By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org
News staff
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| Commercial shellfisherman Jody King said scallops are returning to Narragansett Bay. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI News) |
WARWICK — Rhode Island
would be better off if it catered to early risers such as fishermen and
farmers. That was part of the message at the recent campaign launch at Goddard
Park for ballot questions 5 and 6.
Commercial fisherman
Jody King boasted of witnessing more than 250 sunrises annually while
harvesting shellfish on Narragansett Bay. Vinny Confreda, of the state’s
largest vegetable farm, bragged of starting his workday by 3 a.m.
Both Rhode Islanders
personified the benefits of improving the state’s water quality (Question 5)
and protecting open space (Question 6).
King, who was the only
speaker at this week's event to arrive by boat, brought several bushels of
littleneck clams he harvested that morning in upper Narragansett Bay. But two
small scallops were his most effective props. King collected the young scallops
in eelgrass off Rocky Point — a place that for decades was too polluted for
shellfish to survive.
Infrastructure
projects to control stormwater runoff and sewage discharge have made
Narragansett Bay healthier and safer for recreation and fishing in recent
years. But funds for continuing those projects are nearly depleted. Question 5
seeks $20 million for projects to improve drinking water systems and wastewater
plants. Through the state’s Clean Water Finance Agency (CWFA) those funds are
leveraged with matching federal money to pay for more than $200 million in
infrastructure projects for cities and towns.
"Every time we
improve water quality, we move that (safe) shellfishing further up
(Narragansett Bay)," Anthony Simeone, director of the CWFA, said.
Question 6 asks for
$20 million for bay restoration, open space protection, farmland preservation
and improvements to state parks.
“If it wasn’t for the
preservation of land,” Confreda said, "we wouldn’t be able to keep
farming.”
“It makes Rhode Island
a better place to live and a better place to do business,” said Terry Sullivan,
Rhode Island director of The Nature Conservancy.
Since 1984, voters
have overwhelming approved bond referendums for land and water protection. In
2010, voters passed a $13.2 million bond bill to buy land at Rocky Point, the
“Shooters” property in Providence and for improvements to Fort Adams in
Newport.
In 2004, 70 percent of
voters approved the last broad referendum for general land and water
improvements.
As local resident Suzanne Hurley walked her
dog outside the carrousel at Goddard Park, she said she intended to vote Nov. 6
for protecting open space. She was displeased to see new construction going on
while many commercial buildings are vacant. “While those buildings sit there
empty, open space is getting paved over for new buildings," Hurley said.