Category: News Articles

DEM Announces Annual Reclassification of Shellfish Waters and Seasonall Shellfish Closures

Posted on behalf of Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

DEM Announces Annual Reclassification of Shellfish Waters and Seasonal Shellfish Closures that take effect on May 24:  http://www.dem.ri.gov/news/2014/pr/0523141.htm

In addition, DEM’s Office of Water Resources has been working on an online harvester education program around safe handling and storage of shellfish. The online quiz-format will allow harvesters, both commercial and recreational, to better understand safe practices to help minimize risks associated with Vibrio. While currently in test phase, the program will be available to harvesters this summer. For more info, contact Joseph.Migliore@dem.ri.gov

DEM will also be working with MA Marine Fisheries, FDA and EPA in the Mount Hope Bay area this Fall, conducting a hydrographic dye study of the Somerset Waste Water Treatment Facility. The study is scheduled for September.

Federal Legislation Proposed: Ocean Acidification

Shared on behalf of Tessa Getchis, Extension Educator of Connecticut Sea Grant.

EYES ON OCEAN ACIDIFICATION: Two House bills were introduced this week to promote research on ocean acidification, an issue biologists and the seafood industry are concerned about. Maine Democrat Chellie Pingree introduced a bill to require the NOAA study the impact of acidification on coastal communities; Washington state Democrat Derek Kilmer and Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler also introduced legislation that would direct federal agencies to create competitions to promote research and potentially open new ways of managing acidification.

Ocean acidification could be a real threat to the fisheries that are the lifeblood of coastal communities,” Pingree said. “The truth is, we don’t fully understand how it would impact a vital industry like the lobster fishery and what the effect would be on Maine. We know what’s causing ocean acidification but now we need to better understand how hard it is going to hit coastal economies.’ More on Pingree’s bill is here: https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pingree-introduces-bill-study-impact-ocean-acidification-coastal Kilmer and Herrera Beutler’s bill is here: http://1.usa.gov/1mbY1DF

 

How Oysters Can Protect Houses From Hurricanes

By Svati Kirsten Narula/ The Atlantic

“A new study shows that bivalves can make dynamic and cost-effective sea walls, a potentially valuable tool for protecting coastal communities from rising sea levels, said Narula, reporter for The Atlantic. After Hurricane Sandy, researchers realized that natural creations, “next-generation” sea walls, aided in keeping homes in New Jersey stable, when they could have been wiped out from rising sea levels during the storm.

Storms, like Sandy, are predicted to happen again and more frequently in the future. Cities are spending enormous amounts of money to create man made sea walls. Although, Researcher, Antonio Rodriguez, from the University of North Carolina, found in a recently released study that “… over the years, these reefs [bivalve sea walls] have grown at a pace that would match any future sea-level rise. One could end up with a reef that will help protect the shoreline from erosion, filter water, provide fish habitat, and be able to keep up with sea-level rise,” Rodriguez says. “No rock sill can do those things.”

Read the full article here.

Taking Stock: Researchers seek better estimates, understanding, of clams in Narragansett Bay

Rhode Island Sea Grant compares traditional clam stock estimates by dredging to estimates made using bull rakes

By Zoe Gentes, Rhode Island Sea Grant

Over 39 million clams were harvested from Narragansett Bay in 2012, supporting a $5.15 million commercial fishing industry. Estimates of clams in the Bay are used to set fishing limits. In Rhode Island, commercial shellfishermen use a bull rake for harvesting clams. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), however, uses a hydraulic dredge to collect clams for population estimates. Fishermen say that the dredging method of harvesting is inefficient and inaccurate, and is likely to result in unnecessary limits on the commercial fishing operations.

Dale Leavitt, an associate professor of marine sciences at Roger Williams University, is conducting a study that compares the efficiency of dredge gear to that of a bull rake. He is going out on commercial shellfishing boats that are using bull rakes alongside DEM dredges to compare results. Being able to accurately take stock of clam populations in Narragansett Bay is important for making effective management decisions concerning commercial shellfishing.

Understanding dispersal of quahogs, specifically, is of particular interest to researchers because quahogs do not move much once they settle as larvae. To better target harvesting efforts, “knowing where the quahog larvae move to is incredibly important for fishermen,” says Azure Cygler, an extension specialist from Rhode Island Sea Grant who is leading the R.I Shellfish Management Plan.

One management strategy is to create “spawning sanctuaries” by closing off areas and prohibiting fishing where large numbers of quahogs are located. However, if it isn’t known where the larvae will go, it is difficult to judge how effective the sanctuary may be in replenishing the Bay with quahog seed.

Leavitt and collaborators are using a hydrodynamic computer model called the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to make an educated guess as to where the quahog larvae may be distributed when originating from a specific area. ROMS has been developed and calibrated against years of data with Sea Grant funding by Christopher Kincaid and David Ullman, researchers at URI GSO, to create a picture of how currents, circulation, and nutrients affect water quality in the Bay.

Kincaid, Ullman, and URI students can now use ROMS simulations to predict circulation and transport within the Bay under different conditions. By simulating quahog larvae in the ROMS program, including adding a larval behavior component, researchers like Leavitt can predict how the larvae will be dispersed by currents within the Bay under certain conditions. These predictions can help shellfishermen better understand where the quahogs are ending up, and what their populations might be.

“The objective with our quahog management is to have the Bay produce enough quahogs to keep the fishing fleet economically viable,” Leavitt says. “In addition, quahogs are a part of the ecological fabric of the Narragansett Bay and therefore need to be managed in a way that keeps them as a functioning part of the ecosystem.”

As featured in NOAA Sea Grant February 28, 2014 news stories

Delaware models new aquaculture program after RI CRMC

December 18, 2013, WAKEFIELD – When the State of Delaware began looking into developing an aquaculture program, the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) was an obvious choice for comparison and consultation.

According to E.J. Chalabala, restoration coordinator for the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, all of the surrounding states were investigated, though Rhode Island proved to be the best model because of its relative size to Delaware and its Inland Bays. Chalabala said that since Delaware was the last state on the East Coast to implement an aquaculture program, they were able to borrow successful elements from other states.

“I chose (the RI) program because your state has more or less the same water/land area that Delaware has with the same problems of how to deal with public recreation and also commercial industries in the bays,” Chalabala said. “Your annual reports were good to look at, and show people that aquaculture in a small state can be done.”

The connection between the states was largely made by John Ewart, Aquaculture Specialist for the Delaware Sea Grant Program, and a University of Rhode Island graduate, former Point Judith commercial fisherman and crew member and oceanographic tech on the URI Graduate School of Oceanography’s research vessel Trident. Ewart said he has kept in contact with friends and colleagues in Rhode Island, and that has helped in making the connection between the two states.

“The Delaware Inland Bays are barrier island lagoon systems very similar to those along Block Island Sound,” Ewart said. “Both are predominantly coastal states and the two smallest in the nation. Growth since 1995 in Rhode Island has been measured and orderly and provides a good model for another small state such as Delaware to learn from and emulate.”

Over a 15-year period, Ewart said, Delaware has laid groundwork for the program by evaluating and demonstrating the value and performance of aquaculture methods, actually utilizing prototype growout gear designed by Robert Rheault, a Rhode Island aquaculturist and head of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association.

“The emphasis was on restoration/stock enhancement because our natural resource agency was not supportive of our work,” Ewart said. “Eventually, with positive field performance and growing public interest, the political momentum increased such that we were able to develop and pass legislation (unanimously in both house and senate) this past summer.”

Both Rheault and CRMC’s aquaculture coordinator David Beutel were both extremely helpful during the process. Beutel, who has been with CRMC since early 2009 and formerly worked as the University of Rhode Island Fisheries Extension Specialist and Fisheries Operations Supervisor, is a respected fisheries expert in Rhode Island.

“Delaware reached out to us, and we had a number of conversations about how we do things here in Rhode Island,” Beutel said, adding that Ewart knew Rheault and others through his work in the Sea Grant program. “I sent all of our regulations and (Chalabala and Ewart) asked a lot of questions about our process and how we handle the aquaculture industry. The CRMC was happy to assist the state of Delaware and it’s great that they’ve decided to support aquaculture as an industry in their state.”

Ewart said the two key elements borrowed from Rhode Island, in addition to the fact that more than 40 farms on 175 acres can produce a $3 million farm gate value – approximately 60 acres in each of the three bays in question in Delaware – is the five percent cap (the limit placed on aquaculture in the Rhode Island salt ponds) and requirement to only use unproductive bottom.

“The two-state connection is a good story and an interesting one,” Ewart said. “From my perspective as a technical advisor as this has all developed, I have advocated that while Delaware can learn a lot from larger states like Virginia and Maryland (and others), our small size limits the size and scope of our industry. Rhode Island is as much and perhaps a more relevant example for Delaware to follow to see what is possible and to better understand emerging issues as things move forward.”

For more information on the new Delaware program, go to the Inland Bays Shellfish Aquaculture Web page and report.

For more information on Rhode Island’s aquaculture program, go to http://www.crmc.ri.gov/aquaculture.html

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