A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) aims to address the decline of the quahog and other shellfish populations on the East Coast — and the legislation even bears the name of Rhode Island’s official state shell.
The Quantifying Uncertainty and Action to Help Optimize Growth of Shellfish (QUAHOGS) Act would create a research task force of state and federal agency representatives, fishery management councils, and industry leaders dubbed the “East Coast Bivalve Research Task Force” to find out why fewer bivalves are in the water.
At its peak in 1959, nearly 5 million pounds of quahogs were harvested from Rhode Island waters, according to a March 2024 report by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM). Between 2020 and 2023, that number was less than 500,000 pounds.
“Quahogging in Narragansett Bay is a quintessential Rhode Island trade whose harvest brings us the Ocean State summer staples of clear chowder and stuffies,” Whitehouse said in a statement. “Unfortunately, quahog and other shellfish landings are in steady decline across the Eastern Seaboard, and it’s been difficult for shellfishermen and researchers to pinpoint exactly why.”
A state legislative commission spent nearly a year studying the quahog’s decline, but the 13-member panel never firmly settled on a definitive cause following eight public hearings. Their final report, published in June 2024, did note that global climate change may be having an impact. More likely, the panel said, low levels of nitrogen in Narragansett Bay have decreased the nutrients quahogs feed on.
The nitrogen decrease resulted from the state’s goal to reduce pollution from wastewater treatment facilities, leading shellfishermen on the panel to urge the state to permit additional nitrogen discharges from treatment plants during the winter to fertilize more phytoplankton that feed quahogs.
The commission’s report stopped short of recommending such discharges.
Instead, the report called on lawmakers to increase funding for the state-funded Shellfish Transplant Program — which involves moving shellfish from waters that are closed off due to pollution into other areas where commercial harvesting is permitted. The practice began in 1954 and has occurred annually in Rhode Island since the late 1970s, with funding provided by fines levied on municipal wastewater treatment facilities.
This year saw a House resolution that would have allocated $2.3 million for the DEM to transplant more quahogs into Narragansett Bay and establish a shellfish hatchery program, but the proposal died in committee.
Commission members also recommended establishing a permanent quahog advisory commission or similar board composed of stakeholders — somewhat similar to the federal proposal now floated by Whitehouse.
Stephen DeLeo, a spokesperson for Whitehouse’s office, confirmed the state legislative commission served as inspiration for the bill.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
