The fastest-selling and most popular charity plate in RI history has hit yet another milestone. After becoming the first and only charity to get passenger, combination and commercial plates on the road in Rhode Island, the Atlantic Shark Institute (ASI) announced that they will be the first charity in Rhody to get a motorcycle charity plate on the road as well.
“As soon as we released the passenger version we started getting calls from motorcycle owners asking if we’d be able to produce one for them,” shared Jon Dodd, Executive Director of the ASI. “Well, we are delighted to share that today is that day,” he added last month. The ASI notified the RI DMV that they are ready to roll, they have the orders in place, and they will be sending off the list of orders to the RI DMV.
As was the case with the previous versions of the plates, the ASI will hold a distribution party for the new shark plates where buyers can trade in their old plates, pick up their new ones, and purchase some unique ASI research gear if they’d like. According to the ASI, that event should take place in May, just in time for motorcycle season. “It’s always a celebration when we get to meet our supporters and see how excited they are to get their new plates,” Dodd shared.
According to the ASI the funding that they get from the charity plates is critical to their research efforts. Everyone involved in the ASI is a volunteer and 100% of every donation goes directly into research efforts. Just last month the ASI co-authored a new paper on a neonate spinner shark caught in Rhode Island this past summer, a truly unique catch as the nursery area for these small spinner sharks is currently known to be in the Carolinas.
“It was an amazing find and as we say at the ASI, ‘Shark Health is Ocean Health, and [the] Ocean is Our Health’. Every discovery we make adds to our growing understanding of the changes we are seeing in our oceans, and hopefully how to address them. Support from these plates is a very big part of that,” Dodd concluded. Order Your Shark Plate Today You can still order an ASI motorcycle plate today and get in on the big motorcycle distribution event by visiting the ASI’s website at www.atlanticsharkinstitute.org.
You can also order a passenger, commercial or combination plate and any of those versions will be mailed directly to your home in approximately 30 days.
