Councilors Doxsee and Yaxa asked to revisit the issue of increasing the fee for the non-resident commercial shellfish license. The Council and DEC had recommended that this fee be set at what was then judged to be the highest possible amount, $1500; the fee actually adopted is substantially lower. Mr. Colvin commented that two recent legal cases involved interstate reciprocal fees:

• Shellfish diggers permits. Until several years ago, state shellfish diggers permits could be issued only to individuals who had resided in New York State for 6 months or more. Violations were issued to several persons who had received permits but were not 6-month residents of the state when they received the permits. Those individuals filed suit. A federal court ruling held the 6-month residency requirement unconstitutional. Permits are now issued to anyone who applies for one and can provide proof of identity regardless of residency. The Department submitted legislation, eventually signed into law, that created a non-resident shellfish digger permit with a fee of $150, three times the cost of the resident diggers fee.
  
  
• A law was recently passed that excludes holders of non-resident commercial lobster licenses from fishing in certain New York State waters around Fishers Island. The Connecticut Attorney General and a lobster fisherman from that state have challenged the statute in federal court. The initial district decision found the New York law unconstitutional and holds the state and several of its employees responsible for the financial damages of the defendant. This ruling is on appeal.