October 1, 2015 — NEW YORK — Commercial fishing advocates Thursday lambasted a new state report that criticizes New York’s top fisheries regulator, saying it failed to address fishermen’s complaints and took too long to complete.
At a rally beside a commercial fishing trawler in Hampton Bays, two state lawmakers joined several dozen fishermen and fisherwomen and an attorney for fishermen in blasting the report as a “whitewash.” They vowed to press for legislation and to take legal action to address their concerns.
The report by the state inspector general, released on Wednesday, said the state Department of Environmental Conservation failed to process years of paperwork that fishermen are required to fill out every time they fish; DEC enforcement officers were improperly directing plea agreements, leading to possible “coercion” of defendants, and that property seized in arrests wasn’t returned after fishermen’s acquittals.
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