The Rhode Island CRMC works with a number of different coastal laws, including aquaculture regulation and Coastal Zone Management Act issues we previously discussed here on the Desautel Law blog. Today we’ll “dive” into their work on coastal public access for land users and rights-of-way to the shore (“ROW”). Public access in this case means the ability of all citizen…
R.I. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen teamed up this month in an op-ed to address the economic impacts of climate change related to the rapidly declining value of coastal properties. The op-ed also appeared in the Boston Globe. In this opinion piece, the Senators noted that Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire have already lost…
What is a SAMP, and How Do SAMPs Regulate the Coastal Zone? Today, we focus on one aspect of federal law. This aspect leads to federal-state cooperation, and we explain how it informs R.I. coastal zone law and ecological regulations. The Coastal Zone Management Act (“CZMA”) has several facets. One is allowing states to designate one of their agencies as…
Recent environmental legislation related to fishing has mostly contemplated commercial fishing, but recreational fishing has seen its share of updates as well. The freshwater and saltwater fishing seasons are open in R. It is important to know how the recent environmental legislation affects how one may fish, when, and the limits on common species. Today’s blog post will inform saltwater…
There are almost 40,000 registered boats in the Ocean State. As the Fourth of July weekend approached, the RIDEM Environmental Police and the U.S. Coast Guard were vocal about the number of boating collisions and allisions that occur every year. These events happen particularly over the weekend for the summer season. Our blog post today will discuss some of the…
Rhode Island is home to a number of coastal salt ponds/coastal lagoons. Aquaculture operations, mostly for growing and selling oysters, are among the many uses of these salt ponds. In addition to aquaculture leases, people use salt ponds to swim, boat, hunt, and more. These uses must all be balanced, and require aquaculture permitting. Aquaculture operations are unique in that…
June 8-12 is World Ocean Week! Our blog post today will focus on one current topic in the world of oceans, through the lens of a few environmental acts currently in the news. On June 5, 2020, the President announced that he will be reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing. Below we will explain…
After a few articles about some saltwater considerations in the Ocean State, today we’ll look at one law that affects getting building permits approved on/near wetlands: The Rhode Island Freshwater Wetlands Act and its accompanying regulations. The Freshwater Legal Scene in R.I. In 1991, Rhode Island established a Rhode Island Rivers Council, composed of a host of people appointed by…
In a wonderfully informative article from May 10, 2020, ecoRI News dove into the problems oyster farmers (and shellfish farmers generally) are facing now that their main buyers, restaurants, have either closed or scaled back their businesses significantly because of the COVID-19 epidemic. Bob Rheault, the executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, explained to ecoRI News that…
Most people don’t know about all of the different aspects of environmental law practice. There are a plethora of laws with authority over different activities or processes you may consult an environmental lawyer about. Recently on the blog, we looked at shoreline access in Rhode Island through the state Constitution and state case law. In this somewhat-related blog post, we…