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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
For Release: October 6, 2003
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM TO HOLD HEARING ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO STATE COMMERCIAL FISHING REGULATIONS
Comments on Proposed Management Plans and Proposed Amendments to Commercial Fishing Licensing Regulations Will Also be Accepted

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that a public hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 14 on several proposed changes to state commercial marine fisheries regulations that would affect both the lobster and finfish fisheries.

Proposed changes to the finfish regulations include a modification of the weekly landing permit program that would increase the permit period, and a modification of possession limits and quota triggers for the black sea bass fishery that would increase the starting possession limit in the first winter sub-period. Four options concerning season and possession limits for summer flounder will be presented at the hearing, ranging from keeping the status quo to altering sub-period allocations to inserting a research set-aside into one sub-period.

One proposal pertaining to the lobster regulations would codify a current practice of limiting lobster trap escape vents to the terminal lobster pot in each row of set traps. Another would continue a current program that allows lobster dealers in Rhode Island to sell lobsters taken from offshore federal waters (Area 3) that are smaller in minimum gauge size than lobsters taken from the waters off the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Coast (Area 2). That program, currently operating under emergency regulation, allows the use of an exemption certificate to land the smaller lobsters in Rhode Island.

Another proposed change in the marine fisheries regulations would establish a 20-day time limit for those facing violations to request a hearing with DEM's Administrative Adjudication Division.

At the hearing, public comments will also be taken on DEM's proposed management plans for the shellfish, finfish and crustacean sectors and on the amendments to the commercial fishing licensing regulations regarding the availability of licenses and endorsements, or license types, in 2004. Those amendments would 1) establish new license and endorsement opportunities based on the number of existing licenses that are retired; and 2) revise the priority ranking system for new license applicants.

The proposed regulations are available on DEM's website, www.dem.ri.gov, by clicking on Marine Fisheries under Topics. Copies are also available at DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife in the Stedman Government Center at 4808 Tower Hill Road in Wakefield and at the Department's Marine Fisheries Office at Fort Wetherill in Jamestown.

The hearing will be held at 5 p.m. on October 14 at the Corless Auditorium at the University of Rhode Island's Bay Campus on South Ferry Road in Narragansett. Written Comments concerning the proposed regulations can also be submitted to the Division of Fish and Wildlife at 3 Fort Wetherill Road, Jamestown, RI 02809 by noon on October 14.

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rev. 2/2/04