Saving Seafood

Seafloor boulders challenge fishermen, and energy developers

August 18, 2026 — Boulder fields have strewn the sea floor off southern New England since the ice ages. Commercial fishermen have maneuvered around those obstacles for generations.

Now with offshore wind projects in the region, subsea cable installers have relocated some stones to make way – changing the bottom seascape and potentially creating new hazards for towed gear and access to traditional fishing grounds.

A new report from the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program and the Marine Affairs Institute at Roger Williams University School of Law is titled Boulder Relocation for Offshore Energy Development in Rhode Island: Artificial Reefs and Cross-Industry Collaboration.

The paper examines legal and policy considerations around the permitting of boulder relocation – and looks at how the process could “better incorporate commercial fishermen into planning and decision-making,” according to a Sea Grant summary.

Read the full article at WorkBoat 

RWU Law, URI among institutions to share $1.2M grant to help local aquaculture

October 16, 2019 — The Marine Affairs Institute at Roger Williams University School of Law and Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program, housed at the law school, has been included in a $1.2 million grant to promote the growth of southern New England shellfish aquaculture, as part of a National Sea Grant initiative.

The University of Rhode Island will also be a partner in the program, which will aim to promote collaborative aquaculture projects in the region using science-based tools and information, while educating the public, news media and decision-makers about the social, economic and environmental effects of aquaculture.

The project will be led by Connecticut Sea Grant and the University of Connecticut. In addition to RWU Law and URI, partners include Rhode Island Sea Grant; Woods Hole Sea Grant; the New England Aquarium; the UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research; the National Marine Fisheries Service office in Milford, Conn.; Clark University; and the George Perkins Marsh Institute.

Read the full story at the Providence Business News