§ 20-2.1-7. Landing permits and fees.
(a) All residents or nonresidents, with the exception of persons or vessels with qualifying Rhode Island fishing licenses, who have charge of a vessel carrying seafood products legally harvested outside Rhode Island waters shall obtain a permit to land, sell, or offer for sale seafood products in Rhode Island. The permit shall be issued by the department upon proof that the applicant holds a valid state or federal commercial fishing license.
(1) Resident landing permit: for the landing, sale, or offering for sale of marine species (including process product), caught by any means. The fee shall be three hundred dollars ($300).
(2) Nonresident landing permit: for the landing, sale, or offering for sale of marine species (including process product), caught by any means, excluding restricted species as defined by rule. The fee shall be six hundred dollars ($600).
(3) Nonresident exempted landing permits.
(i) A new landing permit shall not be issued to any nonresident to off-load, land, offer for sale, or sell any restricted marine species, the definition of which shall be established by the department by rule and shall take into account species for which a quota has been allocated to the state of Rhode Island by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission or the National Marine Fisheries Service, unless:
(A) The landing shall be counted against the quota of the state where the vessel making the landing is registered or documented; or
(B) The state where the vessel making the landing is registered or documented issues new landing permits to Rhode Island residents to land against that state’s quota for the same species.
(ii) For purposes of this section, the renewal of any nonresident landing permit shall be considered a new nonresident landing permit unless the applicant can show, to the satisfaction of the director, historic participation in the fishery and landings of the species; and any change or upgrade of a vessel twenty percent (20%) or greater in length, displacement, or horsepower above the named vessel shall be considered a new landing permit. Issuance of a landing permit shall not be deemed to create a property right that can be sold, transferred, or encumbered; landing permits shall be surrendered to the state upon their nonrenewal or forfeiture, and the acquisition of a named vessel by a nonresident who does not already have a landing permit shall not entitle the nonresident to a landing permit unless a new landing permit can be issued as allowed in this section.
(iii) Fee: The fee shall be six hundred dollars ($600).
(b) Landing permits shall be valid for the calendar year in which they are issued.
(c) The department shall adopt any rules and procedures that may be necessary for the timely issuance of these permits in order to facilitate the off-loading and sale of seafood products, except restricted finfish, harvested outside Rhode Island waters.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a commercial vessel with seafood products on board may, without a landing permit, enter Rhode Island waters and be secured to a shoreside facility for purposes other than landing, selling, or offering for sale the seafood products on board if the person having charge of the vessel obtains permission from the department’s division of law enforcement prior to securing the vessel to the shoreside facility.
History of Section.
P.L. 2002, ch. 47, § 4; P.L. 2021, ch. 162, art. 7, § 4, effective July 6, 2021.