LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — June 23, 2014 — Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk) announced today that he has filed legislation asking the County Attorney to explore legal action against the Federal Government on behalf of Suffolk’s commercial fishermen. Suffolk County has the largest commercial fishing fleet in New York State.
Current federally imposed quotas allow neighboring states to take double the amount of fish per vessel than New York’s fishermen. The quota system, says Schneiderman, is based on a faulty and arbitrary methodology that punishes New York’s fishermen for the record keeping practices of a generation ago.
Federal regulation of New York’s commercial fishing fleet began shortly after the Magnuson Stevens Act (MSA) was signed into law by Congress in 1976. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is the lead agency in regulating federal fisheries.
The state-by-state quota regulations are prejudicial against New York Fisherman because the regulations are based on a faulty data collection model.
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