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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 4
December 2007
RI council makes lobster, clam, finfish licensing change recommendations
NARRAGANSETT, RI – New commercial licensing regulations for the Rhode Island finfish, shellfish, and crustacean sectors were the focus of discussion at the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council meeting on Nov. 5.
The proposed options for licensing the three sectors were presented by the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) at an Oct. 24 public hearing. After discussing each licensing sector at length, the council agreed to send the following recommendations to DEM Director Michael Sullivan’s office for consideration.
For lobster, the council recommended status quo, meaning no new licenses would be issued until the details are worked out for part-two of the state trap allocation program.
According to spokesman Bob Ballou, DEM hopes within the next year to finalize details of a new regulation to allow individuals with trap allocations to sell their allocations to other lobster fishermen with lobster endorsements or to anyone who wants to participate in the fishery but does not have a lobster endorsement.
The new regulation is expected to allow DEM to issue a license to anyone who could produce documented proof of purchase of traps from a licensed trap allocation holder.
Under the pending regulation, trap allocation holders would be allowed to sell part or all of their trap allocation to another party. By keeping the number of traps fished the same, DEM said it believes this policy will allow new entrants into the industry without increasing fishing effort.
Finfish, shellfish
For finfish and shellfish proposals, the council recommended only minor changes in existing licensing policies.
For finfish, nonrestricted license holders, as well as restricted license holders, would be required to have a purse seine endorsement or a midwater/pair trawl endorsement if they want to fish for nonrestricted species using those methods.
For shellfish, the council recommended maintaining the license exit/entrance ratio policy of 3:1, meaning for every three licenses retired only one new license is issued.
The council also recommended requiring all shellfish license holders with or without quahog endorsements to get a soft-shell clam endorsement if they intend to harvest soft-shell clams.
Ballou emphasized that these recommendations are just that, recommendations; they are not yet regulations. The recommended proposals now go to DEM Director Michael Sullivan’s office for consideration and possible approval.
Fishermen’s take
Commercial fishermen attending both the Oct. 24 hearing and the council meeting in November were not entirely pleased with the licensing proposals or the outcome.
Several multipurpose license holders who asked not to be named said that the new regulation proposals, for the most part, were just additional ways of making life more difficult for commercial fishermen by imposing additional restrictions.
The consensus of the group was that the proposed regulations basically gutted their multipurpose licenses.
“First they take it away from us, then they sell it back to us in required endorsements,” said one fisherman.
Others said that none of the choices offered relief for the regulation-weary industry, and many members of the Rhode Island commercial fishing community don’t have much hope that restrictions will be relaxed anytime in the near future.
The DEM is scheduled to hold another public hearing at 6 pm, Nov. 27 at the Corliss Auditorium on the University of Rhode Island Bay Campus to present proposals for 2008 black sea bass and summer flounder regulations.
Sam Bari
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