Save Seapowet

06/28/2024

GOOD NEWS TO SHARE for all Save Seapowet Supporters💥💥💥🎉🎉🎉🎉

There’s a new law to preserve Seapowet!🌊🌊🌊🌊

Rhode Island’s State Legislature passed a law that went into effect today to protect the waters of Sapowet Cove. The legislation (S 2415A, H 7060A) declares that the waters of Sapowet Cove “shall not at any time be commercially developed or in any way modified from its current undeveloped state.” This law honors the intent of the federal grants that were used to create the Sapowet Marsh Wildlife Management Area (SWMA) for recreational use.

Representative Edwards, Senator DiPalma and Senator Felag deserve our thanks for their dedication to Seapowet (Sapowet) by sponsoring this legislation. If you would like, please send your appreciation to their emails below:

Rep. John Edwards, [email protected]
Sen. Louis DiPalma, [email protected]
Sen. Walter Felag Jr., [email protected]
In the closing days of the 2024 legislative session and with many other important bills on their plates, Representative Edwards, Senator DiPalma and Senator Felag kept the Sapowet bills moving through the process until both bills passed the House and Senate. There were many competing priorities during this General Assembly. These bills could not have happened without the leadership and experience of Representative Edwards and Senators DiPalma and Felag.

Thank you to those who wrote letters in support of the bills and testified before the legislative committees. Here are video excerpts from community members who testified during the House and Senate committee hearings.

Seapowet is an invaluable public resource with an important ecosystem that’s worth protecting from commercial development. In fact, RIDEM Fish and Wildlife recently announced that Sapowet is one of five places in Rhode Island that will receive new grant funds for restoration work and to improve community access to nature!

This new law will make it difficult for a commercial aquaculture application to receive approval from the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) if the proposed location is within 2,000 ft from the Sapowet Wildlife Management Area shoreline. However, the current application has not been dismissed by the CRMC even though it is within the area protected by the new law. Legal help is still needed to make sure these waters will be protected. For the past three years, significant legal costs have been carried by a small group of objectors.

Please consider supporting the continued legal defense through the GoFundMe campaign here. We are close but need your support.

More updates to come…

http://saveseapowet.org

Save Seapowet!

Preserve your public access rightsto a pristine Seapowet waterway.Proposed oyster farms impede recreational fishing, navigation, safety, access, public use, natural ecology. MissionPreserve the valuable habitat at the Seapowet WMA and Tiverton Coastal waters, protect the public’s recreational use ...

05/30/2024

Please see saveseapowet.org for the latest update. Four years into this effort, there is a lot to share specific to this project, as well as information about the much-anticipated changes at the CRMC.
If you are so inclined, please reach out to our elected officials, Rep. John G Edwards and Sen. Lou DiPalma specifically, for prioritizing protection of this sensitive habitat as well as important waterway for ALL to access and enjoy, NOT just some. Onward!

04/05/2024

Thank you, Senator Lou DiPalma, for your well-articulated support of protecting this precious resource. Please let Senator DiPalma’s office know about your support of this and thank him for his efforts to benefit ALL of us, not just some of us. , ,

04/05/2024

Watch this brief clip of Rep John G Edwards presenting this proposed legislation. This is a HUGE step forward to connect the Seapowet coastline (on the Sakonnet River) to the already protected contiguous marshland. Please let Rep Edwards office know of your appreciation and support. THANKS to all for your continued engagement as we commit to protecting this precious resource for access for ALL.

11/12/2023

IMPORTANT UPDATE. PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND ATTEND THIS MEETING on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14th.

Dear Save Seapowet Supporter,

The CRMC will meet this Tuesday November 14 at 6 pm to review and to act on the Bowen aquaculture application. It is unclear what action the CRMC Council will take.

We encourage you to attend and speak up to let the Council know why the proposed location of the farm, so close to shore, will create significant conflict with existing recreational use of the area.

The meeting details in Providence are as follows:

Tuesday, November 14; 6:00 p.m.
Department of Administration
Administration Building, Conference Room A
One Capitol Hill
(Near the State House, free parking in two employee lots at the end of the day)

01/03/2023

Please keep up-to-date on this effort to keep our Sakonnet River pristine and open to all for year-round enjoyment, by registering for periodic emails from saveseapowet.org.

This FB page will no longer be maintained.
Thank you

Preserve your public access rightsto a pristine Seapowet waterway.Proposed oyster farms impede recreational fishing, navigation, safety, access, public use, natural ecology. MissionPreserve the valuable habitat at the Seapowet WMA and Tiverton Coastal waters, protect the public’s recreational use ...

03/14/2022

Dear Save Seapowet Supporters,
READ BELOW for recent significant progress to protect this local habitat. Sign up for email updates on the website.
SAVESEAPOWET.ORG
Thank you for your interest and support. We are neighbors supporting neighbors, setting a precedent for years to come for coastal Rhode Island. YOU CAN AND ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

"Dear Save Seapowet Supporters,

We want to inform you of meaningful developments at Seapowet and at the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). At this week’s Tiverton Harbor Commission meeting, the applicants for the oyster farm north of Seapowet Point, Brad Boehringer and Travis Lundgren, spoke to the Commission, saying that they had withdrawn their application with the CRMC for a three-acre floating oyster farm. Mr. Boehringer said they would like to reapply in the future, with more stakeholder outreach and notice. He mentioned the new CRMC guidelines on which some of you provided comments in January. Mr. Boehringer expressed a desire to work with the Tiverton Community in the future under CRMC’s guidelines, “We’d like to get as much input from you guys going forward if it seems like a good idea to re-approach this.” You can hear his brief remarks at this link to the meeting.

Recently, CRMC revised their aquaculture application process to include abutter notification. CRMC will now require applicants to include a list of all property owners within 1,000 feet of the proposed boundary of the lease so CRMC can notify those property owners. The revised application process also includes guidelines for floating and submerged gear and other recommendations to identify conflicts with existing uses of the area within 1,000 feet. You can watch CRMC’s video presentation on the changes here. You can download the PowerPoint slides at this link.

Our Save Seapowet fight to preserve public access continues. The CRMC is still considering the Bowen application in the recreational area adjacent to the Seapowet Bridge at the outflow of the Seapowet Marsh. Despite the letters many of you sent to the CRMC documenting the significant recreational use of these Seapowet waters, it is unclear whether CRMC staff has changed their support for the Bowen application.

We could not have gotten this far without your letters, Save Seapowet signs, and advocacy. We hope this update shows we are making progress. You have made a difference and we appreciate your support.

Thank you for conserving and protecting Tiverton’s waters.

Save Seapowet!

08/08/2021

Summer 2021. Enjoying our pristine Seapowet Marsh and channel area to the north. Boating, fishing, kayaking, swimming. Keep this area accessible for ALL to enjoy! Two pending oyster farm applications will most-definitely interfere with access, not to mention create safety hazards in unanticipated weather/wind conditions. Please sign up for updates at saveseapowet.org for the most up-to-date information on our efforts.

07/27/2021

Dear Save Seapowet Supporters,

A month ago, we initiated our campaign with a community meeting in front of DEM’s Seapowet Wildlife Management Area in Tiverton. We have educated ourselves about oyster farming, the CRMC permitting process, and the limits of the Town of Tiverton’s jurisdiction over these permits. Most importantly, we have raised awareness about the two specific oyster farm applications that would impact the recreational use at the Seapowet WMA. Both applications involve aquaculture and the privatization of public resources, as well as conflicts with existing stakeholders and the infringement on riparian property rights and recreational users. Our coastal resources are limited and precious – we need strong public policies to minimize these conflicts.

The CRMC postponed the June 22nd vote on the Bowen oyster farm application (sited just south of the Seapowet Bridge). This allows more time to send in public comments. The CRMC vote on the Boehringer/Lundgren oyster farm application (sited north of Seapowet Bridge) is not yet on CRMC’s calendar. We will be monitoring the CRMC calendar for future votes on both applications.

Here’s a quick update of the campaign’s progress and some recent developments:

Legislators
Thanks to your outreach, we have received local and state attention from government officials. State Senators DiPalma and Edwards attended the Tiverton Town Council meeting on July 12th, during which issues regarding the oyster farms were discussed. DiPalma and Edwards were receptive to supporting legislation for more comprehensive abutter notification of oyster farm proposals.

A Tiverton Town Council meeting scheduled for this Monday, July 26th has two agenda items addressing aquaculture. We encourage you to attend the meeting – either in person or on Zoom at: 877-853-5247; Meeting ID 831 1015 8669; Passcode 560638. The first aquaculture-related agenda item involves Councilor Jay Edwards leading a discussion about a formal Resolution to the State Legislature requesting a change to CRMC ‘s notification requirements. The second item addresses the mapping of aquaculture development in Tiverton as part of CRMC’s planning process for future oyster farms in Narragansett Bay. CRMC is currently holding meetings as part of its Special Area Management Plan (SAMP). Councilor Donna Cook is closely monitoring SAMP and is committed to ensuring that Tiverton has a voice in this process. The Town Council will also discuss Deb Hagen’s request for a public meeting with the Town and CRMC to give public comment on the Bay SAMP.

We greatly appreciate Councilors Cook and Edwards’ responses and leadership on our behalf. We hope that other Tiverton Councilors will support issues impacting Tiverton’s approach to aquaculture.

Media coverage
The Narragansett Times ran a front-page (Section D) article, “CRMC Aquaculture Permitting Process Needs Righting”, July 15/16, 2021, on the oyster farms written by Todd Corayer. Here is his related blog piece that captures the key issues surrounding both farms and deficiencies in the CRMC aquaculture process. There are other media pieces in the works.

Change at the CRMC: Jennifer Cervenka, Chair CRMC Resigns

Change is starting to happen at the CRMC. You may have heard the news that Jennifer Cervenka, Chair of CRMC, submitted her resignation to Governor Dan McKee on Thursday of last week. Her move signals the need for change at CRMC throughout the organization. We hope this brings attention to the way in which our natural resources are being managed in Rhode Island.

Economic data

According to the CRMC website in 2019, aquaculture in the state of Rhode Island provided a total of 219 jobs, of which only 59 were full-time/year-round. The value paid to the farmers was $5.8 million ($6.07 million if you include oyster seed sales). This appears to be an unequal return for the loss of public access to our waterways. Conversely, studies show that recreational fishing generates $412 million in sales and supports 4,173 jobs in Rhode Island.

We will continue to keep you updated with the latest developments. In the meantime, please encourage your friends and neighbors to email [email protected] and reference files 2020-04-037 (Bowen) and 2021-02-054 (Boehringer/Lundgren) with a message that the proposed locations of these farms will violate Rhode Island’s Public Trust Doctrine, as the waters support heavy recreational use. CRMC should strive to work with both the applicants and the community to find more acceptable locations for these two farms.

Please spread the word about the GoFundMe campaign that supports our legal defense fund.

Thanks for your involvement!

Team Save Seapowet

07/22/2021

https://www.eastbayri.com/little-compton/stories/letter-oyster-farm-misleading-claims-lack-of-public-notice,91461?

To the editor: Tiverton once again is fighting to protect and preserve its unique natural resources as oyster farm developers make misleading claims and seek to limit recreational use of Seapowet …