September 22, 2025 — 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 shell fisherman and researchers to pinpoint exactly why.”