NARRAGANSETT, RI - Around 15 people attended the Nov. 26 Marine Fisheries Council meeting, many to offer comment on a proposal to establish a research trust foundation with Rhode Island's $1.5 million share of the $11 million appropriated by Congress to assist groundfish fishermen impacted by court-ordered fishing restrictions.
    Council Chairman David Borden explained that the state has been seeking industry guidance on appropriate uses for the money and on ways to get the greatest possible benefit from the relatively small amount of funding.
    Council Vice Chairman Ralph Boragine presented a proposal written by a committee of industry representatives to establish a Rhode Island Fishermen's Research Trust Foundation.
    The nonprofit foundation would hold the money that comes to the state in trust to be used for grants for: conservation engineering, bycatch reduction, and transition into other fisheries; and cooperative research in state and federal waters "while employing fishermen to help collect data, as a mechanism to develop more effective approaches for continued fishing on healthy stocks."
    Borden said the industry committee thought it would be best to use the $1.5 million to address long-term issues and to leverage more federal funding. He explained that states are often required to provide matching funds in order to get coastwide federal cooperative research program awards. If the groundfish relief money were used to secure a 3:1 match, it could generate $6 million to benefit the entire industry.
    Still, Borden pointed out that while the Massachusetts congressional delegation was working to secure further economic assistance, there was no guarantee of additional federal appropriations.
    Bob Ballou, chief of staff to the director of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), added that US Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) are also sympathetic to the plight of Rhode Island groundfish fishermen and have been "repeatedly asking about reaching out to all groundfish industry members."
    DEM estimates that the Rhode Island groundfish industry lands $16 million worth of seafood a year, generating around $64 million in total economic activity annually and employing around 700 fishermen.

    Chris Brown, president of the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen's Association, said his group is in favor of the research trust fund because it would benefit all members of the industry equally.
    "Science can hurt us if it's not done properly," he said.
    Involving industry in collaborative research projects helps the industry in the long term, he explained, and also pays boats and crews for their labor in the short term.
    "It's a way to have our cake and eat it," Brown said.
    Said Bob Taber of Trawlworks Inc., "The money should be used as an investment in the future. The industry is being hammered from all sides. One-and-a-half million dollars is good. Six million dollars is a heck of a lot more. It could benefit the whole spectrum of the groundfish industry."
    Boragine acknowledged the pressing need for a health insurance program for fishermen, but recognized that $1.5 million would not be enough.
    State representative Bruce Long of Middletown and Jamestown said he met many fishermen who were concerned about health insurance when he was knocking on doors while campaigning in his newly created district and that he was "looking for a way to make it happen," possibly by setting up medical savings accounts for members of the fishing industry.

    Council member Mike Conroy, an inshore fisherman and lobsterman who has served on the council since the summer of 1999, resigned his seat effective Dec. 31.
    Conroy said his primary reason for resigning was to protest "a lack of enforcement in marine fisheries" due to a hiring freeze that has resulted in nine vacancies in DEM's enforcement division that cannot be filled.
    "The General Assembly needs to understand how important fishing is to this state," he said.
    Because of the cheating that takes place in the commercial and recreational sectors, he continued, "I am no longer able in good conscience to be part of passing regulations."
    Although Borden urged him not to resign and praised Conroy as "an outstanding council member," his resignation was accepted with regret.

    Borden reported that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) tautog management board had approved a proposal that would allow Rhode Island to maintain status quo management for 2003, even though the tautog fishery management plan calls for a 29% reduction in fishing mortality beginning April 1.
    Due to the hard work of scientists in the Division of Fish and Wildlife (F&W), most notably Najih Lazar, the state had sufficient data and modeling ability to calculate a mortality rate that is more accurate than the coastwide rate, he said.
    As a result, the tautog board let the state set its own mortality measures on tautog. Lazar later explained that further reductions are not needed because Rhode Island's management measures are working, the stock is rebuilding, and the state has the data to show it.
    The council approved a motion to commend the F&W staff for its work on tautog.
    The council will meet again on Jan. 7 at 6 pm in Corless Auditorium on the URI Bay Campus, Narragansett, RI.