Saving Seafood

New York Lawmakers Go To Bat Over Fisheries Cutbacks

April 5, 2018 — The federal government is proposing a 12 percent reduction for the recreational black sea bass fishery in 2018,  despite the fact that scientists say the black sea bass fishery has been rebuilt to two-and-a-half times what regulators consider to be sustainable, and New York State is fighting back.

State Senator Ken LaValle and State Assemblyman Fred Thiele agree with DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos that “non-compliance is a legitimate remedy” for this cutback, stating that “this action discriminates against the State of New York. It would have a significant adverse effect on the Long Island economy” in a joint statement issued Monday.

“This has not been an isolated case of discrimination against New York State,” they added. “Unfortunately, this is part of a long history of federal action that has strangled the fishing industry in New York to the benefit of other states. DEC advocacy for our fishing industry is long overdue.”

New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut filed an appeal with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission over the catch reduction on March 16, and Mr. Seggos expects an answer by late April or early May. He has told the press he plans to litigate the matter if the state does not win the appeal.

“The State of New York should utilize every legal and administrative tool at its disposal to overturn this ill-considered federal proposal,” said Mr. Thiele and Mr. LaValle. “New York should not be at a disadvantage with other states on the East Coast. Again and again, we have seen politics replace science to the detriment of New York State fishermen, whether they are recreational anglers, charter boat captains, or commercial fishermen. When the federal government is arbitrary and capricious, the state must say “no.”

In late March, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced they had filed an appeal over commercial summer flounder (fluke) quotas set by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and were also looking into taking action on New York’s quotas on black sea bass and bluefish.

For 2018, New York commercial fishing daily trip limits for fluke were set at 50 pounds. New York commercial fishermen are allowed to take just 7.6 percent of the fluke allocated among the mid-Atlantic states. These tight restrictions, compounded by monthly limits aimed at keeping the landings in check throughout the year, led to a closure of commercial fluke fishing here last fall.

Read the full story at the East End Beacon

 

State files petition with federal bodies that set commercial fluke fishing quotas

April 3, 2018 — Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned the U.S. Secretary of Commerce in October that if changes weren’t made to fluke quotas to be fair to New York’s economy and commercial fishing families, the state would take legal action.

Last week, that threat became more real as the governor and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the filing of a petition with the federal government to establish fair quota allocations for the state’s commercial harvest of fluke, or summer flounder.

In a March 23 statement, Mr. Cuomo said the federal government can’t rely on “decades-old data to uphold the fluke quotas, which put New York at a disadvantage compared to other states.”

“New York’s commercial fishing industry has been held back by archaic federal restrictions for too long, and by taking action to defend fair treatment of our fishers, we will help this valuable industry reach its full potential,” he said.

The state Department of Conservation petitioned for revised allocations with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

“New York’s commercial fishing industry deserves a fair shake — not the back of the hand — from the federal government,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “Federal law requires that our nation’s marine fisheries be managed according to the best available science, and in a fair, efficient, and safe way. Simply put, perpetuating New York’s undersized, outdated share of the commercial summer flounder fishery does not meet the requirements of the law.”

Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Basil Seggos also said changes need to be made.

Local fishermen have long felt they’re left short-changed while other East Coast states have higher quotas. Some are skeptical of what will come next, as they’ve dealt with restrictions on fluke fishing since 1992, which state officials and fishermen say were based on inaccurate or outdated data on the fish population.

Read the full story at the Suffolk Times

 

New York State petitions feds demanding more equitable fluke quota

March 23, 2018 — New York State on Friday filed a petition with the federal government to demand a more equitable distribution of the commercial fluke quota, saying current rules put “unreasonable limits” on the state industry.

The petition, filed with a U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a first step, officials said, toward changing a decades-old quota that leaves New York fishermen with just 7.6 percent of a catchable annual allocation for fluke up and down the East Coast. Other states such as North Carolina and Virginia get more than 20 percent each of the coastal quota, and often travel to New York waters to catch it.

Local fishermen who have complained of the low quota for decades had been expecting a lawsuit, after state officials visiting Long Island in November vowed to make good on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo promised litigation in a visit to Montauk in 2013.

But delays by an interstate fisheries commission addressing quota inequities until the fall forced the state to file the petition as a necessary first step toward litigation, officials said.

“Quite frankly, we lost patience,” Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said in an interview. His staff worked with New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman’s office to file the petition.

“The stringent limits on commercial landings of [fluke] in New York ports have made [fluke] fishing no longer an economically viable choice” for New York fishermen, because the “limited revenue generated by a trip often cannot offset the costs, including fuel, time, and vessel wear-and-tear.”

One longtime critic of the governor’s protections for commercial fishermen called the petition effort “weak.”

Daniel Rodgers, a Southampton lawyer and director for New York Fish, a fishermen’s advocacy group, expressed concern that the petition will only further delay action that fishermen need now.

Read the full story at Newsday