Please be advised that the recently filed rule, effective May 6, 2025, regarding weekly possession limit for menhaden when the Menhaden Management Area (MMA) is closed has several stipulations, as follows:
- Weekly Possession limit: 6,000 pounds per vessel per week provided that the State’s quota has not been exhausted or if the Episodic Event Set Aside Program has been enacted in Rhode Island.
- Open days are Monday and Thursday of each week only.
- Rhode Island resident only.
- Gear limited to hand-haul seine only, cast net, and floating gill net only. Maximum net size 480 feet by 48 feet.
- Seasons and allocations:
- April 1 through April 30: 100,000 lbs.
- May 1 through 31: 100,000 lbs.
- June 1 through June 30: 100,000 lbs.
- All commercial menhaden operations conducted in the MMA, prior to and after the State’s quota has been reached, are subject to all other provisions specific to the MMA per ยง 3.21.2 of the rule, including the following commercial vessel restrictions and reporting requirements:
- The possession or taking of menhaden by a fishing vessel engaged in the commercial menhaden fishery is prohibited in the following areas:
- In the Providence River north of a line extending from Rocky Point to the flagpole on Conimicut Point in the city of Warwick to Nayatt Point in the town of Barrington.
- In Greenwich Bay west and north of a line extending from the flagpole on Warwick Point to Sandy Point in the city of Warwick.
- The possession or taking of menhaden by a fishing vessel engaged in the commercial menhaden fishery is prohibited on any official State holiday, or prior to sunrise or following sunset.
- Any fisher intending to engage in the commercial menhaden fishery in the Management Area shall notify the DLE at (401) 222-3070 prior to taking or possessing menhaden. At the time that a fisher advises the DLE of his/her intent to harvest menhaden, the DLE shall notify said fisher of any modification which may have been established in the possession limit for menhaden.
- Each person engaging in the commercial menhaden fishery shall contact the DEM at (401) 423-1940 at the end of each day to report the area fished and the amount of menhaden in possession by the fisher in pounds.
Thank you
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