The Fishermen’s Advisory Board FAB

URI Coastal Resources CenterRhode Island Sea Grant, January 2016 35

i. Formal participation

The Ocean SAMP lays out various policies to ensure continued representation of fishermen’s interests in the SAMP area. Chief among these is the creation of the nine‐member FAB to comment on potential fishery‐related impacts of proposed development projects. The Ocean SAMP requires developers to consult with the FAB on matters such as project location, construction schedules, impacts on fishing activity, and mitigation measures. For projects in state waters, the Ocean SAMP requires project proponents to meet with the FAB as a prerequisite to submitting an application to CRMC. For projects in federal waters, the Ocean SAMP requires project proponents to meet with the FAB as “necessary data and information” for federal consistency review. j Other formal fisheries measures in the Ocean SAMP include a requirement that developers negotiate a fisheries mitigation agreement with input from the FAB, include fisheries surveys in their Site Assessment Plan SAP and Construction and Operations Plan COP, k and hire a third‐party “fisheries liaison” to facilitate direct communication with fishermen during all phases of a project, from pre‐construction to operation to decommissioning.

1. The Fishermen’s Advisory Board FAB

CRMC appointed the initial slate of nine FAB members six from Rhode Island and three from Massachusetts in July 2011, 10 months after Ocean SAMP approval. 20 Members represent the range of fishing activities that take place in the SAMP area: lobster, bottom trawl, gillnet, scallop, recreational, and charter. SAMP policies provide only a rough outline of FAB operating procedures, largely leaving it up to appointees to decide how to run the advisory body. Interviews revealed that, to date, the FAB has used this leeway widely. Early on, members realized their busy fishing schedules made it hard to attend meetings. At their request, CRMC initiated a public process to amend the Ocean SAMP to allow for one alternate member per fishery gear group. FAB members themselves appointed individuals to fill these slots. Through a similar public process, the FAB also secured a change in the regulations to recognize one FAB member as an official chairperson in charge of managing meetings. Despite the designation of alternate representatives, FAB members continued to struggle with the j “Necessary data and information” is a requirement of the federal consistency review process as laid out in the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. k This requirement is waived if the developer has obtained a CRMC permit within the REZ within two years of approval of the Ocean SAMP. URI Coastal Resources CenterRhode Island Sea Grant, January 2016 36 complications of fitting meeting attendance into their busy fishing schedules, and so requested and obtained approval from CRMC for a further accommodation – for the FAB to conduct its business over e‐mail. These regulatory changes – allowing alternate members and providing recognition for a chair to run FAB meetings – are among very few official changes to have taken place so far to Ocean SAMP policies. To Grover Fugate, these custom modifications of the functioning of the FAB indicate a high level of investment among its members. “Fishermen took possession of the FAB,” Fugate observed, “which is what it was set up to do. They really laid claim to it. And they’re using it to their maximum advantage.” FAB chair Bill McElroy concurred: “You have to have a formula, a process, by which you can say, ‘There’s an issue that I need to talk to someone about.’” For McElroy, the formalized legitimacy that CRMC granted the FAB through its creation in the Ocean SAMP is the only way to give fishermen a voice that will be heard in development decisions. “If it wasn’t for the FAB, and I didn’t have that line of communication with Deepwater Wind, I try to imagine how we’d ever find out things and put input into things. Basically, I would be a lone individual fisherman calling up the central switchboard at some giant company.” As the rest of this section illustrates, the FAB has used its voice to exert influence in the development of the SAMP area.

2. Fisheries Monitoring