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Rhode Island
Do you know about the new RI fishing regulations for the 2024 season? Here they are
The RI Department of Environmental Management filed new regulations for the 2024 fishing season with the Secretary of State’s office. Anglers should take note that we have a striped bass filet law in place now that applies to all. Here are the highlights of the new regulations.
Black sea bass
Private anglers, 16.5 inch minimum size, two fish/person/day May 21 through Aug. 26 and three fish/person/day Aug. 27 to Dec. 31. Party and charter boats would have a 16 inch minimum size with a season that starts later, June 18 to Aug. 31 with two fish/person/day and from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 a six fish/person/day limit.
Scup
There’s an 11 inch minimum for boats and a 9.5 inch minimum size from shore. Private anglers, from May 1 to Dec. 31 have a 30 fish/person/day limit. The party/charter season would run May 1 to Aug. 31 with a 30 fish/person/day limit and a bonus season from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31 with a 40 fish/person/ day, and from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 the limit goes back to 30 fish/person /day.
More: Ready for spring fishing? Here are 6 great early-season spots in Rhode Island to check out
More: Dropping a line in freshwater is a good way to fish in a comfort zone
Bluefish
Status quo — three fish/person/day for private anglers, and five fish/angler/day for party and charter boats. No minimum sizes, allows for a snapper blue fishery, however, it is still three fish per angler.
Tautog
Maximum of 10 fish/vessel/day (does not apply to charter boats). Minimum size 16 inches, April 1 to May 31, three fish/person/day; June 1 to July 31, closed season during spawning in RI; Aug. 1 to Oct. 14, three fish/person/day; Oct. 15 to Dec. 31, five fish/person/day. Only one fish may be above 21 inches.
Striped bass
A slot of one fish/person/day between 28 inches to less than 31 inches. Additional provisions recommended include the use of circle hooks when fishing recreationally with bait, striped bass caught on any unapproved method must be returned to the water immediately without unnecessary injury, and gaffs are prohibited when fishing for striped bass recreationally.
New this year is a striped bass recreational filleting law: Racks must be retained and must be kept whole, meaning the head, tail, and body remain intact; No striped bass shall be mutilated in a manner that prevents the accurate measurement of the fish; No more than two fillets taken from legal striped bass representing the equivalent of one fish per angler; and no possession of racks or fillets while actively fishing with lines in the water. Racks must be kept until vessels are secure to dock or removed from the water and fillets have been offloaded. See regulations for details.
Summer Flounder (fluke) are experiencing overfishing so a 28 percent reduction in harvest is required so to meet this reduction RI has opted to increase the minimum size to 19” for 2024 (from 18”) with a season from April 1 to Dec. 31, and the possession limit is six fish per person per day.
There are Special Shore Angling Sites for summer flounder where anglers are allowed to take two 17-inch fish. The minimum size for the remaining four fish shall be 19 inches. See website for a list of special shore angling locations.
For more for details on the new regulations, visit the RI Secretary of State’s website.
Revolution Wind project presentation is April 25
The Better Bay Alliance and Ørsted Maine Affairs will hold a presentation and panel discussion on construction of the Revolution Wind farm on Thursday, April 25, 5 to 6 p.m. at Innovate Newport, 513 Broadway, Newport. The event will include discussions on the construction of the nearshore power cable as it enters the Bay from the windfarm. To register for the event visit Narragansett Bay Community Series: Revolution Wind Construction and Mariner Tickets, on Eventbrite.com
Industry professionals, environmental advocates, mariners or those simply curious about the future of offshore wind energy are invited to attend. The event will provide an opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge and participate in discussions shaping the future of our oceans and energy landscape.
Where’s the bite?
Freshwater. Anglers are encouraged to get out and fish in Rhode Island and Massachusetts as waterways have been stocked with trout. I fished Beach Pond, which straddles Exeter, RI and Voluntown, Conn. this week and hooked up with brown trout 16-18 inches. The strategy that worked was allowing my Kastmaster lure to flutter down before retrieving. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence, said, “Trout waterways still producing for customers include Carbuncle Pond, Coventry and Olney Pond, Lincoln Woods.”
Saltwater. East End Eddie Doherty, Cape Cod Canal fishing expert and author, said, “School bass are coming into the Canal from Buzzards Bay and some small tautog have been landed.”
“Migrating striped bass with lice on them are in Narragansett Bay. The herring came into the Bay, followed by Atlantic menhaden and then the striped bass were right behind them this week. Anglers are catching them in the Providence River, at Haines Park in East Providence and at the breachways along our southern coastal shore. The tautog bite is starting to pick up for customers too,” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle.
Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackel, Charlestown said about spring bass migrating, “I usually search for structures that are located according to our predominate SW wind. These structures tend to hold bait and make great feeding grounds for migratory fish. Some of these sites include the West Wall, the western sides of the Breachway, and the area in front of Ocean Mist.”
Dave Monti holds a master captain’s license and charter fishing license. He serves on a variety of boards and commissions and has a consulting business focusing on clean oceans, habitat preservation, conservation, renewable energy, and fisheries related issues and clients. Forward fishing news and photos to dmontifish@verison.net or visit www.noflukefishing.com.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra on Monday announced the schedule and theme for its Summer Pops program, an annual series of free outdoor concerts featuring well-known songs performed in a classical style.
This year’s show, “Outstanding Overtures,” features beloved introductory tunes from theater, film and classical music.
“There’s something magical about an overture,” said David Beauchesne, executive director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. “It sets the stage, stirs the imagination, and invites you into a story.”
The program includes overtures ranging from “William Tell” and “The Marriage of Figaro” to “Phantom of the Opera,” “West Side Story,” “Mary Poppins,” and “Wicked.”
“Experiencing these masterpieces performed by a full symphony orchestra in a relaxed, outdoor setting is something truly special,” Beauchesne said. “And best of all, it’s completely free.”
R.I. Philharmonic’s 2026 “Outstanding Overtures” Schedule
Narragansett
Friday, July 10, at 8 p.m. (rain date: Saturday, July 11, at 8 p.m.)
North Beach Clubhouse, 77 Boston Neck Road
Providence
Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 7 p.m. (rain date: Thursday, Aug. 6, at 7 p.m.)
Roger Williams Park Temple to Music, F C Greene Memorial Boulevard
Newport
Sunday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m.
Rosecliff Mansion, 548 Bellevue Avenue
Bristol
Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.
Independence Park, Thames Street
For more information and the full program, click here.
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The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra announced their 2026 Summer Pops schedule.
All concerts are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
The Summer Pops series will be held in:
- Narragansett at the North Beach Clubhouse on July 10 at 8 p.m.
- Providence at the Roger Williams Park Temple to Music on Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.
- Newport at the Rosecliff Mansion on Aug. 9 at 7 p.m.
- Bristol at Independence Park on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.
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The program will feature overtures to “West Side Story,” “Wicked” and “The Marriage of Figaro and William Tell.”
Whitehouse climate speeches over the decades
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has been speaking out about climate change for decades
On Aug. 7, 2025, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse gave his 300th “Time to Wake Up” speech about the dangers of climate change.
“It’s hard, given our peril, not to feel a bitter sense of failure about where we are,” he said.
Since then, he’s given at least seven more of these speeches. This session alone, he’s sponsored more than 30 bills on environmental protection. And he warns about the dangers of climate change almost every day on his social media channels.
Climate change has long been a priority of the left. But lately, Whitehouse seems like the only Democrat remaining who’s still trying.
“The Democrats have been running away from this issue,” said J. Timmons Roberts, a professor of environmental studies at Brown University.
He’s not sure why they’re backing away. Maybe they are preoccupied with other issues, he said, such as the Iran war and immigrants’ rights. Or maybe they think that Democrats should stop talking about climate – a group Whitehouse calls “climate hushers.”
This group includes Matthew Huber, a professor of geography at Syracuse University, who argued in an opinion piece for The New York Times that climate change fuels polarization and that Democrats should stop talking about it in order to win back the working class.
But Whitehouse has taken to social media to address this line of thinking, saying in posts that it’s wrong “about pretty much everything.”
In a recent interview for Political Scene, he said it’s worth it to keep trying because the risks are so high. And he thinks that, politically, it’s actually “a winning issue that my party has just gotten wrong and overlooked.”
Do people care about climate change?
Addressing climate change under the Trump administration is “brutal,” Roberts said.
“It’s hard to know where to start,” Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director with the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said. “They’ve pretty much torn up federal agencies. Attacked budgets and staffing and expertise. They’ve undermined climate science. They’re spreading propaganda and lies about climate science. They’re boosting the fossil fuel industry, attacking clean energy. It’s just from every possible angle.”
Yet around the country, Democrats have been backing away from talking about climate change. Many rising Democratic stars, such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, speak more about affordability than climate action. And Roberts thinks that even historically climate-friendly politicians, such as Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, who he said has been “legendary” in the climate fight, have lately been quiet on the issue.
Their silence seems to correlate with polls showing that climate ranks low, or falling, on people’s priority lists. Regular Pew Research Center surveys consistently find that climate is near the bottom of people’s priority lists. An April poll from the center found that support for the United States prioritizing renewable energy development over fossil fuels has declined from 79% to 57% in the last six years – and it even declined among Democrats. And a compilation of YouGov polls show that 4.5% of Americans currently rank climate change and the environment as the most important issue for them, down from a high of 16.6% in December 2021.
Roberts said that people do care about the issues – the 2025 Rhode Island Life Index survey found that 62% of Rhode Islanders say that climate change is a serious problem in their community. But it’s not always at the top of people’s priority lists because things like the economy and crime can take precedence in voters’ minds.
Climate hushers, Whitehouse argues on social media, fall into the problem of “poll-chasing,” where they ask what voters think and parrot that back instead of leading on an issue. Instead, he and Roberts said, politicians themselves can raise the salience of climate change.
“Democrats can drive this public opinion if they choose to,” Roberts said. “These issues don’t just happen by themselves. There’s a whole theory on what drives public opinion, and there’s some great research on environmental sociology that says that it comes from party elites. That the opinion on climate change doesn’t just happen by itself; it’s really what are the politicians talking about that drives public opinion.”
Plus, Whitehouse suggested in the interview that when people connect the dots between climate change and their lives, the issue skyrockets in priority to them. He mentioned a poll he often cites that found 92% of voters in Texas are worried about home insurance, a higher amount than were worried about health care, and that 66% of Texas voters connected their home insurance concern to climate-driven extreme weather.
Why is Whitehouse still trying?
Climate change, along with what he sees as political corruption from fossil fuel companies funding legislators, is Whitehouse’s top policy issue because of its urgency and how it’s intertwined with everything else.
“It’s already in your increased grocery prices. It’s already in your increased electricity prices. It’s already in your increased home and auto insurance prices. So if you want to deal with those big cost increases, you’ve got to face the facts about what fossil fuel emissions do,” Whitehouse told Political Scene. “We’re in kind of a gradual stage of this economic distress, but there’s every prediction that this goes really bad all at once.”
It’s not that climate change is more important than issues such as wars or rights, but that it’s the context in which everything is happening, said Cleetus, of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“Yes, there are many pressing challenges, geopolitical challenges, that are making news headlines,” Cleetus said. “Climate change is not stopping for the politics. It’s here. It’s the background condition that’s exacerbating a lot of the acute challenges people are already facing.”
And it’s not some abstract, future problem either, Whitehouse said. While states such as Florida and Texas may be seeing the brunt of the home insurance crisis, Rhode Island won’t be far behind. He’s afraid of another insurance meltdown in the state, like the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corp. collapse in 1991.
Whitehouse argues that voters are ahead of politicians on this issue. And Roberts is optimistic that lawmakers will come around, too, especially if the midterms don’t go Trump’s way.
“I think the pendulum is about to swing back, and people, I mean this, people do care about this issue over the long haul,” Roberts said. “We need people like Sheldon Whitehouse who are continuing to talk about it.”
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