The Economic Impact of Rhode Island’s Fishing Industry

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

In 2022, the State of Rhode Island landed $100.6 million of seafood commercially and had over 2.7 million recreational fishing trips. The fishing industry is part of an intricate supply and demand network where many fishing-related businesses are generating jobs and income solely from the operation of fishing in RI. In 2018, an economic impact study estimated the overall economic impact of the fishing industry in RI to be 4,381 jobs, and $419 million. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) has used these estimates routinely to convey the importance of fishing in RI and specifically to advocate for continued ownership and operation of the state’s largest commercial fishing port in Galilee, RI.

Commercial working waterfronts throughout the state are subject to harsh environmental conditions from severe storms including flooding, storm surges, and high winds. These conditions can cause deterioration of coastal infrastructure over time and require regular maintenance as well as routine replacement of critical infrastructure. It is not clear how the state will pay for damage to the port resulting from severe storms and what economic impacts these potential damages and a port closure may have. Having updated economic multipliers for RI and new multipliers that are port and sector-specific is crucial information for truly understanding these impacts. The previous economic impact study is 7 years old, and their multipliers are not sector- or port-specific. Not only is having updated economic multipliers important to RIDEM and the fishing industry, but developing sector and port-specific economic multipliers may become important in the near term as the offshore wind industry continues to develop, ports around the world endure gentrification, and the costs of maintaining ports increase due to threats from global climate change.

Project Goals:

• Generate a list of fishing-related businesses within Rhode Island, specific to each fisheries sector, and specific to the top five ports in Rhode Island (Table 1).

• Conduct a public workshop to engage stakeholders and solicit input for an online survey.

• Conduct an online survey to collect socioeconomic data from fishing-related businesses.

• Obtain validated fisheries data by sector and port for 2023.

• Perform estimation procedures where economic data are unavailable.

• Use IMPLAN software to calculate economic impact estimates.

• Update previously calculated economic multipliers for the State of Rhode Island and develop port- and sector-specific multipliers.

• Create an economic multiplier protocol for ACCSP partners.

This Project is supported by: