September 19, 2013 — Mr. Cuomo brought his lawyer to assure fishermen that both he and Attorney General Schneiderman were prepared to sue the United States Department of Commerce unless the federal approach to managing the harvest of fluke, or summer flounder, in New York State is changed.
Stepping up to the podium on the deck of the Swallow East restaurant in Montauk last Thursday, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman drew a laugh from fishermen when he introduced himself. “I’m his lawyer,” he said, nodding to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Schneiderman were joined at the event by County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, County Executive Steve Bellone, East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, and officials from the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Two delegates to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council were on hand, Lori Nolan of Montauk, who is involved with the local tilefish fleet, and Tony DiLernia, a charter captain who teaches at Kingsborough Community College. Bonnie Brady of Montauk, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, helped put the program together.
Mr. Bellone set the stage. “The federal regulations are obsolete,” he said, telling the crowd from both the commercial and charter fishing industries what they already knew, that fluke was managed using the historic landing records of each coastal state. “The data is out of date, and has been too long.” He said that while the fluke population is good off Montauk, old data continued to give the Carolinas the lion’s share of the fluke quota and New York short shrift.
“New York is the only state to be subjected to this bias, and it cannot stand,” the county executive said.
Read the full story at the East Hampton Star