CRMC approves 5 aquaculture applications

May 12, 2016, PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has approved four aquaculture applications, totaling 8.86 acres to be located in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay in the Dutch Harbor area. The Council unanimously approved all four at its semi-monthly meeting on May 10, 2016. Currently, there are three aquaculture farms in the area, totaling 15.25 acres. A fifth in the Sakonnet River was also approved.

CRMC Aquaculture Coordinator David Beutel provided the Council members and public with a presentation on all four of the proposed leases, as well as visuals of areas already utilized for aquaculture in the Dutch Harbor area. The shoreline is rocky there, Beutel said, and all of the applications are close to those rocky areas and out of any significant navigation routes or nearby recreational uses. The applicants planned to utilize floating gear, and a combination of bottom cages and low-profile floating cages.

William Cregan was granted a 3.86-acre oyster farm lease using low-profile floating oyster cages. The U.S. Coast Guard has requested, and the Council granted, that each buoyed corner of the lease be lit.

Walrus & Carpenter Oysters, LLC was granted a two-acre oyster farm lease using floating gear April through November, and submerged gear December through March. Walrus & Carpenter also has a successful operation in Ninigret Pond, and has stated they’re interested in expanding operations.

Antonio and Joseph Pinheiro requested for a modification to add 115 floating cages and 433 bottom cages to an existing two-acre aquaculture site. The applicants had requested they be permitted to grow quahogs, bay scallops, and softshell clams, in addition to oysters that they currently grow using (a total of 162) bottom cages. An early 2016 site inspection by staff proved that the site was only being minimally used; this was expected, since it was the Pinheiros’ first year in operation.

In the staff report, Beutel listed a number of logistical concerns with increasing operation by such a large degree, as well as the fact that there is a lack of documented success in growing quahogs, bay scallops and softshell clams in the state in an aquaculture setting, and in the specific conditions detailed in the application. The Council voted to grant the modification to add the gear, and the bay scallops, and denied the request for the other species.

Jesse Bazarnick was granted a three-acre oyster farm lease using floating cages, located offshore from the other farm locations. As with the other application, the Coast Guard requested that the buoyed corners of the lease be lit.

In Tiverton, Carl Berg applied for and was granted a 3.2-acre oyster farm southwest of Jacks Island on the Sakonnet River. Berg is a commercial fisherman, and wants to diversify his work. He proposed using trawls of bottom cages with shelves to hold the oysters, a method used in other aquaculture sites in Rhode Island. It is a method also used to harvest lobsters. Berg proposed using 30 trawls of 10 cages, for a total of 300 cages at maximum capacity. As with some of the other proposals, the Coast Guard requested the corner buoys be lit.

Map showing the four proposed lease areas, as well as the three existing leases in Dutch Harbor.