NARRAGANSETT — Monday
night’s kickoff of the Rhode Island
Shellfish Management Plan drew a full audience: commercial
quahoggers, oyster farmers, recreational diggers, habitat restoration experts,
biologists and regulators. All were eager to ascertain the purpose of this new
planning process, which will be co-led by the state Department of Environmental
Management (DEM) and the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and
overseen by the Coastal Resources Center.
Drawing on the experience garnered through recent collaborative planning efforts such as the Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP), the plan will engage stakeholders in providing comprehensive policy guidance regarding state management and protection measures for shellfish resources in state marine waters. Shellfish is a general category that includes bivalves (quahogs, steamers, mussels, oysters, scallops and razor clams) and gastropods (conchs and other snails).
Shellfish have been an
important part of the history and culture of Rhode Island for a long time, said
Bruce Corliss, dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, but their
continuance is far from certain. Noting the threats of pollution and habitat
loss, Corliss said, “This plan is part of a larger effort to promote coastal
sustainability and resilience.”
Regulators have
grappled with several issues related to shellfish in recent years, according to
the DEM’s Mark Gibson. These issues include a burgeoning aquaculture industry,
an increasing interest in shellfish culture as a way to restore degraded water
quality, and lingering questions about the number of commercial shellfishing
licenses in the state. The new plan would begin by bringing all of these issues
together under a common conceptual umbrella.
As in the Ocean SAMP,
stakeholder participation will be a core part of the planning process. That
process begins later this month, when the project team holds three meetings for
interested stakeholders. Stakeholder concerns and knowledge will be synthesized
into a management plan later this year. That document will undergo extensive
review and revision and will be finalized in October 2014.
When discussing the
impetus behind this new planning process, several speakers made reference to
the economic value that shellfish harvesting and aquaculture provide for Rhode
Island. But many also alluded to a benefit that can’t be measured in dollars
and cents: the state’s general fondness for the quahog and its relatives at the
bottom of Narragansett Bay.
“Digging a quahog or
picking mussels off a rock is a really special part of being a Rhode Islander,”
DEM director Janet Coit said.
Other speakers at the
Jan. 7 meeting included Sen. Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown, and Rep.
Eileen Naughton, D-Warwick. Both celebrated the diverse mix of stakeholders in
attendance and expressed hopes for fruitful collaboration.
The Rhode Island
Foundation, the Sharpe Family Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, and the
Coastal Institute funded the plan development process.