LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — July 30, 2014 — The Suffolk County Legislature at its July 29 General Meeting unanimously passed a resolution, sponsored by Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk), asking the County Attorney to explore legal action against the Federal Government on behalf of Suffolk’s commercial fishermen to correct inequitable fishing quotas.
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.