REMINDER
Greenwich Cove Quahog Transplant Into Greenwich Bay Shellfish Management Area
Thursday May 1st, 2025
- The transplant will occur between 8 A.M. and 12 P.M. and bags will be handed out at RI Clam Co. (74 London St. East Greenwich) in Greenwich Cove along the dock. The bag limit will be determined by the number of participants on the day of the transplant with an initial handout of 30 bags per participant.
- There will be no rakes in the water prior the start of the transplant.
- Participants will be paid $15 per 50-pound bag and will be responsible for dumping the clams into the designated receiving area within the Greenwich Bay Shellfish Management Area (see map below for the receiving area location).
- Licensed shellfishers wishing to participate in the transplant should report to the on-scene DEM Enforcement officer by 8 A.M. located at the RI Clam Co. dock on the day of the transplant. The officers will collect licenses to facilitate accounting. Licenses will be returned after participants have dumped the quahogs into the receiving area and received a final boat inspection by the patrol boat officers.
- Once participants have completed digging, they must return to the RI Clam Co. for a final bag count by the Narragansett Bay Commission staff to ensure proper accounting. After a bag count has been recorded the participant will be allowed to transit to the designated receiving area within Greenwich Bay Shellfish Management Area (see map below). A DEM Enforcement boat will be patrolling the dumping of the quahogs.
- TO PICK UP YOUR LICENSE – PLEASE NAVIGATE TO THE DEM ENFORCEMENT PATROL BOAT STATIONED AT THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CLAM DUMPING AREA (BETWEEN CHEPIWANOXET AND SALLY ROCK) FOR A FINAL BOAT INSPECTION AND LICENSE RETURN
- The Narragansett Bay Commission will be paying the transplant participants and asks that anyone who has not participated in a transplant within the past three years to complete a W-9 form in advance to submit to their staff. Link to the form: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf [irs.gov]
- The transplanted shellfish dumped into the Greenwich Bay Shellfish Management Area will be unavailable for harvest until December 2025.
Below is a map of the transplant area with the boundary lines in red. Clams will be transplanted from Greenwich Cove north of a line that extends from Rhode Island Clam at 41.66N 71.44W (41° 39.62’N 071° 26.68’W) east across the cove to 41.66N 71.44W (41° 39.62’N 071° 26.51’W) and westerly and southerly of the closure line from the Department of Environmental Management range marker located on the northerly point of Long Point (41.67N 71.44W (41° 39.99’N 071° 26.48’W) to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management range marker located on the southerly point of Chepiwanoxet (Island 41.67N 71.44W (41° 40.35’N 071° 26.50’W).
All harvested clams will be transplanted into a designated receiving bed within the southwest section of 8A in waters greater than 5 feet (red hashed area on the map). The dump location runs west of sally rock point 41.67N 71.42W (41° 40.26’N 071° 25.64’W) along the coast towards Goddard Memorial State Park Beach 41.66N 71.43W (41° 40.035’N 071° 26.1617’W) and out from shore to the northwest 41.67N 71.43W (41° 40.22’N 071° 26.22’W) and northeast 41.67N 71.43W (41° 40.395’N 071° 25.800’W) corners of the area.
Please direct any questions to Anna Gerber-Williams at the Division of Marine Fisheries anna.gerberwilliams@dem.ri.gov
Thank you
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