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A History of Oyster Aquaculture in Rhode Island

By Michael A. Rice

Top: The Great Hurricane of 1938 severely damaged wharves, warehouses, and other shoreside facilities throughout the state. Photo by the Providence Journal. Middle: Photo courtesy Perry Raso, Matunuck Oyster Farm. Bottom: Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station Marine Laboratory at Jerusalem on Point Judith Pond. Photo taken in 1897 shows a steam tractor and nets for sampling the pond bottom. Photo cour- tesy of URI Special Collections. RHODE ISLAND AQUACULTURE INITIATIVE 29 The Rhode Island aquaculture industry is no longer moribund as evidenced by this steady and healthy rate of growth.

Shellfishing and consumption of shellfish grounds or to regulate the fisheries. However, the common property principle and the states’ rights to manage their re- from Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island’s sources were reinforced by the 1842 U.S. Supreme Court. coastal salt ponds has been an important part In light of the controversy surrounding the early aquacul- ture leases and the U.S. Supreme Court decision, the General of Rhode Island’s history. During the early Assembly passed the Oyster Act of 1844, which was Rhode Island’s first aquaculture law. The act established a system of Colonial period, extensive oyster reefs were leasing tracts of submerged land for the purpose of culturing harvested for the consumption of the meats, oysters, as well as setting up a board of three shellfishery com- missioners—who served without salary—and a fee structure but the oyster shells had higher value as a raw for the leases. The fee structure ranged from a high of $10 material for the manufacture of lime for use per acre per year to a low of $1 per acre per year for larger, multiple-acre leases. The first year of leasing generated $60 in in masonry mortar. Limestone, a traditional lease fees. Despite the clarity of legislative intent of the 1844 Oyster raw material for lime kilns, was not readily Act to enhance oyster production and to establish a clear set available in southern New England and surely of leasing protocols, the newly established Rhode Island Shell- fisheries Commission got off to a rocky start. The fishermen contributed to the value of oyster shell as on the public oyster grounds became openly rebellious. Steal- ing oysters from lease sites became rampant and arrests were a source of calcium carbonate. By the early made, leading to a number of court cases in the 1850s that 1700s, the Colonial Assembly recognized that upheld the power of the General Assembly to grant the leases. By 1855, the General Assembly authorized the use of lease the harvest of oysters exclusively for use in fees for the purchase of a patrol boat to watch the leases, but this also proved unsuccessful, as those willing to lease lime production was a wasteful use of the new grounds were few, and lease income declined. Further marine resource, so it outlawed the practice laws passed in the 1850s aimed at improving the climate for shellfish aquaculture. An 1852 statute required all shell to be in 1734. returned to beds to serve as setting substrate for oysters, and an 1854 statute allowed private aquaculture lessees to harvest 5 bushels of oysters per day from public beds to serve to During the later Colonial period, oysters were not seed the leased farms. Despite these legislative actions, by the considered a luxury food as they are today, but growing end of the decade lease fees declined to zero, prompting the populations in Rhode Island’s coastal towns provided a ready General Assembly to require a report from the commissioners market. By 1766, the Colonial Assembly recognized that as to the reasons. That report, made in 1859, referenced the the oyster beds were being overfished and as a result they poaching problems and pointed at possible pollution of the passed a law specifying that oysters could only be taken by oyster grounds. tongs. Following the Revolution, the Rhode Island General In 1864, the General Assembly amended the 1844 Oyster Assembly enacted laws aimed at restricting harvest of Act to improve the operations of the shellfisheries com- oysters during the spawning season to further protect the mission. The number of commissioners was reduced to one resource. commissioner who would be elected to a five-year term. All of the early legislation by both Rhode Island’s Colo- The General Assembly also enhanced the professionalism of nial Assembly and the post-Revolution General Assembly to the job by paying the commissioner a $400-per-year salary, regulate the oyster fishery led to the state issuing the first as well as increasing the level of accountability and oversight exclusive private harvest grants of oyster banks in Narragan- by requiring an annual report of the commissioner. The first sett Bay, which forbade the general public from “molesting or shellfisheries commissioner after the 1864 restructuring was disturbing [the grantee] in his enjoyment of the provisions Judge John Knowles (later appointed Federal District Judge in of his charter.” Despite the granting of the exclusive rights Providence). During his five-year term, Knowles improved the to cultivate oysters on their grant areas, the grantees were performance of the office by improving collection of lease fees, not charged a lease fee for their grants. The lack of lease fees terminating leases for nonpayment of fees, and providing an and the exclusion of the public from harvesting in the grant annual report to the General Assembly. As a result, confidence areas generated considerable controversy among fishermen. was restored, oystermen again began taking out leases, and the At this time—prior to the adoption Rhode Island’s 1843 lease fees collected increased from $61 to $1,949. constitution—the colonial King Charles Charter of 1646 was Knowles was replaced as commissioner in 1869 by three considered the unofficial constitution of Rhode Island. elected commissioners with James Collins serving as chair- Despite a passage in the charter stating that marine man. Collins served as a commissioner until his death in 1910. fisheries were to be treated as a common property resource, Under Collins’ able leadership, the oyster industry in Rhode the fishermen took this as evidence that the General As- Island grew into a multimillion-dollar operation with lease sembly had no right to make grants of commonly held fishing fees paid to the state exceeding $100,000. The amount of 30

submerged lands leased for aquacul- and Narragansett (provided that they ture peaked in 1911 and 1912 at about use the funds to open and maintain 21,000 acres—roughly 20 percent of the breachway). These early actions the entire bottom of Narragansett Bay. eventually led to the initial opening of Around this time, scientists at the a permanent breachway in the early newly established (1888) Rhode Island 1900s and the buildup of the major Agricultural Experiment Station (RIAES) fishing port at the village of Galilee. and the Rhode Island College of Agri- Peak production of oysters in culture and Mechanical Arts (founded in Rhode Island occurred around 1911 1892 and a forerunner of the University with 1,394,983 bushels of oysters land- of Rhode Island (URI)) became involved ed, with 1,331,192 gallons of shucked with the activities of the shellfisheries oyster meats sold. Assuming 80 pieces commissioners. Oyster farmers with per bushel, 8 pounds per gallon, and leases in Point Judith Pond noticed that today’s retail prices of 75 cents apiece oyster production was declining, so in and $5 per pound shucked meats, 1895, they approached George Field, these oysters would collectively be RIAES marine scientist, about investigat- worth about $135 million today. ing the reason for the decline in oyster But the decline of the oyster production in the pond at a time when industry was evident by the early production in Narragansett Bay was 1920s and, according to the 1921 increasing. As a result of these meet- annual report, largely attributed to ings, College President John Washburn “large quantities of oil floating on the authorized the establishment of Rhode waters of our rivers, bay and tributar- Island’s first marine laboratory in the ies…” Despite the commissioners’ village of Jerusalem on Point Judith recognition that oil pollutants might Pond in July 1896. have a negative effect on oyster larvae, During the summer of 1896, Field there were other potential pollut- measured oxygen levels, siltation rates, ants discharged in the 1920s that and ammonia concentration in Point could have affected the shellfish. For Judith Pond. Field then reported his example, the modern electroplating Top graph: Growth and decline of Rhode Island’s oyster findings in an RIAES Annual Report, process invented in England in the aquaculture industry between 1864 and 1933 as evidenced concluding that the oyster beds were 1840s was adopted as an industrial by oyster lease fees paid to the state. Data are actual fees being smothered by silt deposited process in Providence, and heavy metal paid by lessees without correction for inflation. Data from from the Saugatucket River and were ion effluents from waste electroplating annual reports of the Rhode Island Commissioners of Shellfisher- declining because of low oxygen condi- baths had deleterious effects on oyster ies, 1864 to 1933. tions caused by lack of a permanent and other bivalve larvae. Alternatively, Bottom graph: Growth and decline of Rhode Island’s oyster breachway in the pond, creating inad- the sewering of Providence during aquaculture industry between 1864 and 1933 as evidenced equate tidal flushing. Interestingly, the the 1910s led to greater nutrient and by acreage of oyster farming leases. Data from annual reports 1896 RIAES report made no mention carbon loading to upper Narragansett of the Rhode Island Commissioners of Shellfisheries, 1864 to of the fact that two major textile mills Bay. Silt-laden runoff from deforested 1933. in Peace Dale and Wakefield on the upland farm areas common in the Saugatucket River were known to dis- 1920s and 1930s offerred another Commercial Fisheries was invited in 1936 charge a variety of ammonia and dye- explanation. Whatever the exact cause to the Rhode Island State College’s Nar- laden effluents as a byproduct of their or combination of causes, pollution ragansett Marine Laboratory (now URI’s manufacturing processes. Nevertheless, of some form was likely to have been Narragansett Bay Campus) to experi- Field concluded that a solution to the responsible for the oyster industry ment with the propagation of oysters. problem of declining oyster produc- decline in the 1920s. Rhode Island’s first oyster hatchery was tion would be to open and maintain a In its 1921 report, the commis- established by Galtsoff in a small building permanent breachway in Point Judith sioners made lengthy note of William then known as the North Laboratory Pond. The commissioners asked Field to Wells’ successful establishment of an (now Mosby Center) near the end of abstract his findings for the General As- oyster hatchery in West Sayville, N.Y., South Ferry Road. sembly. As a result of these reports, the and suggested that artificial propaga- The Rhode Island oyster industry General Assembly began the process tion of seed oysters might be a means continued its decline into the 1930s, with to raise funds to open a permanent to escape pollution’s effects on larval the Great Depression taking its toll on breachway into Point Judith Pond. A and juvenile oysters. Clearly finances marketing and sales. The industry sus- 1901 statute moved the responsibility were a barrier to establishing an oys- tained a crushing blow on September 21, of leasing oyster farms in Point Judith ter hatchery in the 1920s, but in the 1938, when the Great Hurricane roared Pond from the shellfisheries commis- following decade, famed oyster biolo- up Narragansett Bay damaging shucking sion to the towns of South Kingstown gist Paul Galtsoff of the U.S. Bureau of houses, shipping wharves, and the oyster RHODE ISLAND AQUACULTURE INITIATIVE 31

vessels. Many oyster companies never was done without a formal public reopened. In addition to the 1938 hearing. The controversy prompted Hurricane, the onset of World War II then-Governor J. Joseph Garrahy in 1941 deprived the remaining oyster in 1980 to ask CRMC to issue a companies of able-bodied labor, further moratorium on aquaculture leases Oyster shell piles from two oyster-shucking houses at eroding the business. and to conduct a study on aquaculture Fields Point, Providence, 1911. Photo from 1912 annual In 1949, there was a major shift as a compatible use in the Bay. After a report of the Rhode Island Shellfisheries Commissioners. in the governance of the oyster-leasing year’s study, the conclusion was that system. The shellfisheries commission- aquaculture was indeed a compatible result of the findings in this report and ers were abolished and their function use, but there was a complete rewrite other publications, CRMC member Rep. was subsumed into the newly formed of the aquaculture laws to include a Eileen Naughton of Warwick created the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which system of public hearings and review of Legislative Commission on Aquaculture continues today as a division of the all aquaculture lease applications by the with a charge to investigate the means R.I. Department of Environmental Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council. to promote and foster environmen- Management. By the early 1950s there In 1983, the CRMC published their tally sound aquaculture in Rhode Island. were only two remaining oyster com- Coastal Resources Management Pro- The first act of the commission was panies in business. The Blount Oyster gram (CRMP) or “Red Book,” which to further study the opportunities and Company of Warren transformed itself outlined procedures for aquaculture constraints of aquaculture. As a result into the Blount Seafood Corporation, lease application. After the promulga- of the commission’s work, legislation processing offshore ocean quahogs for tion of the revised aquaculture laws passed in 1996 established CRMC as the the manufacture of soups, and the last and CRMP, there were few new aqua- coordinating agency for the permitting remaining oyster lessee, the Warren culture applications received by CRMC, of all aquaculture projects in the state Oyster Company, ceased operations and most of the aquaculture leases regardless of location and type. Further, in 1954. granted during 1977 to 1980 were left it streamlined the hearing process, cre- For the next two decades there to expire and were not renewed. By ated a coordinated application process, was very little interest in any aquacul- 1990 there were only four small leases and required annual reporting to the ture, and the state’s aquaculture leasing left in the coastal ponds. The Blue Gold General Assembly. As part of this legisla- system became moribund. In 1971, Company moved their operations tive package, funds were appropriated the R.I. Coastal Resources Manage- to New Bedford in 1988 and ceased to CRMC to create a state aquaculture ment Council (CRMC) was established growing mussels in Rhode Island. coordinator position. by the General Assembly. Among the Renewed interest in aquaculture Since implementation of the 1996 responsibilities of the CRMC was the leasing began in 1988 when Robert revisions to the aquaculture laws, processing of leases for aquaculture. Rheault, Jr., and his partner Robert aquaculture has grown in value of And in 1976, CRMC granted permis- Bergen of Spatco Ltd. submitted an product sales from $83,518 in 1995 to sion to Luther Blount—a member of application for a small 50-by-50-foot $1.3 million in 2006, and the number the family of prominent oyster growers aquaculture lease in Point Judith Pond. of farms has grown from six to 28. The during the heyday of the industry—to This was the first real test of the Rhode Island aquaculture industry is no construct two tidally flushed “oyster revised 1981 aquaculture laws. The longer moribund as evidenced by this ponds” on the north end of Prudence Spatco (aka Moonstone Oysters) ap- steady and healthy rate of growth. But Island along Jenny’s Creek. Although plication was finally approved in 1990, the industry is still dominated by oyster few oysters grew to salable size in the but only after 14 different public hear- aquaculture, for, as the old oystermen ponds, they were part of an educa- ings by several different agencies and knew, there’s no better place to grow tion program that served to teach the boards. The whole process of multiple oysters than in Rhode Island. public about the potential for restoring hearings and nearly two-year time shellfish aquaculture to Rhode Island. frame to obtain an aquaculture lease —Michael A. Rice is a Professor of Aqua- Between 1977 and 1980, under the was seen as an impediment to the culture in the URI Fisheries, Animal and old oyster leasing permit laws, CRMC promotion of Rhode Island’s nascent Veterinary Science Department. granted 13 more aquaculture permits, aquaculture industry. 1993 brought most of them small,1-acre or less plots the incorporation of the Ocean State in the coastal salt ponds. The exception Aquaculture Association (OSAA) and Editor’s Note: This article was excerpted to this was the 1978 granting of 60 the publication of its OSAA Newslet- from “A Brief History of Oyster Aquacul- acres to Blue Gold Mussel Farm in the ter, aimed at educating the policymak- ture in Rhode Island,” which appeared in East Passage adjacent to the old Navy ers and the public about the benefits Aquaculture in Rhode Island: 2006 Yearly Base facilities in Middletown. of a Rhode Island aquaculture industry. Status Report by the R.I. Coastal Resources This granting of a 60-acre lease A year later, a report by URI resource Management Council. for aquaculture under the old leas- economists James Anderson and Mark ing system caused a storm of protest Spatz provided a comprehensive policy by quahoggers, who pointed out that review and economic constraints faced the leasing of such public trust land by Rhode Island’s aquaculturists. As a