April 15, 2025 — When the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) put out a public call for volunteers to revive a state fishing advisory panel, a former panel member warned Jim Riggs against joining.
Riggs, a 75-year-old recreational fisherman and retired electrician who lives in Westerly, applied anyway.
“I feel that in order to have your voice heard when it comes to fisheries management, you’re either on the table or on the plate,” Riggs said in an interview. “I prefer to be at the table.”
His seat at the table is now secured; he is one of nine new members the CRMC named to its Fishermen’s Advisory Board (FAB) after a single, unanimous vote on April 8. The advisory panel has been inactive since all of its former members resigned together in August 2023 to protest what they viewed as the CRMC’s kowtowing to offshore wind project developers at the expense of local fishermen.
Will the same frustrations bubble up? The first test comes this week, as the new panel begins negotiations with SouthCoast Wind, which has applied for a permit to run transmission lines from its wind turbines up the Sakonnet River and out Mount Hope Bay.
Rich Hittinger, a former FAB member who led the mass resignation effort two years ago, isn’t optimistic.
“We were asked to review a lot of applications and give input that took a lot of time and effort, but then the council really did not care what our input was,” said Hittinger, who is first vice chair of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association.
He had discouraged Riggs from joining the panel.