6/5/96
The ban on lobstering is slowly being lifted
By ELLIOT KRIEGER
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
In what state officials hope will be the final step before complete reopening of the fisheries, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced Monday that it had lifted the ban on lobstering south and east of Block Island.
Lobstering had been banned in an area of about 70 square miles, from Ninigret Pond east to Point Judith, and about 14 miles south of the coast.
The new ban extends from the Charlestown Breachway to Point Judith and about six miles south of the coast -- an area of about 25 square miles. (Within that area, lobstering is, and has been, permitted within three miles of Block Island.)
A ban on all fishing was imposed over a 250-square-mile area in January after the barge North Cape spilled 828,000 gallons of home-heating oil into Block Island Sound. The ban has been lifted in several stages over the last three months. There is no longer a ban on fin fishing or shellfishing, other than lobstering.
Tests performed last month by the fisheries service detected an oily smell from some lobsters in the areas that are still closed.
According to Stephen G. Morin, assistant to the director of the state Department of Environmental Management, far fewer contaminated lobsters were found than in previous samples.
Morin said the fisheries service is testing lobsters again this week. If the samples are clean, the ban will be lifted.
"I hope we're at the end here," Morin said.
He said there is no official estimate yet of the long-term effect the oil spill has had on the fishing and lobstering industries in the state.
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