This article is reprinted with permission of Commercial Fisheries News, the Northeast's fishing newspaper for over 30 years, ©2003 Compass Publications Inc. Commercial Fisheries News is published monthly; annual subscriptions are $21.95. To subscribe or request a sample issue: call (877) 263-4496; fax (207) 367-2490; e-mail (cfoster@fish-news.com); or click on the hot link.
by Ann Kane Rheault
PROVIDENCE, RI - After sprinting through the General Assembly in the final days of a turbulent legislative session, Senate bill 2771, establishing a new commercial fishing licensing system for the state of Rhode Island, was signed into law by Gov. Lincoln Almond on June 10.
The law represents an unprecedented level of effort and cooperation among industry members, regulators, legislators, academics, and the governor's office.
The new limited-access system will take effect on Jan. 1 when the current moratorium on new commercial fishing licenses expires.
Ken Payne is the senior policy adviser for the Rhode Island Senate Policy Office who spent countless hours learning about the issues, working with the participants, and crafting this legislation from the enormous body of their comments.
He explained that this past legislative session was arguably the most "horrible ever, with a budget implosion, redistricting, and downsizing all happening simultaneously."
Nonetheless, the unusually strong and collegial work between the House and Senate, along with consistent and thoughtful support from the administration of Gov. Lincoln Almond, led to the bill's successful passage, he said.
Payne credited the bill's key sponsors - Sen. Susan Sosnowski, Rep. Eileen Naughton, Rep. David Caprio, and Sen. Patrick McDonald - for their hard work on the legislation.
He also praised the invaluable and "critical leadership advocacy" demonstrated by Rep. Peter Ginaitt, chair of the Joint Committee on Environment and Energy, explaining that Ginaitt took the bill under his wing at a critical time to help get it passed.
"You want to know how government should work?" asked Payne. "This is it."
The version of the bill that became law is very similar to what was reported in the June 2002 CFN, with a few exceptions.
For example, license fees have changed slightly and language was added to appropriate all vessel and licensing fees collected after July 1, 2003 to the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) for use in managing and preserving fisheries resources, including data collection and analysis. Before that date, DEM will retain only those fees over and above $200,000.
Another change is that the Commercial Fishing License Review Board will no longer send its recommendations on requests to reconsider a license denial directly to the DEM director.
Instead, new language was added to direct the board to forward its written recommendation to the Office of Boat Registration and Licensing, which will then issue a decision and rationale within 10 days. An appeal of that decision will go through the Administrative Adjudication Division for Environmental Matters.
Language was also added to the general licensing provisions requiring that any vessel used in commercial fishing must be declared as a commercial fishing vessel and display a decal or, in the case of vessels 25' and under, a removable plate that can be displayed temporarily on other vessels 25' and under.
Kids have a chance
Mike Marchetti, president of the Rhode Island Lobstermen's Association, was pleased with the final result.
"We wanted the ability to do rule-making and not go to the legislature every time we want a rule changed. This bill gives us those tools," he said.
The new law protects full-time fishermen and allows them to stay diverse, while still providing for new entry at a basic level, Marchetti added.
"It's the best of both worlds. It's not privatization, but it's not wide open" access either, which simply can't work given the reality of fisheries management.
Marchetti said he believes that the licensing moratorium could be responsible for a dangerous trend - no new people in the industry.
"Very few kids have been coming around to help as deck hands since the moratorium has been in effect," leaving many fishermen working light-handed or even single-handed, he observed.
He believes young people were not motivated to work hard and learn the ropes if there was no chance of getting their own licenses and someday working for themselves. The absence of young blood coming into the industry did not bode well for the future of fishing as a way of life.
Marchetti noted that by allowing new entrants into the fisheries, the licensing law "gives young kids a sense of hope. It's all about the future."
Honest effort
Russ Wallis, president of the Ocean State Fishermen's Association, agreed that the bill "was the best that we could come up with. It puts a cap on the wide-open access we had before."
Noting that he never thought he'd see the day when he would say he was against open access, Wallis said, "The way things are in this industry, something's got to be done."
Mike McGiveney, president of the Rhode Island Shellfishermen's Association, agreed that the process was as good as it could be.
"It was a unique experience to see all the different legislative groups, fishing groups, and DEM come together," he said. "Everybody worked hard and was on the same page. It was an honest effort."
Maintaining some degree of access through the student shellfish license will allow young people to get into the fishery, he said, and, if they work hard and decide to continue, they could eventually be upgraded to a primary effort license.
Regulations next
Even though an immense amount of time and energy went into getting this legislation on the books, the work is far from over. Now that the conceptual framework has been set in law, the details of implementation still need to be worked out and written into regulation.
With a Jan. 1, 2003 deadline looming, the fishing community and various partners must once again pull together to develop the best, most feasible implementation program possible, said Payne. Coming up with the regulations to fill in the details of the licensing framework "is a huge task and requires creative thinking," he warned. "But there is no way DEM can do it alone."
DEM Director Jan Reitsma agreed, saying that the bill "allows for adaptive management and for an open and collaborative process to do fine-tuning and adjustments that may be needed."
He said he wants to meet with members of industry and academia in the early stages "to discuss their views of what the regulations should accomplish and how."
Reitsma added that he sees a need to continue the collaborative process that started with the help of the University of Rhode Island's Coastal Institute and "may be looking for assistance from entities like Sea Grant to help us."
Draft plan out
A draft plan was expected to be finished by June 17 to lay out the regulatory, policy, and related work that needs to be done by Jan. 1, along with a preliminary schedule for "who does what by when," Reitsma said.
He added that his chief of staff, Bob Ballou, and associate director for Natural Resource Management, Mal Grant, will be assuming lead roles in the rule-making process.
Reitsma plans to use the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council as "the forum for developing the regulations further until they are ready for the formal rule-making process, including public notice, comment, and hearing."
But, he stressed, this preliminary work "should not be viewed as a sign of a top-down approach, but rather our way of enabling" the process to grow from the ground up.
Reitsma said that part of the regulatory work relates to data collection, adding that work has been progressing on a web-based data collection system that he expects will be up and running by Jan. 1 (see related story page 11B).
This new system will allow dealers to enter landings data directly into an online database, eliminating the need for paper tickets and phone call-ins.
It will be a challenge to finish the daunting task of writing regulations in only six months with the limited resources available, but Reitsma stressed that it can be done.
"It's a matter of prioritizing, working extremely hard, and accepting help when it's available," he concluded.
