Shellfishing Area Will Reopen at Sunrise on Saturday April 25, 2015
PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that Conditional Area A in upper Narragansett Bay will re-open to shellfishing beginning at sunrise Saturday April 25, two and one half days earlier than the scheduled April 28 at noon re-opening. The area has been closed to shellfishing since Noon on Tuesday, April 21 following a 1.03" rainstorm on Monday evening into Tuesday morning.
The early opening is possible due to operation of Narragansett Bay Commission's Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tunnel, phase II which went on line in December 2014, and an agreement reached between DEM and US FDA which allows DEM to re-open Conditional Areas A or B to shellfish harvesting as soon as post-storm monitoring data demonstrates it is safe to do so. DEM developed this plan to expedite the benefits associated with the tremendous investment in construction of NBC's Phase II CSO storage tunnel.
Under this plan, DEM continues to enact a seven-day closure of the shellfish Conditional Area A after a half-inch of rainfall and Conditional Area B after an inch of rainfall; however, as conditions allow, DEM uses post-storm monitoring data and operational information to determine whether these areas can be opened earlier. DEM staff, with assistance from NBC's Environmental Monitoring Section and Save The Bay, will continue to collect post-storm monitoring data as resources and conditions allow.
At this time, the conditional area of the Conimicut triangle, Greenwich Bay and Mt. Hope Bay are closed and will remain closed until noon on Tuesday April 28. DEM maintains a 24-hour shellfishing hotline with recorded updated information on shellfish closure areas. That number is 222-2900. Rainfall is predicted for Thursday and additional closures will be posted on the DEM hotline if necessary.