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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 7
March 2008
RI council hears aquaculture, striper, tautog reports
NARRAGANSETT, RI – The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council’s Feb. 11 meeting focused on advisory panel reports and recommendations, starting with a report from David Alves, aquaculture coordinator for the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC).
Alves said the CRMC formed a biological subcommittee to study coastal ponds and how they were being used. He brought maps and reviewed data that offered a comprehensive overview of commercial and recreational use of the ponds on Rhode Island shorelines.
The subcommittee determined that 5% of coastal ponds would be an appropriate allocation of space for commercial aquaculture operations.
The recommendation will be formally presented to the council and, if accepted, sent to the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) director as soon as the study is complete, which should be in the next month or so, Alves said.
Striped bass
Chris Anderson, chairman of the Striped Bass Industry Advisory Committee (IAC), reported that the committee had received a recommendation from the Rhode Island Commercial Rod & Reel Angler’s Association to carry over status quo rules for striped bass from 2007 to 2008 and had voted unanimously to make that recommendation.
During the previous week, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced that the striped bass stock assessment indicated the stock is healthy and that female spawning stock biomass continues to be high.
Based on the advice of its technical committee, the ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board agreed that state management programs could remain at status quo.
Menhaden, tautog
Steve Medeiros summarized the menhaden IAC recommendations to the council. These included changing the possession limit to 120,000 pounds per vessel per day on weekdays only and adding gear restrictions limiting purse seine nets to be no greater than 100 fathoms in length and no greater than 15 fathom in depth.
George Allen presented the tautog advisory committee’s recommendations to the council for the recreational tautog fishery. These included: opening the season on April 15 with a three-fish-per-day limit; closing the season for the month of June for spawning; re-opening the fishery from July 1 to Oct. 21; then, from Oct. 22 to Dec. 15, increasing the possession limit to eight fish per day.
Gillnet tending
Nancy Scarduzio of the Division of Fish and Wildlife presented gillnet recommendations to the council. These included proposals to require tending of gillnet gear in the state waters groundfish fishery.
The tending requirement is meant to keep overfishing of declining fish stocks to a minimum by preventing needless discard of fish. The proposals also recommend that gillnets be made of biodegradable material such as cotton or twine.
At the end of the meeting, Bob Ballou, assistant to the DEM director, told the council that two new pieces of legislation will be introduced in March – one to address fisheries assessment and monitoring needs and the other to address enforcement concerns.
Public hearing
As CFN was going to press, the DEM was holding a hearing on proposed amendments to state marine fisheries regulations. On the agenda for public comment were: a proposed aggregate landing permit program for scup; two options for regulating the menhaden fishery; and several options for monkfish possession limits.
The proposals are available online at <www.dem.ri.gov>. Click on “Fish and Wildlife,” then click on “Marine Fisheries.”
For more information, call F&W at (401) 423-1920.
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