Amendments to the RI Marine Fisheries regulations were filed Friday, April 12, 2019, as a result of the public hearing held on March 11, 2019 and RI Marine Fisheries Council meeting held April 1, 2019. Regulations filed are as follows:
Part 3 – Finfish, regarding:
- 2019 recreational Summer flounder management (Part 3, section 3.10.1)
- 2019 commercial Summer flounder management (Part 3, section 3.10.2)
- 2019 recreational Scup management (Part 3, section 3.8.1)
- 2019 commercial Scup management regarding possession limits for trawl vessels with a minimum mesh size (Part 3, section 3.8.2(C))
- 2019 commercial Striped bass general category management (Part 3, section 3.9.2(A))
- 2019 party/charter possession limit for Tautog (Part 3, section 3.11.1(B)(7)(d)
- 2019 commercial Bluefish management (Part 3, section 3.18.2)
- 2019 commercial Blacknose sharks (Part 3, section 3.19.2)
- 2019 recreational Cod management (Part 3, section 3.20.1)
- 2019 commercial menhaden management:
- Broaden the commercial vessel restrictions to apply to all commercial vessels other than small-scale fisheries and floating fish traps (section 3.22.2(A)(2)).
- Replace instances of “landing” with “possession” (several instances in section 3.22.2(B)).
- Amend the transiting rule as it pertains to the commercial menhaden fishery (proposed new section 3.22.2(B)(4)).
- Amend the date of the end of the Episodic Event Set Aside Program for consistency with the ASMFC FMP (section 3.22.2(C)(2)).
The effective date of rule is May 2, 2019. The Director’s Decision memo is being finalized and will be available when completed. Other proposed amendments associated with this hearing (Part 4 – Shellfish, Part 5 – Crustaceans, Part 6 – General Equipment) are currently being reviewed and will be filed in the next few weeks.
For all rules and rulemaking documents associated with the public hearing, including proposed and final regulations, public comments, and Director’s Decision memos, please visit the Secretary of State’s website at https://rules.sos.ri.gov/organizations (go to “Title 250” for Dept. of Environmental Management; “Chapter 90” for Division of Marine Fisheries; and then open the “subchapter” tab to view the regulation and rulemaking documents of interest. For rules not yet effective, rulemaking documents can be viewed under the yellow “View Details” tab.
Thank you.
