For Release: July 8, 1997

Contact: Richard Sisson 277-3075 or 789-3094

Stephanie Powell 277-2771 ext. 4418

PROVIDENCE - The RI Department of Environmental Management has announced that effective Friday, July 11 at 12:01 a.m., the Rhode Island commercial fishery for tautog will close until further notice because weekly landings have been higher than expected.

The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council has been managing the tautog fishery through the use of annual quotas and possession limits to restore the over-fished stocks of tautog to their former abundant levels.

Last year 95 percent of the 47,000 pound limit was caught in nine weeks necessitating closure of the fishery for the remainder of the season. This year, with a 37,000 pound limit, and at the urging of fishermen, DEM filed emergency regulations limiting the per day catch in an effort to avoid an early closure.

"We went from an unlimited fishery to a 40-fish limit, and it still hasn't done it, although we did get an extra week of fishing," said Richard Sisson, DEM Deputy Chief for Marine Fisheries. "Fishermen tell us tautog were more available this year, and we also think more effort was expended earlier in the season."

The native fish, which averages four to five pounds, is not only caught commercially, but is important to recreational fishermen including those who fish from charter boats. The closure does not affect recreational fishing. But, commencing Friday, it will be illegal for any person to sell, possess for sale, or offer for sale any tautog, or for any person to possess more than the recreational limit of five tautog while in Rhode Island waters.