Chapter 359

2004 -- S 3039 SUBSTITUTE A

Enacted 07/02/04

A N A C T

RELATING TO FISH AND WILDLIFE

Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Roberts, Paiva-Weed, Sheehan, and Lenihan

Date Introduced: April 07, 2004

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 20-1 of the General Laws entitled "General Provisions" is hereby

amended by adding thereto the following section:

20-1-5.1. Advice of the marine fisheries council. - - The director, in exercising

authority under this title for the planning, management, and regulation of marine fisheries, shall

request and consider in the record as applicable the advice of the marine fisheries council, and in

the adoption of management plans and regulations affecting licensing for marine fisheries, the

director shall provide a written response to the advice of the marine fisheries council.

     SECTION 2. Sections 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:

20-3-2. 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 regulatory

authority under this title for the planning, management, and regulation of marine fisheries on

matters, including but not limited to sections 20-1-2, 20-1-4, and 20-1-5 pertaining to the

following activities:

      (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 on the advice of and in cooperation with the director of environmental management, designate

the designation of 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 designating the designation of a

management area, shall promulgate 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 by the council 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, close recommend closure of 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

section 42-35-3(b).

     SECTION 3. Section 20-8-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 20-8 entitled "Atlantic

States Marine Fisheries Compact" is hereby amended to read as follows:

20-8-3. Rhode Island representatives on interstate commission -- Ex officio

members. -- In pursuance of article III of the compact, section 20-8-1, there shall be three (3)

members, hereinafter called "commissioners", of the Atlantic states marine fisheries commission,

"the commission", from the state of Rhode Island. The first commissioner shall be the director of

environmental management, ex officio, and the term of that ex officio commissioner shall

terminate when he or she ceases to hold the office of director of natural resources environmental

management. That person's successor as commissioner shall be his or her successor as director of

environmental management. The second commissioner shall be a legislator and who may be a

member of the commission on interstate cooperation, ex officio, designated by vote of the

commission on interstate cooperation, and the term of that ex officio commissioner shall be for

three (3) years and terminate when he or she ceases to hold legislative office or office as a

commissioner on interstate co-operation, and his or her successor as commissioner shall be

named in like manner. In the event that the commission on interstate cooperation shall have failed

to have met and designated a commissioner, the position of commissioner shall alternate every

three (3) years between a member of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker, and a

member of the senate appointed by the president of the senate, to a term of three (3) years which

shall commence on July 1, and no commissioner appointed by the speaker or the senate president

shall serve more than three (3) successive years. The appointments provided for herein shall

commence on July 1, 2004 and the first appointment shall be made by the speaker of the house of

representatives.

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC03186/SUB A

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