RUNNING HEAD: R.I.

FISHERIES FEELING THE EFFECT OF CORONAVIRUS

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How are Rhode Island Fisheries Feeling the Effect of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Ava Moniz

Department of Environmental Studies, The Greene School

English IV/ Environmental Science

Mrs. Percival/Mr. Haggerty

December 11, 2020

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Abstract

The world was not prepared for the SARS-CoV-2 virus which led to a global economic

recession. The virus outbreak has left many industries and communities feeling lost and in a

downward spiral. Rhode Island fisheries are a great example of how this consumer domino effect

is impacting every branch of our society. Being so tightly connected to restaurants and eating

establishments, the Rhode Island fishing industry felt a decline in sales and support when

restaurants began shutting down and people no longer went out to eat. Because of this sharp

decline in sales, select fisheries went to work with the RI government and other authorities to

help support now struggling fishermen and allow them to get back on their feet after such a

stunning blow. With revised health and safety regulations, community meetings, food bank

donations, accounting services, and financial assistance the Rhode Island fishing industry has

begun to, slowly but surely, rebuild their organization and get back to normalcy.
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Research Reflection

My Question

Beginning with my father's turn to veganism a few years ago, I grew more and more

interested in agriculture especially as it pertains to cattle and fishing. That being said, my

research on the topic has almost exclusively been about how either the animals, consumers, or

environment are being affected by the industry. So, when it came time to begin thinking about

what topic might interest me for this paper, commercial fishing caught my attention first. My

initial thoughts were going more in the direction of how commercial fishing affects the

environment and the consumer, but as I did more research I found an even more interesting path

of thought I could use.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we have all felt the effects of a changing world, with

school being virtual as well as many people having to work from home, not to mention less

social gatherings and events. With this new system we have all tried adapting to, it can be

tedious thinking about all the ways in which this virus is affecting not only ourselves but also the

people who live their lives in very different ways and require different standards to maintain

their livelihood. Linking this back to my original commercial fishing idea, I began to think less

about what exactly the fishermen were catching and more about how they were making a living

on it. How has the outbreak of Coronavirus affected the economic aspect of Rhode Island

commercial fisheries and what can be done to mitigate their hardships?

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Research Reflection

I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find good, reliable information on commercial

fishing in Rhode Island. Since my topic is more so about the Coronavirus impact on the fishing

industry and not so much just the industry as a whole, finding well researched papers was

tedious. This was due to the amount of time, or lack thereof, that has passed since the initial

outbreak in March. 9 months may seem like a long time but it left me with only a handful of

reliable and useful reports from which I could choose. Working to find online sources wasn't the

only way in which I got my information; fieldwork was also a big part in understanding more

about the Rhode Island coast. Before working with Save the Bay on our first fieldwork day, I

already knew what my research topic was going to be so I went into the trip already looking for

connections and useful information. While the fieldwork at Sabin point and Fort Wetherill did

not help me quite as much as it might’ve other students, it did get me thinking about how

different locations are impacted by their surroundings and therefore have different ecosystems

health. This brought me to the subtopic in my research paper that's about comparing Rhode

Island's fisheries response to Covid-19 and how other states/coastlines are responding. When I

began researching my topic online I made sure to use keywords and phrases to make my

questions as specific as possible and ensure that I got the most relevant information. This proved

to be effective in finding a lot of news articles but not so much when it comes to peer reviewed

or scientific research papers. That being said, I found an amazing organization called

Commercial Fishing Center for Rhode Island which, when I went to meet with them in person,

gave me a lot of great information. I met with Fred, their executive director and Shaye who was

the assistant director. Using my phone, I recorded our entire hour-long session and have begun

transcribing the information onto a Google document for easy access quoting. One challenge that
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I faced was finding sources that were easy to understand but were still reliable and informational.

A lot of sources that I found were just articles that talked about the basics of what the fishing

industry has been going through. I need to find more sources that talk about the nitty gritty of my

topic and go into detail with statistics and logical data. From now on I plan on looking at more

sources from Google Scholar and other resources that use facts and figures to back up their

claim. I think that my interview with Fred and Shaye was the best decision I made because I

learned so much new information from them and they really connected a lot of dots about the

industry that I hadn’t seen before. I plan on speaking with more professionals in the field and

look forward to the wisdom, information, and projections they can provide for me.
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Research Findings and Conclusions

Since its first outbreak in the late months of 2019, Coronavirus has impacted the lives of

almost everyone on the planet. People have been forced to adapt to quarantining and other

significant changes that vary from their normal lives. One specific group of individuals that had a

hard hit on their industry since the outbreak of Covid-19 is the fishing industry. As restaurants

shut down and chains of markets were disturbed, fishermen have fewer and fewer ways to sell

their products and therefore make a living. Their entire livelihoods have been shaken by the

unimaginable circumstances that this virus has presented us. Due to Covid-19 the fishing

industry, globally as well as locally, has experienced a decline in their economy, advocated for

their needs, and are coming up with creative and innovative ways to save their industry.

The Initial Impact of Covid-19 on the Rhode Island Fishery

Since the early months of 2020, restaurants have closed their dine-in services and many

places have resorted to online ordering and pickup. Although, in March, we weren't quite as

prepared for quarantine like we are now. When it comes to restaurants and fisheries, their

relationship became almost nonexistent. People weren't leaving their houses to eat at restaurants,

let alone those that sold seafood. This shift in the way restaurants operated, left fisheries feeling

abandoned and confused about how they are going to adapt and continue to make income.

Studies even show that many fishermen in New England have experienced “moderate to severe

psychological distress and social disruption as a result of fishery management actions” (Smith,

2020). Although, through this shift, fishermen continued to go out to the sea and collect fish to

sell. This led to "… mountains and mountains of fresh fish [going] to the dump...because when
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you lose your food service, most people don’t like to cook fish at home. The vast majority of fish

is cooked in a restaurant” (Drummond, 2020). Hundreds of pounds of fish had to be discarded

due to the lack of market; soon fishermen realised this and began to compensate for the changing

needs. Many local Rhode Island fisherman felt that the change was “...very limiting” and began

to question “Where do you go? What do you do now?” (Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode

Island, 2020).

Revising Regulations and opening up the market?

Due to the sudden closings of restaurants and markets, fishermen have lost their main

source of income and are looking for new ways to load off their product in a safe and healthy

way. Before this year, it wasn’t as much of a problem if a fisherman couldn’t sell finfish from

their boat because there were other ways and places to market their products. Now, with their

main markets and best customers closed, they are left to find new ways of making income.

Selling fish directly from the boat comes with many issues and before now it has not “met food

safety requirements'' (Smith, 2020). Crustaceans like crabs and lobsters were allowed to be sold

off the boat because they had shells and were sold still alive; finfish, on the other hand, are a

different story. But now, after deliberation and collaboration with the government, “some U.S.

states [have] revised regulations to allow for fishermen to sell finfish directly to consumers along

with lobsters and crabs” (Smith, 2020). Along with now being able to sell their product on their

own accord, local RI fisheries also worked with the governor of RI to assist fishermen with debts

and payments. Fred Mattera and Shaye Rooney, Executive and Assistant Directors of

Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island (CFCRI) were asked by the Rhode Island

Department of Environmental Management to work with them and navigate the industry through
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the Covid-19 Pandemic. After some deliberation they decided on looking to the Governor for

financial stability and assistance. They “reached out to the financial institutions and everybody

was in agreement for deferrals on payments for 90 days and any interest would go to the backend

of the note” (Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, 2020) which basically meant that

fishermen and people in the seafood business would have more time to accumulate the money

they would normally have to pay in order to keep their business running. They were able to defer

quarterly payments since they weren't making as much income as before and that helped the

fishermen get back on their feet after such a devastating market downfall.

The Future of the Fishing Industry and Next Steps in Recovery

As the year draws to an end, it is clear that Covid-19 is still very much an obstacle for the

United States with surging new cases across the country who knows where we will be in the next

few months. That being said, it looks like the fishing industry in Rhode Island is making a turn

for the better and things are “starting to tick upwards finally” (CFCRI, 2020). The Commercial

Fisheries Center of Rhode Island has been working first hand with the Rhode Island government

to help heal the RI fishing industry and the citizens that rely on them. They have been at the

forefront of this battle and have a lot of hope for the future when it comes to revised regulations,

community engagement, and the overall return of seafood restaurants and fisheries. There have

been a lot of ways in which CFCRI has helped the fishing industry navigate their way through

the pandemic within the past few months. But, they are also coming up with innovative and

sustainable solutions for the future to make sure that the fishing industry is properly supported.

Not only did Fred Mattera collaborate with the DEM to help support fishermen financially; he is

also working with local chefs as a way to promote citizens to cook fish at home while they are
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not able to eat out. Cook a Fish, Give a Fish is a “new program designed to connect Rhode

Islanders with the fish caught in their backyard, the local fishing community, and each other”

(CFCRI, 2020) and is held right in the comfort of their own home. The Zoom calls that these

lessons take place in are very informative and expose Rhode Islanders to “local species [they]

aren't used to.” (Fred Mattera, 2020). Exposing people to these kinds of fish and also explaining

how to properly prepare them is a tool the fishing industry is using to create a better future.

These lessons directly benefit the fishing industry because these meetings could result in

members of the community growing passionate about home cooked fish continuing to support

the industry in the future. By educating more of the general public about how to cook fish at

home, the fishing industry is expanding their market and not limiting themselves to only

restaurant consumers. Connected to ‘Cook a fish, Give a fish’, CFCRI are also working with

local food banks to provide premade fish stews, soups, and dishes to those less fortunate. They

work with local restaurants who will take the fish that the fishermen catch and incorporate it into

a dish that they will then freeze and distribute to food banks. They typically cook about 200

quarts worth of food which is equivalent to about “400 portions'' (CFCRI, 2020) for people to

eat. These two programs, ‘Cook a fish, Give a Fish’ and the food bank services, were both

created and supported through the money received from the CARES act earlier this year. The

CARES act distributed millions of dollars across the nation so that people and businesses could

support themselves.
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Conclusion

When industries and people are codependent and rely on each other in order to sustain

themselves, situations like Covid-19 can easily bring down an entire community, nation, and

world. It's times like this when we are forced to recognize the impacts we have on other people

and larger scale communities. We saw this relationship first hand when the pandemic hit and so

many industries were majorly impacted over a short span of time. The connection between

restaurants, consumers, and the fishing industry is a clear example of how our human

interactions and health deeply impact the organizations and industries that serve us. When people

had to refrain from going to restaurants because they had shut down, the fishing industry, which

provided the ingredients for the food at restaurants, also felt a massive decline in their economy.

With no one to buy their products and nothing to do with already caught fish, many fisheries

experienced serious issues of little to no income. They had to work smart and fast in order to

bring their market back up to where it used to be and, although it's not back to where it was

before yet, it's definitely getting there. They have been able to find citizens and organizations

that will work with higher up government officials and with members of the community to

problem solve issues presented by the Pandemic. Overall, the fishing industry has made great

sacrifices and have felt the full effects of Covid-19 on an industry so large and interdependent.

They have made great progress in bringing their economy back up to where it used to be and

fishermen are beginning to regain hope in a stable future.

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References

Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island. (2020, October 27). ​Interview​. Commercial

Fisheries Center of Rhode Island. ​https://www.cfcri.org/about.html

Drummond, C. (2020, July 4). ​Weathering the Storm: Rhode Island’s Commercial Fishery hit

hard by Covid-19 Pandemic.​ The Sun.

https://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/covid-19/weathering-the-storm-rhode-islands-com

mercial-fishery-hit-hard-by-covid-19-pandemic/article_3305f058-783d-11ea-be3b-cf4ea0

9a73b5.html

Lee, J. (2020, April 14). ​Rhode Island Fisheries Caught in the Covid-19 Crisis​. Edible Rhody.

https://ediblerhody.ediblecommunities.com/shop/rhode-island-fisheries-caught-covid-19-

crisis

Love, D. C. (2020, June). ​Emerging COVID-19 impacts, responses, and lessons for building

resilience in the seafood system.​ Research Gate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342504946_Emerging_COVID-19_impact

s_responses_and_lessons_for_building_resilience_in_the_seafood_system

N/A. (2020, July 5). ​NOAA Fisheries Coronavirus Update​. NOAA Fisheries.

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/noaa-fisheries-coronavirus-covid-19-update

Ozili, P. K. (2020, March 27). ​Spillover of COVID-19: Impact on the Global Economy.​ SSRN.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3562570

Reiley, L. (2020, August 4). ​Commercial fishing industry in free fall as restaurants close,

consumers hunker down and vessels tie up​. The Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/08/commercial-fishing-coronavirus/
R.I. FISHERIES FEELING THE EFFECT OF CORONAVIRUS 12

Smith, S. (2020, August 17). ​Adaptation and resilience of commercial fishers in the

Northeastern United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic​.

SocArXiv Papers. ​https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/z3v2h/

Sorensen, J. (2020, September 12). ​From Bad to Worse: The Impact of COVID-19 on

Commercial Fisheries Workers.​ Taylor & Francis Online.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1059924X.2020.1815617

White, E. R. (2020, June). ​Early effects of COVID-19 interventions on US fisheries and seafood.​

Research Gate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341845361_Early_effects_of_COVID-19_inter

ventions_on_US_fisheries_and_seafood