Digital Extra

What will happen to the state's fishing and tourism industries?

6/5: The ban on lobstering is slowly being lifted
In what state officials hope will be the final step before complete reopening of the fisheries, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced on June 3 that it had lifted the ban on lobstering south and east of Block Island.

6/5: After the spill
Small fish markets sinking under weight of competition and fishing limits

6/4: Frenzy at fish farming hearing
The president of the Rhode Island Shellfishermen's Association vowed yesterday that unless there are dramatic changes in legislation proposed to promote fish farming here, he will do everything he can to have the bill killed.

5/24: Progress seen on aquaculture legislation
Fishermen were still concerned that a reworked proposal would allow fish farmers to dredge for shellfish, which fishermen consider harmful.

3/24: Oil spill price tag is rising - may be as high as $50 million
When the losses and costs associated with the North Cape oil spill are eventually tallied, they will easily surpass $15 million, insurance officials say. They may even exceed $50 million, says John O'Brien, chief planner at the state Economic Development Coroporation.

2/28: Flounder survive spill, gain from fishing ban
Marine biologists studying the effects of January's oil spill on winter flounder apparently have good news: In preliminary observations, the fish appear to be healthy.

2/9: Closed fishing grounds still not safe
Governor Almond gave local fishermen another stroke of bad news yesterday.

2/8: Spill's stains spread far beyond R.I.
From Tokyo to New York, oil has stained Rhode Island's international brand name as the Ocean State.

2/4: Oil spill taints sales of fish
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The few customers who wandered into Main Street Fish Market in Wakefield on Friday afternoon were greeted by a sign explaining why business has been so slow lately.

1/31: A seafood slump of an oily kind
The ripples from the North Cape oil spill are washing over local seafood businesses.

1/30: Businesses, officials plan ways to avert tourism disaster
With the North Cape about to head home to New York, Rhode Islanders with stakes in the tourism and fishing industries met yesterday with a federal official to develop plans for hurdling possible obstacles to a successful tourism season.

1/29: Merchants would prefer not to tell this fish story
Nearly at the other end of the state from Point Judith, employees of Galloway's Seafood on Smithfield Avenue are experiencing secondhand the repercussions of the North Cape oil spill.

1/28: Salvaging the economy
Most of the oil spilled by the North Cape is gone, they say. But the financial waves from the accident are rolling in.

1/28: Workers line up for aid
As state and federal officials yesterday devised a plan to reopen tainted fishing grounds, men and women thrown out of work by the oil spill were lining up for emergency funds to help feed their families, pay rent and stay in business.

1/28: Tugs, barges face few regulations
Ninety percent of the oil distributed between Atlantic ports every day moves on barges hauled by tugboats, but these seagoing workhorses are among the least regulated commercial vessels on the water.

1/27: Lobstermen, officials meet to discuss options
In a stark conference room on the third floor of Newport's main post office, Bob Braman rose to face a tableful of suited and uniformed officials.

1/26: Agencies rush in to help fishermen grounded by spill
Brian Briggs, only a flannel shirt protecting him against the wind slashing across Point Judith Pond, looked sadly at his 14-foot skiff straining against its tether, several yards from shore.

1/26: WHERE TO GET HELP
Business Recovery Center: This office will process state and federal loan applications, information on insurance claims, unemployment benefits and welfare and other services. Open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Location: Oliver Stedman Government Center, 4808 Tower Hill Rd. (Route 1), South Kingstown. Phone: 1-800-261-2071 or 782-6048.

1/25: Cost of oil spill cleanup a private matter between barge owner,
So you want to know how much the spill's cleanup operation is costing?

1/25: Grounded tug has seen bottom before
The tug Scandia, grounded on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, sank off Portland, Maine, in July 1983 in an accident that killed one crew member.

1/25: R.I., insurers start to take claims
Led by Governor Almond, state and federal officials offered an update on the North Cape oil spill last night for the benefit of local municipal officials and legislators at the University of Rhode Island's Bay Campus.

1/25: Cleanup operation has brought temporary boom to economy
With the threat of a thin summer season, some local businesses are cashing in on the matter at hand: the oil spill.

1/24: The Scandia and a sister tug have a history of mishaps
The grounded tug Scandia and its sister tug, Thor, share more than their owner, Eklof Marine Corp.

1/24: Tug owner is part of company cleaning up spill
Days after Donjon Environmental Marine Services received Coast Guard approval to clean up oil spills, it had its first client: one of its own partners.

1/24: Local boats didn't have power to save barge
Persistent rumors around Point Judith that local commercial vessels were capable of towing the barge North Cape to safety during Friday's gale but were discouraged by the Coast Guard are false, say owners of boats that were near the drifting craft that has fouled the South County shore.

1/23: Oil spill knocks fishermen, retailers for a loop
To take stock of the assault that the North Cape oil spill has made on the area's fishing industry, you need only visit Galilee, home port for the local fishing fleet, and try to buy a lobster.

1/23: Control of tugs, barges is scant
The barge that ran aground Friday and spilled more than 800,000 gallons of heating oil into Block Island Sound undergoes by law one inspection a year -- just like a passenger car.

1/22: Fishing industry slammed by spill
From offshore lobstermen who can't travel through the spreading oil slick without killing their valuable catch, to wholesalers along the Galilee waterfront whose lobster and crab supply has been embargoed by state health officials, Rhode Island's multimillion-dollar fishing industry is reeling from the grounding of the barge North Cape.

1/21: Spill closes shellfish beds
The oil spill forced the Department of Environmental Management to prohibit all shellfishing along several coastal ponds and state waters.