

Chace told board members that he’s had multiple run-ins and reports of bad behavior by Leuvelink, who was assigned a slip at the head of center wharf, just opposite Westport Sea Farms, at the beginning of 2025 after being tied up elsewhere at the over-booked point for four years previous.

Since the move, the harbormaster said, he’s had to deal with numerous small issues and a pattern of behavior that he said violates wharfage rules laid out decades ago “when the line between right and wrong was clearly defined” and fishermen mostly policed themselves.

Leuvelink has violated many of those rules, Chace said. Infractions and issues include an unattended skiff that was allowed to sink at the dock, a snapped piling damaged when Leuvelink pulled away while still tied off, buckets of bait and trash left out in the sun for days, rancid bait dumped into the water and others.

“None of these would bring us to request his removal,” Chace said, but an incident that began Friday, Aug. 28 did.

It started when a deckhand dumped two 55-gallon drums of rancid bait directly adjacent to Westport Sea Farms, a violation of wharfage rules forbidding bait from being dumped into the water at the point.

Chace got a call from Sea Farms owners Kerian and Kristin Fennelly and came down to speak to everyone involved including Leuvelink, who said he was not there when the bait was dumped. A heated discussion ensued, and Chace said he had to threaten to summon the police to break it up.

A day later, Chace said he got word from another fisherman at the dock that Leuvelink “planned to do something on the Labor Day weekend to create some kind of an incident. I notified Fennelly of the threat — to me that was the last straw.”

“It is clear to me that Mr. Leuvelink wishes the demise of the Fennellys’ business,” Chace said. He “has shown no remorse or a sense of contrition; quite the opposite. His response to every incident has been met with claims of ignorance of the regulations and with a (lack) of any responsibility on his part.”

Chace also produced a letter written by six point fishermen who support sanctions against Mr. Leuvelink. Signed by captains Timothy Field, (F/V Green Dragon), Alex Brewster (F/V Perseverance), Mike Emond (F/V Goose), Lori Rencurrel (F/V Overton Bay), Brian Tripp (F/V Crack of Dawn) and Christopher Jusseaume of Spindrift Oysters, it reads in part:

“Fishermen sometimes are given a negative stereotype from the public. Actions from this wharfage holder further contribute to that. We do not want one wharfage holder to contribute to a negative public perception of all fishermen in Westport.”

Apology declined

Prior to Monday’s meeting, Chace said he told Leuvelink that if he would apologize to Fennelly, he would not ask the select board to intercede. But Fennelly declined that apology.

“There is a history of older fishermen teaching the young to respect the dock, and that has been eroded to the point here there is no respect at the dock,” said Fennelly, who said he has reached out to police to discuss his options.

“I did not accept the apology for various reasons — there are a laundry list of things that Ben has done. I don’t need an apology, I just don’t want to deal with it any longer. I’ve got three kids, I don’t know what he’s going to do. I believe he’s got a license to carry …”

Fisherman responds

Leuvelink said Monday night that the whole mess has been a misunderstanding, and while he admitted to some infractions of wharfinger rules, he said he meant nothing by them and doesn’t want bad blood.

He said he fears that if Westport pulls his privileges, a long and proud family history at the point will end, as could his livelihood.

“It almost puts me out of business,” he said. “I would have to go to New Bedford, which is very hard to work out of. Nobody is guaranteed a slip” and "there are a lot of hassles. It would add hours and hours of steam time and cost me a lot more money than it does now.”

Leuvelink said he lives just four minutes from the point and that his family has fished there since the 1950s without issue.

“My family never caused any trouble to nobody. I feel like I’m being targeted a little bit,” he said. “I’ve been a wharfage holder since 2020 — five years with no problems at all.”

As for some of the lesser infractions cited against him, Leuvelink argued that violations are common but if they're to be enforced, they have to be applied equally to all.

“If you’re going to kick me off, you almost gotta kick everybody off for some of these things,” he said.

Select board members said they felt stymied by the lack of clear regulations that govern issues at the point, and how to address them if they escalate.

Given that, several said they felt uncomfortable pulling wharfage privileges without any way for Leuvelink to appeal:

“I’m really reluctant to stop the livelihood of someone who’s using the dock for commercial purposes,” chairwoman Shana Teas said. “I really don’t like the idea of revoking the license but I also don’t like that we don’t have a clear appeals process.”

“I don’t think anyone’s completely innocent,” Jake McGuigan added, admonishing Fennelly for bringing up the fact that Leuvelink has a permit to carry. “Be careful what you’re saying” as it could amount to slander, he said.

Richard Mundy suggested giving the harbormaster the authority to revoke the privileges if there are any more violations. “If you’re truly contrite, you’re not going to continue that behavior,” he said.

Select board members voted 3-1 to place Leuvelink on probation for one year, with Mundy opposed and Craig Dutra recusing himself as a family member once worked at Westport Sea Farms.

Teas left Leuvelink with a warning to abide by all wharfage rules going forward:

“If you violate any of them I feel like some of your colleagues down there are going to notice. I think you need to work on your relationships there.”