DEM notes four changes in marine fisheries rules

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Environmental Management has announced four amendments to commercial and recreational fishing regulations that became effective Jan. 1.

• For summer flounder, a revision in the commercial management plan that decreases possession limits during the Winter I fishing period, which runs from Jan. 1 to April 30.

The daily possession limit has been slashed from 700 pounds to 100, and for participants in the aggregate landing program, the limit has been cut from 5,000 pounds over two weeks to 1,000 pounds per week.

Those changes, recommended by industry spokesmen and the R.I. Marine Fisheries Council, come in response to significant reductions in the coastwide total allowable landings (TAL) mandated by the U.S. Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, from the 2006 TAL of 23.59 million pounds to this year’s limit of 12.98 million pounds.

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But Congress’ Dec. 9 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which extends by three years the 10-year rebuilding plan for summer flounder, was expected to result in the TAL for 2007 being raised to 17.11 million pounds. Such a change, the DEM said, would result in a proportional increase in the state limits for the remainder of the Winter I season.

The DEM said the other three amendments to the state’s marine fishing regulations, also endorsed by the Marine Fisheries Council, were:
• For monkfish, a commercial and recreational possession limit of 50 pounds of tails per day, or 166 pounds of whole fish per day.
• For cod, a commercial and recreational possession size limit of 22 inches, plus a catch limit of 75 pounds per day for commercial fishermen and 10 fish per day for recreational anglers.
• For sea scallops, a commercial and recreational size limit of 3.5 inches; a possession limit of 40 pounds per day shucked or 5 bushels per day in the shell; and a maximum dredge size of 10.5 feet.

The changes bring Rhode Island into consistency with U.S. rebuilding plans for these federally regulated species, the DEM said, and close a regulatory loophole.

The state’s marine fisheries regulations can be found in their entirety at www.dem.ri.gov, by clicking on “Regulations,” then “Fish and Wildlife,” then “Marine Fisheries – Statues and Regulations.”

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