Meeting Summary

Attending

Clark Greene – Chair, Governor’s Office

Representative Caprio

Senator McDonald

Representative Naughton

Senator Sosnowski

Ken Payne – Senate

Sandra Whitehouse – House

Jan Reitsma – DEM

April Valliere – DEM

Claire Richards – Governor’s Office

Janis Loiselle – Governor’s Office

Guests

Peter August, URI Coastal Institute

Peg Parker, URI Coastal Institute

Business

Bob Ballou from the Director’s Office at DEM will be asked to join these meetings due to his intensive involvement with the Coastal Institute process.

Overview of Coastal Institute Process

Peter August and Peg Parker presented a succinct overview of the process used to develop the report “Options for Commercial Fishing Licensing in Rhode Island.” The Working Group asked the Coastal Institute staff to serve as a resource, “as needed” to help clarify issues as deliberations continue.

Issues

The Working Group discussed all of the issues presented in the options report and selected which ones may be best suited for action in the near term – i.e., for this legislative session. The following issues were selected: Commercial aquaculture licensure, the licensure calendar, in-state vs. out-of-state issues and the moratorium (to perhaps include control dates.)

The Working Group recommended that the meeting summaries and draft legislative proposals that may be developed be placed on the Fisheries web site.

A half-day work session is being scheduled for the week of May 28 to deliberate on the near term issues.