August 12, 2014 — A federal fisheries council voted Tuesday to suspend for at least a year a controversial program that allows fishing boats to pay to extend their catch beyond legal limits.
The move follows a year of criminal enforcement actions on Long Island related to the program that have resulted in five guilty pleas, and 70 subpoenas issued to other New York fishing interests in an ongoing federal probe.
At a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in Washington, D.C., members voted 12-6 to suspend the research set-aside program in 2015 as they attempt to overhaul it.
The program allows commercial and for-hire recreational fishing boats to bid for the right to catch fish beyond state and federal quotas. Opponents and even some participants have called it a "license to steal," if fishing vessels fail to properly report their set-aside catch.
In a briefing before the vote, Mid-Atlantic chief scientist Richard Seagraves said the "costs probably outweigh the benefits" of the program, which funds fisheries research. The auction is held in Riverhead.
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