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News Advisory
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
FOR AP AND METRO NEWS DAYBOOKS:
Date: August 10, 2006

Time:

 10:30 a.m.
Location: DEM's Marine Fisheries Center, 3 Fort Wetherill Road, Jamestown
Event: North Cape Lobster Restoration Program Celebration
Last lobsters in Restoration Effort to be "V-Notched" by Governor Carcieri, Senator Reed, and Other Participants

For Release:

 August 9, 2006
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

GOVERNOR CARCIERI TO JOIN SEN. JACK REED, REPRESENTATIVES FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES, AND THE LOBSTER INDUSTRY TO RECOGNIZE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF NORTH CAPE LOBSTER RESTORATION PROGRAM

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Ocean Technology Foundation, will celebrate the completion of the North Cape Lobster Restoration Program at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, August 10 at DEM's Marine Fisheries Center in Jamestown. The event is the culmination of more than six years of effort to restore Rhode Island's lobster population, which was significantly impacted by the 1996 North Cape oil spill.

About nine million lobsters, and millions of surf clams, fish, and birds, were killed when the tank barge North Cape ran aground off Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown in 1996, spilling 828,000 gallons of heating oil into Block Island Sound and Rhode Island's coastal ponds. A legal settlement was reached in 2000, and funds were secured from the responsible party to help restore losses to lobsters, shellfish, and other coastal resources.

DEM and NOAA scientists recommended that the notching and protection of female lobsters was necessary to eventually replace the lobsters killed by the spill. Under the program, 1.248 million legal-size female lobsters were v-notched by fishermen, returned to the water, and banned from harvest until they molt and the notch disappears. The process extends the reproductive lives of these lobsters by allowing them to produce more eggs.

Participants in tomorrow's event will include Governor Donald Carcieri; DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan, PhD; Senator Jack Reed; Patricia Kurkul, Northeast Regional Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service; Michael Thabault, Assistant Regional Director for Ecological Services, US Fish & Wildlife Service; Pierre Olney, of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene, and MacRae; and Mike Marchetti, former President of the Rhode Island Lobstermen's Association. Following a speaking program, participants will go aboard a fishing vessel and v-notch the lobsters.

-30-

Directions from Providence: Route 95 South to Route 4 Route to Route 1 South, to Route 138 East over Jamestown Bridge. Take the Jamestown Village exit just before the entrance to the Newport Bridge. This becomes Conanicus Ave. Follow Conanicus Ave. until you reach the fork in the road and bear left to Fort Wetherill Road.
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