For Release: December 4, 1998

Contact: Arthur Ganz 783-2304

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that six shellfishing grounds will open on Wednesday, December 9. Two of these areas, the Potowomut at the mouth of Greenwich Bay, and the Upper Sakonnet in the Sakonnet River, are DEM shellfish management areas opening for the first time ever.

DEM typically opens several additional portions of Narragansett Bay to shellfishing every year about this time, and the holiday season typically provides the most important economic opportunity for the state's commercial shellfishermen.

In addition to the Potowomut and Upper Sakonnet Shellfish Management Areas, the following four areas will also open on December 9: Bristol Harbor, Mill Gut off of Colt State Park, Greenwich Bay, and Bissel Cove off of North Kingstown.

Over the past two years, the Potowomut and Upper Sakonnet Shellfish Management Areas have served as spawning sanctuaries, where adult shellfish have been planted and allowed to reproduce without any harvest pressure. DEM and local shellfishermen use these and other spawning sanctuaries to sustain the quahog fishery in Narragansett Bay.

The two shellfish management areas were stocked with quahogs over a two-year period, using settlement money from losses due to the 1989 World Prodigy oil spill, funneled through the National Marine Fisheries Service. Cooperating shellfishermen dug shellfish from Greenwich Cove and Warwick Cove in the spring of 1997 and 1998. The shellfish were then transported to the two spawning areas by vessels from the Greenwich Bay Clam Company for replanting. More than 100 tons of shellfish were re-planted in the Potowomut area alone.

Under another transplant program, the Bristol Harbor and Bissel Cove areas were stocked last spring with quahogs transplanted by volunteer shellfishermen. Fifty thousand pounds of quahogs were planted in Bissel Cove this past summer using the University of Rhode Island's research vessel Cap't Bert with funding provided through DEM from a federal economic development grant.

"Working in close cooperation with Rhode Island shellfishermen, we are able, through the transplant programs, to further protect the state's shellfishing industry and the livelihoods of Rhode Island's shellfishermen," said DEM Director Andy McLeod. "We appreciate the assistance provided by the shellfishermen, and I think we all come away from each transplant with a sense of satisfaction and great accomplishment. It is particularly gratifying that, as a result of these cooperative transplants, we are able to open two new shellfish management areas for harvesting this month."

The following areas will be open for shellfishing beginning December 9. Daily catch limits, and species allowed, although generally similar, sometimes differ among shellfishing areas. Both commercial and non-commercial shellfishermen should also be aware that hours and dates of harvesting can vary from one ground to another.