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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: November 3, 2005
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM'S BAY LINE CLOSED FOR SEASON

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that its 24-hour Bay Line telephone information line has closed for the season and will re-open prior to Memorial Day 2006 as the state's summer beach and boating season swings into high gear again.

The seasonal Bay Line provides Rhode Islanders with a central telephone number to leave a recorded message about any sign of Bay-related environmental problems for appropriate follow-up, offers updates on the overall health of the Bay, and provides an opportunity for callers to pose questions about the Bay. During its second season this year, 35 messages were received, and many other callers listened to the weekly updates on Bay conditions. A dozen complaint calls concerned odors and dead seaweed in the Stillhouse Cove area of Cranston. Additional seaweed and odor complaints were also received from the Conimicut area of Warwick, and there were scattered calls from other Bay-side areas. General questions ranged from queries about red tide (Rhode Island was not impacted) to queries about conditions in the upper Bay. One lost caller was looking for a boat ramp in Portsmouth. Callers with questions were re-contacted with information, and, in several instances, were also forwarded literature. Emergency response crews responded to odor complaints, tested for hydrogen sulfide, and, with the help of municipal staff from City of Cranston and the City of Warwick respectively, removed decaying seaweed from a portion of Stillhouse Cove in Cranston and the Conimicut shoreline in Warwick.

Reports of Bay conditions, updated weekly on Bay Line, were compiled from data provided by a network of monitoring stations in the Bay that monitored oxygen, temperature, salinity, pH levels, and, in some cases, water clarity and the presence of algae blooms. The monitoring data was supplemented by field observations made by DEM personnel.

Bay monitoring this summer indicated that oxygen levels remained relatively high throughout the season. There were notable exceptions during the summer in Greenwich Bay and other areas when a combination of warm temperatures and algae blooms resulted in locally reduced oxygen levels and hydrogen sulfide odors. In addition to the Conimicut section of Warwick, Riverside Terrace, East Providence and Stillhouse Cove, Cranston were all adversely impacted, at various times and to varying degrees, because of hydrogen sulfide odors. Juvenile clam mortality again occurred in areas experiencing low oxygen conditions, although overcrowding of shellfish in heavily populated areas may have been a contributing factor. There was one significant fish kill event that occurred when thousands of bait fish were trapped by bluefish and stripers at the Pawtuxet falls dam. The overabundance of fish utilized all the available oxygen and caused their demise.

Although the Bay Line telephone information line is closed for the season, Rhode Islanders are still encouraged to report any Bay-related problem by calling DEM's Office of Compliance and Inspection at 222-1360 on weekdays, from 8:30 to 4 p.m. To report an environmental emergency, call DEM's 24-hour environmental police dispatch line at 222-3070.

Bay Line is an integral part of a series of initiatives undertaken at the behest of Governor Carcieri to protect Narragansett Bay. A related initiative is the Bay Assessment and Response Team (BART) which is designed to facilitate timely and well-coordinated responses to any major Bay-related environmental emergency. BART includes professional staff from DEM, the Department of Health (HEALTH), and the University of Rhode Island. Rhode Islanders can find a great deal of Bay-related information, provided by the BART program, by clicking on "BART" on the homepage of DEM's website, www.dem.ri.gov.

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For General Information 222-6800 • After Hours Emergencies 222-3070 • Disclaimer