Save the Bay — Digging Deeper: Public Access in Rhode Island

The battle for public access could almost be considered timeless. In the mid-1980s, Narragansett’s Black Point was almost handed over to developers before being preserved for the public.

Aug 5, 2021

By Save the Bay’s Policy Team — A closer look at recently proposed legislation

Save The Bay’s vision of “a fully swimmable, fishable Narragansett Bay,” concludes with a critical detail: “accessible to all.” While there is no doubt that the Rhode Island Constitution specifically protects the public’s right to access and use the shore, the exact location of that public shoreline is harder to locate than you might think.

In the state constitution, Art. I, § 17, reads:

“The people shall continue to enjoy and freely exercise all the rights of fishery, and the privileges of the shore, to which they have been heretofore entitled under the charter and usages of this state, including but not limited to fishing from the shore, the gathering of seaweed, leaving the shore to swim in the sea and passage along the shore; and they shall be secure in their rights to the use and enjoyment of the natural resources of the state with due regard for the preservation of their values […]”

The “shore,” generally speaking, refers to the land between the high and low water mark. However, since coastal tides can vary from cycle to cycle, it can be challenging to pinpoint where private property ends and the public shoreline begins.

Currently, the Rhode Island Supreme Court cites the mean high water line as the starting point of the public shoreline. According to the law, this line is determined by calculating, the “arithmetic average of high water heights observed over an 18.6 year Metonic (or lunar) cycle.”[1]

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