Rhode Island punches above its weight when it comes to its fishing industry, landing more than $80 million of seafood annually, and some local officials argue that this justifies the state getting a much bigger say on what happens to the fisheries along the East Coast.
The state already has representation on the New England Fishery Management Council – which develops management plans such as setting fishing quotas for federal waters along the region’s coast. But the congressional delegation is renewing efforts to add two Rhode Island seats to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which oversees fishing stocks in federal waters from New York to Virginia.
Part of the argument is that the catch of Rhode Island commercial fishermen represents a significant percentage of landings in the mid-Atlantic fishery – which is just south of New England – and is greater than most of the seven states represented in the mid-Atlantic council.
“Every decision the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council makes has a big impact on the livelihoods of Ocean State fishermen and the state’s economy,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who has been pushing unsuccessfully for the Rhode Island seats for 15 years.
Theodore Platz, president of Newport-based Ocean Harvest Inc. and a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, thinks the obstruction can be attributed to powerful elected officials in states such as New Jersey fighting to keep the status quo.
“They don’t want another big guy on the block,” he said. “Every fisherman around here knows that’s what is happening.”
The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act, backed by all four members of the state’s congressional delegation, would add two voting seats to the mid-Atlantic council’s 21 seats.
Fred Mattera, president of the South Kingstown-based Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, agrees with Platz.
Despite Rhode Island fishermen harvesting and processing more than 60% of squid landed from the mid-Atlantic area – more than 30.7 million pounds in 2023 – the decisions governing its take are made mostly by people hundreds of miles to the south, Mattera said.
“There has always been this disparity,” he said. “We don’t have any voice in how these quotas are managed.”
On top of that, Mattera said, environmental shifts and warming waters have led to many notable species found in the mid-Atlantic, where their quotas are set, now becoming a staple off the southern New England coast, such as black sea bass.
But the fish have not brought the federal changes in their wake.
“The senators vote against it because there are businesses that dump a lot of money into their campaigns,” Mattera said. “They argue they need to hang on to the power as much as they can to sustain their revenues.”
Representatives from the mid-Atlantic council did not respond to requests for comment. But Reed’s effort has at least one supporter among that council’s ranks.
In a 2021 letter to colleagues, Capt. Anthony DiLernia, a New York-based fisherman and an at-large member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, noted that one of the principles of the 1976 law governing marine fisheries management said that “fishermen would be involved in the management of the species off of their coasts,” noting the eight regional councils are still assigned species to manage based on the distribution of the stocks in 1977.
“Shifting stocks are creating situations where fishermen are not involved in the final recommendations of the fisheries off their shores,” he said.
Mattera believes there is greater momentum to get the legislation through this time.
“I’ve told [the delegation] that no matter what we need to do, we need a seat at the table,” he said.
