Benefit for Aquaculture and Sustainable Fisheries Programs

The University of Rhode Island and Perry Raso ’02, M.S. ’06
invite you to a benefit for the

Aquaculture and Sustainable Fisheries Programs
College of Environment and Life Sciences

FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015
COCKTAILS AND RAW BAR • 6 P.M.
CLAMBAKE • 7 P.M.

$125 PER PERSON

To be held at the home of Perry Raso
Matunuck Vegetable Farm
2236 Commodore Perry Highway
South Kingstown, RI

RSVP by May 23, 2015.

Contact: Kathy Gianquitti, Alumni Relations, 401.874.4853 or kathyg@uri.edu

To see the full invitation, please click here.

Spring 2015 SMP Newsletter

Welcome and long-live the long-awaited SPRING! We hope you’re all bustling like birds and bees with house, farm, and fishing projects. We’ve all survived the winter and now it’s time to look ahead to bright and productive spring & summer seasons!

On the SMP front, work has continued. Some news to share:

    • The SMP Implementation Team, composed of state and industry leaders, is hard at work developing a strategy to make your SMP recommendations happen.
    • A SMP stakeholder meeting will be held on Thurs. June 25th, 5:00-7:00pm in Corless Auditorium on the URI Bay Campus to discuss the SMP Implementation of recommendations,research opportunities, and upcoming events. Feature presentation on shellfish restoration work by RWU’s Matt Griffin.
    • The SMP Team is working hard in partnership with our state and national leadership to formally launch a Rhode Island Shellfish Initiative, in alignment with NOAA’s National Shellfish Initiative. A state initiative will keep the focus and momentum on shellfish resources, industries, and local seafood promotion in the state as well as generate new and exciting synergies and opportunities.
    • RI DEM, the wild harvest shellfish industry, and the Department of Health successfully crafted new shellfish handling regulations to help maintain the excellent reputation for quality and safety of Rhode Island-harvested shellfish. Full regulations can be found here on page 26.
    • Rhode Island Sea Grant is offering funding for 2016-2018 research projects related
      to: a) improved understanding of shellfish stock assessment and populations, and b) impacts of climate change on finfish and shellfish in Narragansett Bay. More info can be found here; proposals are due June 1st.
    • Be sure to join the shellfish community and our state leadership on May 28th, 11:30am- 5:00pm for Agriculture Day at the State House in Providence. Amongst the festivities & food, the winners of this year’s Local Agriculture and Seafood Act (LASA) grants will be announced.
    • Looking down the pike, some events to mark on your calendars: The 4th Annual  Quahoggers Jamboree on June 24th from 5-8pm at the Warwick Library; 2nd Annual Oyster Festival on June 21st @ 11am in Bristol ; August 7/8/9th is the annual Charlestown Seafood Festival; Sept. 12/13th is the Rhode Island Seafood Festival in Galilee; and Sept.19th is the Ocean State Oyster Festival in Providence.  These are only some of the many shellfish-related events sure to happen this summer. Stay tuned; we’ll post more as we hear of them. If you have an event to share, please email us!
    • Summer season is approaching which means digging your own shellfish! Remember to KEEP IT COLD! Bring ice packs and a cooler with you to the clam flats, do not leave shellfish in a hot car, and refrigerate in a dry bowl when you return home. Cold shellfish are safe shellfish!
    • RI DEM will be carrying on the SMP tradition and hosting three “Clamming 101” classes this summer. Dates to be decided; contact Kim.Sullivan@DEM.RI.Gov for more info and to sign up.
    • Reminder: In February, the RI DEM Office of Water Resources’ Shellfish Program went live with a new and improved website, complete with an interactive shellfish map and new email address going directly to shellfish program staff to better respond to missing/damaged signs or data requests. The email: dem.shellfish@dem.ri.gov and website.

Remember, the SMP document can be found at: http://www.rismp.org/the-plan/.  There will be future opportunity to update the SMP; we’ll keep you posted. Hope to see you soon! As always, feel free to contact us or stop by to share news/events/concerns. smp@etal.uri.edu or 401.874.6197.

Thank you,
The SMP Team

Quahoggers Jamboree

Shared on behalf of the Warwick Public Library

The Fourth Annual Quahoggers Jamboree
Wednesday, June 24, 2015 – 5:00pm to 8:00pm

Celebrate Warwick’s quahogging heritage with chowder and stuffies, a visit by the Steamship Historical Society of America, and a concert by Chicago singer-songwriter Michael Smith.

The festivities begin at 5 p.m. Tour Warwick fisherman Jody King’s quahogging boat. Visit the Poppy’s Gourmet concession tent to buy kettle corn and lemonade. Sample a Dockside Seafood Marketplace stuffie and cup of red or white chowder for $3. Chat with Clamcake Summer and Stuffie Summer author David Norton Stone and peruse a selection of local artisan wares at the Made From RI table.

At 5:15 p.m., hear how Narragansett Bay inspires illustrator and children’s book author Seth McCombs’ writing and art.

At 5:45 p.m., learn what a day of fishing on the Bay is like for Warwick quahogger Dave Ghigliotty.

At 6:15 p.m., discover which steamships were typically seen on the Bay in a talk by researcher Astrid Drew from the Steamship Historical Society of America.

At 7 p.m. acclaimed Chicago singer-songwriter Michael Smith takes the stage. Famous for his song The Dutchman, Michael is a master of musical storytelling who ranges from keen character studies to rousing comedic romps. Enjoy dazzling tunes tinged with folk, jazz, rock, and pop and influenced by greats such as Duke Ellington, The Beatles, and John Prine.

The Fourth Annual Quahoggers Jamboree is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

This event is free and open to all. Sign up begins on Monday, May 25.

Contact Name: Wil Gregersen
Contact Phone Number: (401) 739-5440, x221
Contact Email: wilgregersen@gmail.com
Program Type: Adult
Name of Organization: Warwick Public Library

Buck A Shuck!

Pearls of Knowledge

Fun Facts and Free Swag!

Buck A Shuck!

The Carriage Inn & Saloon Whiskey Bar
North Kingstown, RI
Friday, April 24
4-6 PM
Come learn about oysters at the raw bar over a local brew or fine whiskey!
Hosted by:
Sarina Lyon & Aly Pitts
URI Department of Marine Affairs

Slow Fish Workshop

Shared on behalf of Spencer C Montgomery of Slow Food USA,

Students host a ‘Slow Fish Workshop’ at the University of Rhode Island To explore the seasonality and biodiversity of RI seafood

KINGSTON, R.I. – On Thursday, April 23rd, a group of twenty undergraduate students will host a sustainable seafood workshop at the University of Rhode Island. Students aim to increase their community’s appetite for locally-abundant, underutilized and invasive species of seafood. The event is open for public viewing and is set to take place from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in Ranger Hall (Rm 107).

Students will gain hands-on experience filleting whole fish and using leftover heads and bones to
make culinary stocks to incorporate into various dishes.

This Slow Fish Workshop – organized by students from Slow Food URI – functions to bridge the gap between young adults and their local fishing community. Up until now, Slow Food URI has been involved mainly in terrestrial food system planning – coordinating a farmers’ market on campus, among other projects.

“It’s my hope that this workshop will spark interest in getting RI-caught seafood into our dining halls at URI” says Kayleigh Hill, Nutrition major and student organizer for the event. “Fishermen could really benefit from new local markets for various bycatch species”

With two final semesters ahead of her at URI, Hill is dedicating her Honors Project to building new models that can support local producers and shift purchasing on campus.

Hill was inspired by a study abroad trip to Naples, Italy where she spent a day catching and cooking fish with a local fisherman. She was joined by her professor, Rosaria Pisa, who is helping students plan recipes for the upcoming Slow Fish Workshop at URI.

Students are working with Sarah Schumann, a RI commercial shellfishermen, to source invasive green crabs for the event – just one of the many unique species to be showcased. Schumann is also the President of Eating with the Ecosystem, a local nonprofit whose mission is to bring about a place-based approach to sustainable seafood.

“The diversity of species in the ocean is abbreviated into a short list of items that the American consumer considers to be their seafood choices” explains Schumann, who commends the students for actively expanding their palates. “Selective choice may be the wrong value to emphasize if we want to achieve the resilience of our marine ecosystems and the permanence of our fishing industry.”

Schumann continues, “A fishermen’s economic success depends on the area of overlap between what the sea supplies and what the market demands – and there’s always some degree of mismatch between those two things.”

Students are also getting help from Tom LaFazia of Narragansett Bay Lobster, located in Point Judith, RI. LaFazia is working with local fishermen to donate other lesser-known, under-marketed species to the Slow Fish Workshop at URI.

“At this point in the season, students could expect to get their hands on some scup, skate, mackerel, silver hake, and monkfish.” LaFazia explains, “We’ll see other underutilized species such as dogfish and sea robins later in the season.”

In the past two years, similar workshops have been organized by students at the University of New Hampshire and Northeastern University in Boston. At UNH, student, Spencer Montgomery, organized a Slow Fish Workshop that later served as leverage for Slow Food UNH to shift dining hall purchasing on his campus.

“We invited everyone to the table” explains Montgomery, “Following a series of meetings between UNH Dining Services, students, chefs, local fishermen and seafood processors, we were able to get 2,000 pounds of local seafood into our dining hall within one semester!”

Montgomery, now a part-time fisherman himself, works to engage youth in fisheries across New England through the Slow Fish campaign.

“I’m very interested to see how the Slow Fish program plays out at the University of Rhode Island” says Jennifer McCann from RI Sea Grant “This may inspire other organizations to look towards food policy agenda that could help support our local fleet.”

For information about the international Slow Fish campaign, please visit

www.slowfood.com/slowfish

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