A famed R.I. restaurateur, scores of objections, and a 3-acre oyster farm
A Coastal Resources Management Council panel vote against the owner of the Matunuck Oyster Bar highlights the fraught tensions between two key uses of the shore in the Ocean State: food and fun.
By Brian Amaral Globe Staff, Updated November 9, 2021, 7:40 p.m.
PROVIDENCE — The four-year fight over a proposed oyster and scallop farm has involved engineering and ecology studies, high-powered law firms, and a kayak-borne protest that participants called a “float-in.” The battle pits the owner of one of the most famous restaurants in Rhode Island against scores of objectors, who worry about squeezing access to a prized stretch of the state’s shore. And it took another turn on Tuesday night, when a four-member subcommittee of the Coastal Resources Management Council voted to recommend denying permission for Perry Raso, the owner of the Matunuck Oyster Bar, to start a threeacre oyster and scallop farm on Segar Cove in South Kingstown.
The vote at a windowless Capitol Hill conference room was welcome news to opponents of the project, although it was a largely foregone conclusion — they were technically ratifying a vote they took back in March. It’s also not the last the CRMC will have to say on the matter. But the situation highlights the fraught tensions between two key uses of the shore in the Ocean State: food and fun.