2020 -- H 7874

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LC004965

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE - GENERAL PROVISIONS

     Introduced By: Representatives McEntee, Craven, O'Brien, and Price

     Date Introduced: February 26, 2020

     Referred To: House Environment and Natural Resources

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 20-3-1, 20-3-2, 20-3-4 and 20-3-5 of the General Laws in Chapter

20-3 entitled "Marine Fisheries Council" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     20-3-1. Council created -- Membership -- Compensation.

     There is hereby created a marine fisheries council. The council shall be composed of the

director of the department of environmental management, or the director's designee, who shall serve

as chairperson, and eight (8) private citizen members. The private citizen members shall be chosen

from among those with skill, knowledge, and experience in the commercial fishing industry, the

sport fishing industry recreational fishing community, and in the conservation and management of

fisheries resources and shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate.

Three (3) of the private citizen members shall be representatives of the commercial fishing industry;

three (3) shall be representatives of the sport fishing industry recreational fishing community; and

the remaining two (2) shall have skill, knowledge, and experience in the conservation and

management of fisheries resources and/or marine biology. The chairperson of the coastal resources

management council and the chiefs of the divisions of enforcement and marine fisheries in the

department of environmental management shall serve in an advisory capacity to the council.

Members of the council shall serve for a term of four (4) years and may not succeed themselves

more than once after January 1, 2002. Initial appointments to the council shall be appointed as

follows: three (3) members for a term of two (2) years; three (3) members for a term of three (3)

years; and two (2) members for a term of four (4) years. All all members of the council shall serve

without compensation and shall be reimbursed for their necessary expenses incurred in travel and

in the performance of their duties.

     20-3-2. Powers and duties.

     (a) The marine fisheries council shall serve in an advisory capacity only to the state and

agencies of the state regarding marine fisheries issues and to the director of the department of

environmental management in the exercise of his or her authority under this title for the planning,

management, and regulation of marine fisheries on matters, including, but not limited to, the

following activities:

     The marine fisheries council shall have regulatory jurisdiction over all marine animal

species within the jurisdictional territory of the state. The council is authorized, after the holding

of a public hearing to promulgate and adopt rules and regulations governing the activities only,

within the areas of its jurisdiction:

     (1) The manner of taking fish, lobsters, and shellfish;

     (2) The legal size limits of fish, lobsters, and shellfish to be taken or possessed;

     (3) The seasons and hours during which fish, lobsters, and shellfish may be taken or

possessed;

     (4) The numbers or quantities of fish, lobsters, and shellfish which may be taken or

possessed; and

     (5) The opening and closing of areas within the coastal waters to the taking of any and all

types of fish, lobsters, and shellfish.

     (b) The council shall report annually by March 1 of each year to the governor, the speaker

of the house, the president of the senate, the chairperson of the house committee on environment

and natural resources, the chairperson of the senate committee on environment and agriculture, and

to the house oversight committee and the senate committee on government oversight, for the

preceding calendar year with regard to:

     (1) The advice it has given to state agencies, including specifically the department of

environmental management, on marine fisheries issues;

     (2) The response it received to the advice it gave;

     (3) Any findings or position it may have with regard to the status and/or condition of marine

fisheries; and

     (4) Any recommendations it may have for maintaining, improving, or changing laws,

regulations, or management programs for marine fisheries.

     20-3-4. Shellfish and marine life management areas.

     The council may recommend to the director of environmental management, the designation

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of designate certain portions of the shores of the public waters of the state, or land within the state

covered by tidewater at either high or low tide, or portions of the free and common fisheries of the

state as shellfish or marine life project management areas for the purpose of enhancing the

cultivation and growth of marine species; managing the harvest of marine species; facilitating the

conduct by the department of experiments in planting, cultivating, propagating, managing, and

developing any and all kinds of marine life; and any other related purpose. The designation shall

be pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, chapter 35 of title 42, and shall be by reference

to fixed landmarks. The council, upon the designation of a management area, shall propose any

rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary for the protection and management of the

management area and the animal life and property in the management area, including the exclusion

or restriction of persons from the area or the prohibition of certain activities within the areas or

other restrictions as it may deem necessary. Upon the designation of a management area, the

director of environmental management shall place any stakes, bounds, buoys, or markers with the

words "Rhode Island department of environmental management" plainly marked on them, as will

approximate the management area. Failure to place or maintain the stakes, bounds, buoys, or

markers shall not be admissible in any judicial or administrative proceeding. The director may

make any experiments or conduct any activities as in his or her discretion are appropriate in these

management areas.

     20-3-5. Emergencies.

     The marine fisheries council may, without requirement of notice of hearing, recommend

closure of close any or all of the coastal waters of the state to the taking of any or all types of fish,

lobsters, and shellfish where it determines that a biological emergency exists that imminently

threatens the marine resources of the state subject to the provisions of § 42-35-3(b).

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE - GENERAL PROVISIONS

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     This act would clarify and assign the regulatory jurisdiction over all marine animal species

within the jurisdictional territory of the state to the marine fisheries council.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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