Digital Extra

If that happens, historians may point to an unusual hearing held by the House of Representatives Finance Committee yesterday.

Hundreds of deeply tanned fishermen jostled for space with pallid government regulators and environmentalists who usually spend their springs attending such meetings. All were angrily determined to kill proposed aquaculture legislation that they thought amounted to little more than a power grab by General Assembly leaders.

Many also feared the committee would pass Rep. Eileen Naughton's aquaculture bill yesterday, regardless of what they said.

But the House leaders surprised them all.

Moments before the hearing began, a new bill was distributed. Gone were most of the issues that so angered those who packed the room. What's more, committee leaders assured everyone that they were still weeks away from voting and they planned to make further changes in the bill in response to criticism.

"When I first saw Rep. Naugh-ton's bill, I almost had a heart attack," testified Robert Smith, president of the Rhode Island Lobstermen's Association. But after reviewing the new bill, he said, "Thank goodness. We've finally gotten almost all the way there."

H. Phillip West Jr., executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island, arrived at the hearing suspicious because little notice had been given and there were no copies of the revised legislation available. But when his chance to testify came several hours later, he praised the committee, saying it was clearly taking steps "to ensure a fair process."

There were still some objections. Fishermen are concerned that the bill would allow fish farmers to dredge for shellfish, a practice they consider harmful. They also complained that there was no money to pay for a study of where fish farming should be allowed in Narragansett Bay.

Timothy R.E. Keeney, Department of Environmental Management director, argued that the Coastal Resources Management Council has historically taken far longer than DEM to issue permits for new aquaculture ventures. He also said that Rhode Island, unlike neighboring states, is not putting up any seed money to boost aquaculture. Recreational fishermen said they were concerned that new fish farms on the Bay would interfere with recreational fishing and boating.

Robert DiSanto, president of the Rhode Island Shellfishermen's Association, said there is a lingering concern that too much of the Bay may be leased to affluent businessmen, who would keep out the quahoggers.

"If you lease it all to one person with a lot of money, and exclude all the others, that's where the controversy comes from," DiSanto said. "When you talk to fishermen, they don't equate money with the Bay. When you live on the Bay and work on the Bay, it's part of your soul. You can't put dollar signs on your soul.

Naughton chaired a special study commission on aquaculture and then wrote a 75-page bill designed to streamline the state's regulatory structure to encourage new fish farming ventures. She said she didn't intend to release the new bill minutes before the hearing, but there simply were delays in getting the work done.

Committee Chairman Antonio J. Pires also explained that Naughton wanted to postpone the hearing, but he insisted on going ahead.

Naughton's original bill transferred all regulation of aquaculture from DEM to the CRMC, which would answer to the legislature. It also put the legislature in charge of the Marine Fisheries Council, which regulates all other saltwater fishing.

The revised bill leaves CRMC as the key agency regulating fish farming, but it puts the fisheries council back under the governor's control and allows DEM to review CRMC regulations and have sole authority over water quality issues.

Several witnesses encouraged the committee to do something to support aquaculture. Only a few small oyster farming ventures employing a handful of people are doing business here now, they said, leaving Rhode Island in last place in the country for such industry.

Providence restaurateur Bob Burke said the state has invested millions of dollars in the University of Rhode Island and in cleaning up Narragansett Bay. It's time the state stopped futile efforts to promote genetic research and other high-tech ventures and start focusing on what it is clearly positioned to do well: produce high-quality seafood.

"I'm ashamed when I serve oysters that are from Maine and Massachusetts," Burke said. "My salmon comes from Maine, the mussels are raised on farms in New Brunswick. It's a disgrace that the state of Rhode Island can't produce these fish."

"All the state of Rhode Island needs to do is get out of the way. The permitting process here is an absurd process."

Tom Hall, president of the Ocean State Fishermen's Association, which represents many in-shore lobstermen, countered that the "wild and free" fishery is far from dead. Last year, Rhode Islanders caught more lobsters than ever recorded before.

Hall said his wife runs a store that sells lobsters he catches, along with Rhode Island shellfish and fin fish. "If you're a restaurateur and you have to go out of state for your product, you're probably not looking hard enough here."