Official State of Rhode Island website

State of Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

Yearly Regulation Amendments

Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Regulations
Minimum Sizes and Possession Limits

If you have questions, contact Pete Duhamel at 401-423-1927 or peter.duhamel@dem.ri.gov

4/25/2025
POSSESSION LIMIT MODIFICATION

  1. Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, April 27, 2025, the commercial possession limit for Summer Flounder for participants in the Winter 1 period of the Aggregate Programwill be one thousand (1,000) pounds per bi-week (permitted vessels only), until the program closes on April 30, 2025.  

4/18/2025
AMENDMENT TO EXISTING REGULATIONS

Please be advised that amendments to the following RI Marine Fisheries regulations have been filed, resulting from the public hearing held on February 25th and RI Marine Fisheries Council meetings held on March 26th and April 7th:

  1. Part 4 – Shellfish (effective 5/6/2025)
    • Amendments to the Providence River Shellfish Management Area (Area “E”) harvest schedule (please see attached).
  2. Part 3 – Finfish (effective 5/6/2025)
    • 2025 Commercial Striped Bass General Category Management:
      • Single season June 10 – December 31; 100% allocation
      • Closed days Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
    • 2025 Commercial Menhaden Management:
      • 6,000 lbs/vessel/week possession limit provided that the State's quota has not been exhausted or if the Episodic Event Set Aside Program is enacted in the state regardless of the MMA status.
      • Open on Mondays and Thursdays only.
      • Available to RI residents only.
      • Gear types authorized include hand haul seine, cast net, and floating gill net; maximum net size 480 X 48 feet.
      • Open April 1 – April 30, May 1 – May 30, and June 1 – June 30 with a 100,000 lb maximum allowable harvest for each subperiod.
      • Maintain the harvest prohibition in Providence River and Greenwich Bay.
      • All commercial menhaden operations conducted in the Management Area, prior to and after the State’s quota has been reached, are subject to the provisions of §3.21.2 of the rule, which includes all call-in reporting requirements.
    • Black Sea Bass Pots:  Remove redundant language currently contained in Part 6 – General Equipment Provisions applicable to all pots; remove language no longer necessary for FMP compliance.
    • 2025 Recreational Cobia Management:  Adopts a possession limit of 2 fish/person/day and a 43” minimum size.
    • Regarding the proposed rule for changes to how recreational striped bass is measured, no amendments were filed.
    • Regarding proposed rules for the harvest of striped bass by gill net or floating fish traps, no amendments were filed.
  3. Part 23 – Aggregate Program for Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass (effective 5/6/2025)
    • Amend the summer/fall aggregate closure trigger for summer flounder from 85% to 70%.
    • Maintain status quo for the summer/fall aggregate closure trigger for black sea bass at 85%.
    • Decrease the black sea bass possession limit in the summer/fall aggregate program for the October 16 to December 31 subperiod from 7X to 6X the daily limit.
    • Adopt additional vessel ineligibility provisions for non-compliance with the rule.
  4. Part 5 – Lobsters, Crabs, and Other Crustaceans (effective 5/12/2025)
    • Modify the reporting requirements for horseshoe crabs
    • Lobster LCMA 1 and LCMA 3 management regarding routine gear loss trap tags
    • Lobster minimum size and minimum escape vent size corrections; LCMAs 1, 5, 6, and Outer Cape Cod
  5. Regarding proposed amendments to Part 7 – Dealers (proposed clarification to the dealer accounting rule), no amendments were filed at this time. 

4/18/2025
AMENDMENT TO EXISTING REGULATIONS

Please be advised that amendments to the following RI Marine Fisheries regulations have been filed, resulting from the public hearing held on February 25th and RI Marine Fisheries Council meetings held on March 26th and April 7th:

  1. Part 4 – Shellfish (effective 5/6/2025)
    • Amendments to the Providence River Shellfish Management Area (Area “E”) harvest schedule.
  2. Part 3 – Finfish (effective 5/6/2025)
    • 2025 Commercial Striped Bass General Category Management:
      • Single season June 10 – December 31; 100% allocation
      • Closed days Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
    • 2025 Commercial Menhaden Management:
      • 6,000 lbs/vessel/week possession limit provided that the State's quota has not been exhausted or if the Episodic Event Set Aside Program is enacted in the state regardless of the MMA status.
      • Open on Mondays and Thursdays only.
      • Available to RI residents only.
      • Gear types authorized include hand haul seine, cast net, and floating gill net; maximum net size 480 X 48 feet.
      • Open April 1 – April 30, May 1 – May 30, and June 1 – June 30 with a 100,000 lb maximum allowable harvest for each subperiod.
      • Maintain the harvest prohibition in Providence River and Greenwich Bay.
      • All commercial menhaden operations conducted in the Management Area, prior to and after the State’s quota has been reached, are subject to the provisions of §3.21.2 of the rule, which includes all call-in reporting requirements.
    • Black Sea Bass Pots:  Remove redundant language currently contained in Part 6 – General Equipment Provisions applicable to all pots; remove language no longer necessary for FMP compliance.
    • 2025 Recreational Cobia Management:  Adopts a possession limit of 2 fish/person/day and a 43” minimum size.
    • Regarding the proposed rule for changes to how recreational striped bass is measured, no amendments were filed.
    • Regarding proposed rules for the harvest of striped bass by gill net or floating fish traps, no amendments were filed.
  3. Part 23 – Aggregate Program for Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass (effective 5/6/2025)
    • Amend the summer/fall aggregate closure trigger for summer flounder from 85% to 70%.
    • Maintain status quo for the summer/fall aggregate closure trigger for black sea bass at 85%.
    • Decrease the black sea bass possession limit in the summer/fall aggregate program for the October 16 to December 31 subperiod from 7X to 6X the daily limit.
    • Adopt additional vessel ineligibility provisions for non-compliance with the rule.
  4. Regarding proposed amendments to Part 7 – Dealers (proposed clarification to the dealer accounting rule), no amendments were filed at this time.
  5. Regarding proposed amendments to Part 5 – Lobster, Crabs, and Other Crustaceans, please be advised that the final rule is being reviewed by the Office of Regulatory Reform (ORR).   

3/28/2025
POSSESSION LIMIT MODIFICATION

  1. Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, April 13, 2025, the commercial possession limit for Black Sea Bass will be two thousand (2,000) pounds per week, until further notice or until the next sub-period begins on May 1, 2025 at one hundred (100) pounds per day.
  2. Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, April 13, 2025, the commercial possession limit for Summer Flounder for participants in the Winter 1 period of the Aggregate Program will be two thousand five hundred (2,500) pounds per bi-week (permitted vessels only), until further notice or the program closes on April 30, 2025.

3/28/2025
POSSESSION LIMIT MODIFICATION

  1. Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, March 30, 2025, the commercial possession limit for Black Sea Bass will be one thousand five hundred (1,500) pounds per week, until further notice or until the next sub-period begins on May 1, 2025 at one hundred (100) pounds per day.
  2. Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, March 30, 2025, the commercial possession limit for Summer Flounder for participants in the Winter 1 Program of the Aggregate Program for Summer Flounder will be three thousand (3,000) pounds per bi-week (permitted vessels only), until further notice or until the next sub-period begins on May 1, 2025 at two hundred (200) pounds per day.

3/14/2025
POSSESSION LIMIT MODIFICATION

  1. Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, March 16, 2025, the commercial possession limit for Black Sea Bass will be one thousand  (1,000) pounds per week, until further notice or until the next sub-period begins on May 1, 2025 at one hundred (100) pounds per day.

12/31/2024
POSSESSION LIMIT MODIFICATION

  1. Black sea bass:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession will be five hundred (500) pounds per week, until further notice.
  2. Scup - general category:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession limit will be fifty thousand (50,000) pounds per day, until further notice.
  3. Scup - floating fish traps:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession limit will be fifty thousand (50,000) pounds per day, until further notice.
  4. Striped bass - general category:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial fishery remains closed until further notice (public hearing planned for February 2025).
  5. Striped bass - floating fish traps:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial fishery remains closed, until reopening April 1, 2025 @ unlimited possession limit (public hearing planned for February 2025).
  6. Summer flounder - vessels without a Summer Flounder Exemption Certificate:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession limit will be one hundred (100) pounds per day, until further notice.
  7. Summer flounder - vessels with a Summer Flounder Exemption Certificate:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession limit will be one hundred (100) pounds per day, until further notice.
  8. Winter I Aggregate Program for Summer Flounder:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the Winter I Aggregate program remains closed.  Beginning 12:00AM on Sunday, January 5, 2025, the possession limit will be four thousand (4,000) pounds per bi-week (permitted vessels only) until further notice.
  9. Summer/Fall Aggregate Program for Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the program remains closed, until further noticed.
  10. Bluefish:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession limit will be one thousand (1,000) pounds per bi-week, until further notice (public hearing planned for February 2025).
  11. Menhaden - Menhaden Management Area:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the fishery remains closed until further notice (public hearing planned for February 2025).
  12. Menhaden - State Waters outside the Menhaden Management Area:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the commercial possession limit remains @ 120,000 pounds per vessel per day until further notice (public hearing planned for February 2025).
  13. Tautog:  Beginning 12:00AM on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the fishery remains closed, until reopening 12:00AM on April 1, 2025, @ 10 fish per day.

12/31/2024
AMENDMENT TO EXISTING REGULATIONS

Please be advised that amendments to the following RI Marine Fisheries regulations have been filed, resulting from the public hearing held on November 6th and RI Marine Fisheries Council meeting held on December 2nd:

  1. Part 4 – Shellfish (effective 1/19/2025)
    • Amendments to the Providence River Shellfish Management Area (Area “E”) harvest schedule for the period January-April 2025.
  2. Part 5 – Lobster, Crabs, and Other Crustaceans (effective 01/19/2025)
    • Amendments to blue crab management to remove the nighttime harvest prohibition and amend the possession limit to 25 crabs/person/day for all harvest methods.
  3. Part 23 – Aggregate Program for Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass(effective 01/19/2025)
    • Clarify the time period when the aggregate is authorized and clarify the closure trigger for black sea bass and summer flounder.
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