Digital Extra

"Shut the light off," the Galilee restaurant owner said, in urging state officials to move faster toward reopening the 250 square miles of Block Island Sound that has been closed to fishing since the Jan. 19 spill.

Until then, Handrigan said, Rhode Island will continue suffering from a perception that its seafood is tainted.

Many of the 80 or more fishermen scattered throughout the Town Council chambers nodded agreement.

But Ernest Julian, chief of food protection for the state Department of Health, reiterated what had become his evening mantra: "You're doing yourself more harm than good" if the fishing grounds are opened too early.

The state Economic Development Corporation had scheduled the meeting as an opportunity for fishermen to learn about filing claims through the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a $1 billion fund established by Congress in 1990 to pay the claims of victims of oil spills if the spill's "responsible party" didn't.

A few fishermen did have a few questions about the fund, but the topic quickly became shunted aside by various speculations about who was responsible for the spill and whether the Coast Guard had done enough to prevent it.

Finally, fisherman Jack Casey put the meeting back on a more pragmatic track.

"We don't care who's to blame," Casey said. "It happened. Tell us when we can go back to work."

Julian said the final decision to open the fishing grounds rests with federal scientists in Washington who are studying the last round of water and fish samples.

The decision could come any day, Julian said. State officials have said that before, he acknowledged, and "We understand that creates a lot of frustration."

"But it doesn't pay to open up any faster than Mother Nature will let us."

A single episode of tainted seafood, Julian said, could jeopardize the whole industry.

Julian said tests of Block Island Sound lobsters and shellfish -- the most affected by the spill -- have been improving steadily over the weeks. And he emphasized that no fish samples have been found to be contaminated.

But Julian said that the state must do all it can to assure consumers of clean seafood. If it does so prematurely, he said, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could prevent Rhode Island seafood from leaving the state.

Health officials are expected to test water in Point Judith Pond today, to determine whether Galilee fish-processing plants may be allowed to reopen, Julian said.