Riley v. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

OPINION

Justice FLAHERTY,

for the Court.

Does the Rhode Island Constitution’s guarantee of right of fishery prohibit the Legislature from granting some commercial fishermen access to some species of sea life while denying others the same rights? This is a constitutional challenge to the Rhode Island General Assembly’s 2002 enactment of a limited-entry fishing licensing statutory scheme that empowered the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to adopt a flexible approach to issuing new licenses for restricted species on a yearly basis. 1 Steven Riley (Riley) appeals from a…