RI Shellfish Restoration and Enhancement Plan

Shellfish provide ecosystem services that support the health and well-being of Rhode Island’s estuarine systems and local communities.  In recognition of this importance, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) is creating a Shellfish Restoration and Enhancement Plan (SREP). Head over to the SREP website to see how you can get involved and stay up-to-date as the plan is developed. The original Kickoff Event was held on March 3rd, 2023 and can be found here.

Spring cleaning of ShellfishRI.com

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: This site will stay live as we are updating the content. Lots of changes have already been made to the site, so take a look around. We are cleaning things up so that we continue to honor the economic and cultural value of Rhode Island’s shellfish. If you see something on the site that needs to be updated please contact Rob Hudson (rhudson@uri.edu).

Rhode Island Sea Grant COVID Rapid Response grant


The Rhode Island aquaculture industry, like others in the region, is undergoing unprecedented challenges due to Covid-19, bringing a once thriving, blue-growth industry to the brink of collapse. A recent national survey of the aquaculture industry, representing 21 percent of the nation’s farms, indicated that without assistance, only 24 percent would survive through early summer, with 98 percent reporting lost sales and 42 percent having already laid off workers (ECSGA, 2020). Unfortunately, Rhode Island faces the same grim outlook. Many in the Rhode Island aquaculture industry are doing their best to survive and adapt by harnessing direct/online consumer sales as well as messaging to a wide audience the benefits of eating oysters. However, there are 83 farms in operation, employing nearly 300 workers, and each is experiencing the impacts in different ways. Some are innovating. Some are collapsing. Most of the efforts underway are reactive to the crisis in the short term, are specific to individual businesses, aren’t necessarily coordinated within larger networks, and don’t consider the long-term vision for future industry resilience and fortification against similar threats down the line. Even within these efforts, the industry has requested assistance in making wider and more powerful impacts towards shared goals.

With the grant funds received we are:

  • Enhancing the capacity of the state’s aquaculture association to assist growers and provide critical support
  • Conducting a needs assessment and responding to those needs (i.e. SAFIS training and direct seafood sales webinars)
  • Creating a Public Service Announcement encouraging consumption of local seafood and oysters which aired on TV, radio, and social media.
  • Distributing a weekly e-Newsletter featuring info on available relief programs, business support tools, webinars, and other resources directly related to the needs of the RI aquaculture industry during COVID.
  • While not aquaculture-related, the response funds were also used to purchase 60 digital thermometers in the late spring which were distributed to commercial fishing captains to enhance safety measures before trips.
  • Partnering with Venture Cafe and District Hall Providence to offer free, aquaculture-tailored, one-on-one small business support and assistance.

WEBINAR: Rhode Island’s Unique Commercial Shellfishing Industry

Thursday, May 3, 2018
2:00 – 3:00 pm
See the recording of this, visit the Past Events page and look for this date

Shellfishermen and science come together! Join Michael McGiveney, commercial quahogger and President of the RI Shellfishermen’s Association, and Conor McManus, Ph.D., shellfish biologist (Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management) for a webinar about the commercial shellfishing industry. Rhode Island supports a robust shellfishing industry — human, not machine, power is used to harvest over 28 million clams a year (2016). Learn about the unique ways in which the industry and state have partnered for years on research projects, clam population enhancement efforts that benefit recreational harvest, industry education and training innovations, and quahog stock assessments.

The webinar is a program of the Rhode Island Shellfish Initiative. The Initiative “honors the legacy and vital role shellfish play in supporting our environment, families, traditions, and economy. Through a partnership of government, business, academia, and community, the Initiative strengthens our state’s shellfish management practices and promotes growth and innovation within our local seafood industry.

WEBINAR: Shellfish and the Environment: Restoration Efforts in Rhode Island-April 25th at 1pm

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

1:00 -2:00 pm
See the recording of this, visit the Past Events page and look for this date

Shellfish have a job to do! Learn about the important ecological services shellfish naturally provide to our environment and the ways in which the state is restoring shellfish and enhancing habitat for fish, in partnership and collaboration with a host of public, private, and community partners. Join Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Marine Biologist Eric Schneider and The Nature Conservancy Coastal Restoration Scientist William Helt for a discussion describing the role of shellfish in the Rhode Island ecosystem and specific efforts underway in Narragansett Bay and the Rhode Island Salt Ponds to restore shellfish and enhance habitat for fish.

The webinar is a program of the Rhode Island Shellfish Initiative. The Initiative “honors the legacy and vital role shellfish play in supporting our environment, families, traditions, and economy. Through a partnership of government, business, academia, and community, the Initiative strengthens our state’s shellfish management practices and promotes growth and innovation within our local seafood industry.

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