[RIShellfishOWR] Shellfish Closure Update

[RI Shellfish Closures]

This is RIDEM with a Shellfish Closure Update:

Effective Noon 12/1/2020 Conditional Areas Upper Bay Area "A" and Upper Bay Area "D" will be closed to shellfishing and scheduled to reopen at Noon on 12/11/2020.


Effective Noon 12/1/2020 Conditional Area Greenwich Bay and the Point Judith Pond Conditional Areas will be closed to shellfishing and scheduled to reopen at Noon on 12/8/2020.


The Mt. Hope Bay and Kickemuit River Conditional Areas will extend in their shellfishing closures and are scheduled to reopen at Noon on 12/8/2020.


Excessive Rain Closures: Effective noon on 12/1/2020 the following areas GA 1 Upper Bay Area "B", GA 3 East Middle Bay, and GA 9 West Middle Bay will be closed to shellfishing are scheduled to reopen at Noon on 12/8/2020.



Procedures to follow during the excessive rainfall closures announced 12/1/20:



Shellfish harvested after noon today from the portions of Shellfish Harvest Areas 3W and 4A that remain open shall be assigned harvest area 3W South and 4A South.



Aquaculture farmers are reminded that:



Access to leases in the effected areas is limited to necessary maintenance/retrieval of their equipment, and for the purposes of preparing for and planting oyster seed. If the lessee intends to conduct maintenance and/or retrieval of their equipment, or prepare for or plant seed they are required to notify Ben Goetsch, CRMC's Aquaculture Coordinator by leaving a message at 783-3370.



Where an extended closure period has been enacted (greater than seven (7) days), access to the lease for non-harvest activities may be allowed. The lessee must seek and obtain authorization by contacting RIDEM’s Law Enforcement division at 401-222-3070 to conduct any non-harvest activities.


Sign up to receive email notifications of conditional area and emergency closures by sending an email to RishellfishOWR-subscribe at listserve.ri.gov<mailto:RishellfishOWR-subscribe at listserve.ri.gov> or click on the Subscribe button on this webpage under Stay Informed. This voluntary email list is used to distribute information on water quality-related shellfish harvesting restrictions. As required by RI General Law § 20-8.1-3, DEM will continue to provide notice of harvesting restrictions on the 24-hour shellfish hotline recording at 401-222-2900.

For information regarding where you can harvest shellfish, please refer to the interactive Shellfish Map, which can be found by clicking on “Shellfish Map” on the “Shellfish Links” menu located on the right side of the Shellfish Home page (dem.ri.gov/shellfish<http://dem.ri.gov/shellfish>)

Current Status of CONDITIONALLY APPROVED areas of Upper Narragansett Bay, Greenwich Bay, Mount Hope Bay, or the Kickemuit River or other emergency closures may be obtained by calling the Shellfish Closure Hotline 401-222-2900 24 hours a day. If you have questions or concerns about shellfish closures, you may call (401)222-4700 or email them to dem.shellfish at dem.ri.gov<mailto:dem.shellfish at dem.ri.gov>

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