Chairman Wise explained that this topic was on the agenda at the earlier request of Councilor John Davi. Councilor Davi and some of his colleagues in the lobster fishery had been in discussion with state legislators concerning reintroducing legislation that would allow the use of patent tongs to harvest shellfish from certain public grounds in the Marine District. Mr. Wise reminded the Council that it had discussed a patent tong bill in an earlier legislative session and had, at the time, opposed the bill at that time basically because the areas to which it applied were too poorly defined and the bill lacked a minimum depth requirement that would have helped avoid conflict with clammers using hand-held gear. Mr. Wise observed that no patent tong bill has yet been introduced in the current legislative session. He noted that several councilors are interested in the patent tong issue, as well as a number of visitors and guests at the meeting and he invited comments from them. Should a bill dealing with patent tongs be subsequently introduced and acted upon between Council meetings, this discussion could help give the Legislature a sense of the Council’s views on the subject.

Representatives of the North Shore Baymen’s Association, Brookhaven’s Baymen’s Association, Staten Island Baymen’s Association all voiced opposition concerning patent tongs. They felt there is no place for patent tongs in the industry and they were fearful that since they do all their work by hand, they wouldn’t be able to compete with machinery and be forced out of business. They are expressed fear that allowing use of patent tongs on public bottoms would flood the market with clams, causing the prices to drop, which could also force them out of business. Baymen are concerned because the inshore shellfishery is on a steady downslide and they strongly opposing allowing the introduction into the shellfishery of mechanized harvesting gear which will only cause further depletion of inshore shellfish resources. The representatives of the baymen’s associations expressed concern that patent tongs rip up the bottom and called for a study to be conducted to determine what kind of damage use of patent tongs causes to the bottom and what would the long-term environmental effects of this would be. They also commented that lobstermen displaced from the Long Island Sound lobster fishery are able to enter the clamming fishery, but clammers cannot presently enter the lobster fishery because of the licensing moratorium. This was viewed as a clear double standard. It was noted that the DEC Shellfish Advisory Committee voted against the introduction of patent tongs on public shellfish grounds. Councilors David Relyea and Dean Yaxa agreed with the viewpoints expressed to the Council by the baymen’s representatives. They feel that there is a limited amount of natural inshore shellfish resource that is not supplemented by hatcheries and to start using a more efficient harvesting method, such as patent tongs, to take what few clams are left (which may be the breeding stock) is wrong.

A lobsterman at the meeting spoke on behalf of his fellow lobstermen. He said that his association is still trying to figure out such aspects of the patent tong proposal as maximum vessel size, catch limits, and minimum depth requirements. He thinks that before patent tongs are voted down, there should be much more of a discussion of a specific proposal.

Chairman Wise said that the sponsor of the 2001 bill on patent tongs was Assemblyman Fred Thiele. He suggested that anyone with an interest in the patent tong issue should express their views to Mr. Thiele well as their local Assemblyperson. He will get in touch with the past sponsors to reiterate the Council’s concerns about the potential introduction of patent tong gear on public shellfish beds in the Marine District.