BOSTON — Hundreds of blue economy businesses from around the globe made their way to New England this week for the Seafood Expo North America. The event brings together people from every part of the supply chain, including fishers and buyers, to talk about the latest and most popular products and methods in the industry. From salmon to soy sauce, many touted “sustainable” practices. But what does that really mean? Gear and bycatch One of the byproducts of the fishing industry is bycatch — animals that fishers unintentionally catch in the process of getting what they actually want. According to ..read more

PROVIDENCE — It was a good-news bad-news week for quahoggers on Smith Hill last week. First, the good news. It may be possible to bump up the population of good-quality quahogs in the northern half of Narragansett Bay by releasing more nitrogen and other nutrients into the waters during the winter. Nutrients such as nitrogen, which were abundant throughout Narragansett Bay thanks to near-centuries of human dumping and waste, are a key food source for phytoplankton, the microscopic organisms that are also the chief food source for quahogs. Rhode Island’s commercial shellfishermen have alleged t ..read more

Offshore wind turbines have a toehold in the Atlantic off the New England coast and, despite some recent retrenchment in the industry due to rising costs and supply chain problems, the safe bet is that more turbines are coming. Most Rhode Island commercial fishermen deeply dislike the prospect, even as a subset of people in the fishing industry has started planning to share the ocean with the three-armed giants. “We need to find alternative ways to fish so that we don’t end up with Point Judith as a ghost town,” said Fred Mattera, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode ..read more

PROVIDENCE — An autumn afternoon in a Smith Hill committee room isn’t the usual habitat for a small group of quahoggers. The cloistered halls of the Statehouse are a far cry from the open waters and shorelines of Narragansett Bay, but for the four shellfishermen chosen to serve on a joint legislative study commission, it could mean their livelihood. Their chief product is a literal state symbol: the northern quahog, also called hard clams. With their iconic shape and brown or gray concentric rings lining the outside of their shells, they are instantly recognizable to most Rhode Islanders. They ..read more

Recreational saltwater fishing is an important economic driver for the Ocean State, bringing in as much as $160 million annually when you include hotel stays and restaurant, bait shop, and marina spending by visitors. More than 80,000 Rhode Islanders fish recreationally, with an equal number of out-of-staters coming here to fish, according to the Rhode Island Environmental Monitoring Collaborative. Warming seas, habitat loss, and changes in the movement of bait fish are impacting the state’s recreational and commercial fisheries. Atlantic bluefin tuna, a popular species commonly fished off the ..read more

Eating oysters is good for the environment, according to a pair of Narragansett Bay-centric experts. Scientists Robinson Fulweiler of Boston University and Christopher Kincaid from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography shared their latest findings during a recent webinar. Fulweiler studies the impact wild and aquaculture oysters have on their surrounding waters. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water daily. Their most important service, and the one Fulweiler studies most, is removing nitrogen from marine waters that could trigger algal blooms. “Aquacult ..read more

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — From the shore on a sunny afternoon in August, the Aquidneck Island Oyster Co.’s farm, which sits offshore about 500 feet from Glen Manor House, looked like little more than rows of small, dark buoys floating on top of the waves. But inside each box, there is a micro-ecosystem, fed by the fresh ocean water pulled in by the Sakonnet River, teeming with life — not just the oysters that the company sells, but also seaweeds, mussels, and tiny crabs. Lucky for the plants and other shelled animals growing in the boxes, it’s just the oysters that will end up on someone’s plate in o ..read more

WAKEFIELD, R.I. — Two years out from the COVID-19 pandemic, Rhode Island’s aquaculture industry continues to set all-time high sales records. Earlier this summer the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), which oversees aquaculture permitting for Rhode Island, released its 2022 report on the state of aquaculture, and the future it predicts looks bright. The total value of all aquaculture products in Rhode Island was $8.2 million, an 11% increase over the previous year. Oyster seed sales accounted for $796,403, a 25% increase compared to 2021, while sugar kelp sales totaled $14,500. The t ..read more

PROVIDENCE — After five years of deliberations, disputes, committee hearings, and public notices, Perry Raso is getting his scallop farm. The Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), which regulates aquaculture and development along Rhode Island’s coastline and in state waters, approved June 13 a slimmed-down version of Raso’s shellfish expansion into South Kingstown’s Potter Pond. Under the approved project plan, Raso, who owns Matunuck Oyster Bar in South Kingstown, will be able to build a 2-acre farm 50 feet landward than what was originally proposed. Instead of using floating gear, Ras ..read more

PROVIDENCE — Oyster farmers could find themselves pushed into deeper waters if town officials from Tiverton have their way. Under legislation (H5037) introduced by Rep. John Edwards, D-Tiverton, new aquaculture farms in the Sakonnet River, from Rhode Island Sound to Mount Hope Bay, would have to be sited at least 1,000 feet from the median high-tide line. The restrictions are part of a pilot program, as written and requested by the Tiverton Town Council, and would sunset after two years, in July 2025. As proposed, current aquaculture operations sited in the river would be grandfathered into th ..read more