Upcoming Events: June 26 2021, 10:00 AM Charlestown Beach.

Our Next Event

June 26, 2021, 10 am Charlestown Beach

In Rhode Island, the public has a constitutional right to use the shoreline below the mean high-tide mark. This right has been repeatedly violated by court cases and private beachfront landowners. We call on our state legislators to draft a clear law to codify our right to the shoreline.

On June 6, 2019 a man was arrested for collecting seaweed on a public beach in South Kingstown, RI. The next day, police dropped the charges and apologized. Why? Because neither law enforcement or the landowners who had him arrested could identify a boundary between public and private land. They could not prove trespassing.

When we enjoy our shoreline, we are not trespassing. We are exercising our constitutional right to “to enjoy and freely exercise all the rights of fishery, and privileges of the shore, to which they have been heretofore entitled, under the charter and usages of the state.” (RI Constitution).

No one, not even a private landowner with a hired guard, can take that away from us. Every year these beachfront landowners try to take away more of the public’s shoreline.

We demand a clearly defined statute that codifies our right to the shoreline.