By DAVID SMITH/ecoRI News contributor
WARWICK, R.I. — Adding more days to the deer hunting season on
Prudence Island was opposed and eliminating regulations governing groups of
paddlers on Rhode Island waterways supported by those who attended a May 26
state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) meeting.
The workshop/public hearing on the hunting regulations was for the
2015-16 season, while the proposed fishing regulations are for the 2016-17
season. DEM officials will consider the testimony taken at the hearing before
finalizing the regulations.
DEM’s assistant director for natural resources, Catherine Sparks,
said it’s hoped that the regulations will be finalized by the end of July, and
they would then go into effect 20 days later.
The fishing hearing began with several people asking DEM to remove
two sections of the regulations that govern non-fishermen. Charlestown resident
Jim Cole, a member of the Rhode Island Rivers Council, Blueways Alliance and
the Rhode Island Canoe & Kayak Association, was joined by DEM employee
Chuck Horbert, also a member of those organizations, asking that sections
1.16.1 and 1.1.6.2 be removed from the regulations. Horbert works in the
agency’s Water Resources Division. A section that deals with fishing
tournaments should be left untouched, they said.
Horbert said the first two rules don’t belong in the fishing
regulations and should be handled by parks and recreation.
“Why are rules for boating in fishing regulations?” he asked.
“These groups are not engaged in fishing. It seems duplicative and an unusual
way to handle the problem.”
Sparks responded and that there is a need for redundancy,
especially in the case of individuals who only look at one document.
Chris Fox, director of the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association
(WPWA), read a letter into testimony
in support of removing the rules from the fishing regulations. He said his
organization is adamantly opposed to regulations regarding non-fishermen.
“We strongly urge the Department of Environmental Management to
eliminate these two proposed regulations until such time that the department
possesses the capacity to administer a permit system that can fairly and evenly
review and approve permits for all user groups of a designated size in a timely
and efficient manner,” Fox said. “With the evolution of technology and social
media, WPWA has identified a trend away from events planned well in advance, to
those that occur on a spur-of-the-moment basis.”
He said the two regulations negatively impact WPWA and other
private outfitters that provide paddle gear and services. They often receive
customer requests on short notice, based on a forecast of good weather.
“If a permit cannot be obtained within days or hours in advance,
services cannot be (legally) rendered, thus resulting in a loss of revenue,”
Fox said. “WPWA and other entities rely on the revenue generated from
fee-for-service programs, as well as from the provision of equipment and
supplies, to support the operating expenses, including insurance, of our
revenue-generating enterprises.”
Hunting regulations
Several people at the recent hearing spoke against the addition of
a special deer hunting season on Prudence Island for youth archery hunters
Sept. 5 and 6, instead of Oct. 11 and 12. They said the earlier season
conflicts with people using the island for recreational purposes during the
warm, less-crowded days at the end of summer. The island is a part of
Portsmouth and is in Narragansett Bay.
A few people suggested that the hunting should begin Nov. 1 so the
interaction between hunters and non-hunters is reduced.
Glenn Young, a member of the Portsmouth Police Department,
attended the hearing to testify that his department was opposed to starting the
bow season for deer in September and wanted a Nov. 1 start date.
A resident of Prudence Island said despite their being no
complaints, he believed that non-hunters don’t know whom to complain to and
that most don’t read the hunting regulations enough to know that the season is
even open.
Richard Phillips, a member of the Prudence Island Bowhunters Inc.,
said he has been hunting on the island for 50 years. “I want to keep it in
November,” he said. “It’s best for everybody.”
Prior to the hearing on hunting regulations, Brian Teft, DEM’s
principal wildlife biologist, gave a presentation about hunting in the state
that focused mainly on deer. He said 2,182 deer were killed last year by
hunters, about 13 percent less than the previous year. Teft said that could be
attributed to a greater acorn harvest which provided the deer more food and
enabled them to roam less.
He said there were 9,354 hunters and 19,873 deer tags were sold
last year. Teft added that urban deer management is a growing concern because
of the high numbers of deer. Many land trusts and around the state have now
opted to allow hunting, he said.
A pilot program is being tried this upcoming hunting season, Teft
said, called “Hunters Feeding Hungry People.” Hunters will be able to donate
only deer and that the meat will go to the Providence-based Center
for Southeast Asians. He said the deer must be legally taken, be
field dressed and donated within 24 hours. DEM is currently looking for a
central location to operate a walk-in refrigerator where hunters can drop off
donations.
“We believe it could work,” Teft said. “The hunter has no
liabilities and this is just a trial run.”
A similar program was tried years ago but it floundered and was
eventually dropped, because some food kitchens were either unable to process
the meat or didn’t want the liability of serving wild game or uninspected meat.