The ruling was in response to an appeal of a Superior Court ruling that was filed by Steven Riley, who was a commercial fisherman in the 1970s before pursuing a career in engineering.

In 2003, Riley wanted to return to fishing so he applied for a commercial license that would provide him access to six species of finfish as well as quahogs and lobsters.

The year before, the General Assembly passed a law allowing the state Department of Environmental Management to limit the issuance of many commercial fishing licenses to help protect certain species of fish that were depleted.

DEM turned down Riley’s license application because he didn’t have a valid license from the previous year.

Riley argued DEM’s denial violated his fundamental right to pursue a lawful calling and violated his rights to equal protection and due-process under the law.

The Supreme Court found that Riley had no fundamental right to pursue the specific license he wanted and that DEM was not unreasonable because it was willing to issue him a license that would allow him to harvest 100 other species.