Response from The Director of RIDEM

[piemma]

I told you guys I sent an email to the Director of RIDEM regarding the pair trawlers.
Here is her response. I was amazed I got these results:

Dear Mr. Iemma,

Thank you for your note of concern regarding the Atlantic herring fishery currently being conducted in RI waters. I am disturbed by the pair trawling operation in our water, its impact, and the scope of the operation. As you might imagine, DEM has received several complaints over the past couple of weeks, and we are responding in a number of ways.

Our responses involve two areas of focus:

1) Compliance with existing rules and regulations; and

2) Consideration of new or expanded regulations to address shortcomings associated with the current regulatory framework.

With regard to compliance with existing regulations, please see (at the link below) the notice we have issued to the vessels, summarizing all applicable rules and regulations. In accordance with that notice, the Department's Division of Law Enforcement has been conducting regular inspections, and issuing citations in response to any violations. To date, three vessels have been charged with failing to call in to DEM, on a daily basis, as required.

The Atlantic herring fishery is managed jointly by the New England Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. It is my understanding that the vessels currently harvesting Atlantic herring in Rhode Island waters are doing so in conformance with those management programs. I have asked staff to coordinate with the National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure that the landings are being tracked carefully in accordance with allowable catch limits. My understanding is that the regional quota is approximately 60% filled as of January 4, meaning that the fishery is likely approaching a closure.

Several of the vessels currently engaged in the fishery are from out-of-state; some are from Rhode Island. I am committed to taking a careful look at the regulatory program for RI waters to see if we can, and should, adopt measures that would address the current problems, without unduly impacting the interests of RI fishermen and without running afoul of federal laws that prevent states from discriminating against non-residents. One option may be to simply ban pair trawling. I know that issue was explored with the RI community in the past, but was not supported because some Rhode Island fishermen wanted to protect their ability to engage in pair trawling. That perspective may be changing, and I look forward to hearing from our fishermen on that issue. Other options may be to reduce the maximum vessel size and/or horse power standards. Again, I will be looking to the community of interests, particularly RI interests, to offer advice on the best course of action. Clearly, the current situation is untenable. We cannot allow activities that cause damage to vessels or gear, or are otherwise dangerous. And while we can't discriminate against non-residents, we can, and should, seek to maximize benefits for the State from the fishery resources that occur in RI waters.

Thank you for contacting me, and for the blog you sent whch was very informative. If you wish to stay in touch with DEM regarding future developments - both short- and long-term - please contact Mark Gibson, Deputy Chief of Marine Fisheries, at Mark.Gibson@dem.ri.gov <mailto:Mark.Gibson@dem.ri.gov> .

Sincerely,

Janet Coit

Director

[ecduzitgood]

Well done!

[Nebe]

Nice! Seems like The Dented Bucket is becoming a powerful force. I hope pair-trawling gets the boot
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[iflysw1]

Piemma,
thanks for taking the time for I'm sure was all our concerns as to why they should be allowed in our waters so close to shore. I always thought that there was a three mile limit guess i was wrong.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

Thats a great response. Hopefully some changes will be made. At least she is aware of the situation and appears to be interested in making changes.

[HESH2]

thank you

[landwave]

Thank you for taking some action. From the response, it seems that we are not alone in our concerns.

[striperman36]

Someone offer Janet or Mark a ride to see the boats and a haul back
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[iamskippy]

Nicely done paul!

So no whale wars in ri yet
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[zimmy]

Well done. T thoughtful response from the director is refreshing.

[Raven]

a positive response for a change...Good goin Paul

[Clammer]

sEEMS THE ONLY THING gOVERNOR cHAFFEE has done right .

Shortly after she was appointent /she called a open meting ///// a meet & greet ... everyone & anyone was invited ..........she was right up front /saying she needed some to digest what is what .
She made sure different levels & divisions of the DEM were there .
She actually had us go around the room & just a quick name & what we did / or represent if we chose to do so . BTW I was impressed om how many people / fisherman , citizens, etc .she had already met & knew about ::::
Surfice to say she is turning out to be a 1000 times more with it than the previous director ><><><><><

[blondterror]

Thank you for contacting the Director Paul.. Great response as well..

[JFigliuolo]

Thanks for taking the time to do this Paul, and for letting us know.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by Clammer

sEEMS THE ONLY THING gOVERNOR cHAFFEE has done right .

that, and the increase penalties on Striped-bass related crimes...

I agree, from what I hear from people on the policy side of life, she is definetly 'with it' and lacks the ego of the previous director....

[piemma]

In my opinion, she is a very honorable woman. She sent me another email thanking me for my concern and indicating that she will do all in her power to change this.
She is incumbered by national laws and laws that prevent discrimination against out-of-state fishermen. As she stated in her original response to me, there was a movement to ban pair trawling in general but it was voted against because there were RI commercial interests who wanted it to stay in place. Of course, now the RI comms are rethinking their position as the big boats from out of state are trumping them.

[ivanputski]

Some of the RI commercial fishermen cant see beyond the end of their own nose when pounding their drum for laws that will help them. When they push hard to put laws in place to protect their own livelihood, they often don't see that these same laws just might make it possible for giant out of state boats to come in and clean out their local waters. Their own short-sightedness just might be coming back to bite them in their own backside...

Watch them scramble now in a "No no... that's not what we meant we wanted! We meant the law was only supposed to let US take tons of fish... not someone else!" It seems like it's only OK to rape the ocean if you are the one benefiting from it financially.

It really sucks that the state of RI only gets a few hundred bucks out of all this... Everyone loses on this one, except the pair trawlers.

Despite the response from the recent events, change (if any) will take years...

[MarshCappa]

Nice to see a response like that. Good for you in contacting her. Keep it up.

[Piscator]

piemma,

Thanks for "doing" and not just “complaining”. I'm good at "complaining” and not so good at “doing”. Obviously “Doing” gets results………..

[Finlander]

Well done, now let's just hope something is done to prevent this from happen next year and the years to follow!

[big jay]

Wow - impressive response.
Nice work Piemma.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Typhoon]

Anyone send this to JP Lee (the dented bucket)

[fish4striper]

Nice job Paul!

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Typhoon

Anyone send this to JP Lee (the dented bucket)

pretty sure John knows.

[Nebe]

He knows. I gave him all the details
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[stripermaineiac]

Way to go piemma. Nice job.Thanks for all of us for what you did. Ron

[bridgebastard]

I am one of the many commercial fishermen working on these herring.To those of you that dislike it well dont use bait anymore. I supply fresh brined herring to many local bait shops. I am also an advocate for removing these vessels from state waters. I phoned director Coit,Mark Gibson,and Robert Ballou the day we saw these vessels . The next call went out as my captain and our crew watched one of these vessels destroy a local commercial vessels gear,entangle said vessel with another , and endanger the lives of the crew on two vessels. We would have been the first responders to this if the two vessels had capsized . We as commercial fishermen have helped to coordinate rescues,and save lives. We are all in this together, try not to put all commercial fishermen in the same category. Many of us are conservation minded recreational fishermen as well.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by bridgebastard

I am one of the many commercial fishermen working on these herring.To those of you that dislike it well dont use bait anymore. I supply fresh brined herring to many local bait shops. I am also an advocate for removing these vessels from state waters. I phoned director Coit,Mark Gibson,and Robert Ballou the day we saw these vessels . The next call went out as my captain and our crew watched one of these vessels destroy a local commercial vessels gear,entangle said vessel with another , and endanger the lives of the crew on two vessels. We would have been the first responders to this if the two vessels had capsized . We as commercial fishermen have helped to coordinate rescues,and save lives. We are all in this together, try not to put all commercial fishermen in the same category. Many of us are conservation minded recreational fishermen as well.

On the contrary, I, for one, am in favor of you guys. You are a fellow Rhode Islander who makes his living on the water. I am in your camp and so are most of the guys on this board.
The purpose of my email to Director Coit was not at all about you guys. It was about the out of state 200' pair trawlers that are taking your livelihood away from you.
We are on your side.

[piemma]

Don't buy any salmon or Pacific yellow-tail or Cod or even fluke for that matter because I think they are all caught predominately by net.

[bridgebastard]

ecduzitgood.have you ever fished on a dragger or gillnetter, i find it interesting the ignorance of some people, do you do any catch and release fishing,if so you also kill fish ,the vessel i work on employs 6 people throughout the year and supports six families.We are a small vessel,50 ft,made out of wood, we also rod and reel commercially on the same vessel.There is a big misconception about large mesh gillnetting and stripers. We see three to four bass in the gear every year thats it. We dont set on stripers its foolish. About the waste in the dragger fishery absolutely true, however there have been modifications to the gear that have lessened the enviromental impact. Do some research and check out squid gear with 12 inch hanging chains. Many assume we tow up millions of stripers but that is not the case. Those fish to the south were killed by large factory purse seiners seining menhaden.I get tired of the ignorance and condemnation of something when its only ignorance and misinformation. We would take anyone of you fishing to see what we do.