The Council meeting scheduled for 20 April 2004 is the Council's annual marine resources legislation review meeting.  At the time of printing and distribution of this bulletin, the following were the bills scheduled to be reviewed by the Council at this meeting:

A00465, prohibits any person whose fishing license has been suspended/revoked in any US jurisdiction and/or Canada from getting a license in New York

A01416/S00749, eliminates requirement for operators of commercial fishing vessels to pay diesel fuel taxes and then seek a full refund of these payments

A01972/S01031, allows commercial lobster licenses to be transferred between persons who each possess a commercial foodfish license

A03961, requires the organizers of any fishing tournament with vessels further than 1 mile offshore to register with DEC and requires all boats in such tournaments to carry an EPIRB when more than a mile offshore

A04268, extends the limits of a "essential fish habitat protection" zone along the north shore of Long Island

A05881, increases penalties for illegal harvest of marine resources and prohibits use of picks to cull or sort fish

A05970, prohibits the purchase or sale of fish caught in New York waters that contains PCB levels higher than 1 part per million

A02673, prohibits taking striped bass from the Hudson River for commercial purposes

A05934, prohibits taking of striped bass from the Hudson River for commercial purposes, allowing lawful taking of striped bass for recreational purposes

A07299/S05381, prohibits DEC from establishing areas closed to recreational fishing without prior determination that recreational fishing is the cause of the conservation problem for which the closure is imposed; other limits on establishing no-take reserves

A03164/S01469, allows licensed shellfish diggers to harvest shellfish in Lake Montauk regardless of public or private ownership of bottomlands, except for lands that are being used for private aquaculture

A07182/S03329, permits private cultivation of shellfish in Peconics & Gardiner's Bays pursuant to lease agreements with Suffolk County

A10131/S05984, cedes underwater lands in Peconics & Gardiner's Bays to Suffolk County for the purpose of establishing an shellfish aquaculture management program

A01825, provides that motor fuel tax revenues from recreational boating be used for boating services and establishes the boating and marine improvement fund

A01850/S00920, bans the release of 25 or more balloons inflated with a lighter-than-air gas within a 24-hour period

A03408/S01537, prohibits disposal of dredged spoils containing toxic pollutants into the waters of New York's Marine District

A04124, establishes the marine life protection task force within DEC and charges it to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the needs to protect marine life in New York’s Marine District and the adequacy of current laws and regulations to provide this protection

A01782/S00841, provides that operators of "for hire" vessels are not responsible for acts of individual aboard their vessels

A02139, stipulates markings & size requirements of buoys used to mark the location of lobster and crab traps

A07297, prohibits use of rubberized rollers ("cookies") on trawl gear used in New York's Marine District

A07298, lengthens existing ban on use of gill and trammel nets in a specified western portion of Great South Bay

DEC Program Bill #4RR-04, permits catch & release fishing during closed seasons and repeals certain sections of the law relating to shellfish shipper's and processor’s permits.

Check the Council's web page, http://www.msrc.sunysb.edu/MRAC, for other items added to the agenda after this bulletin is distributed.  For further information about the Marine Resources Advisory Council or items covered in this bulletin, to make arrangements for addressing the Council on an agenda item or submitting written comments on an agenda item, or to suggest and agenda item, contact:  William M. Wise, Chairman, Marine Resources Advisory Council; phone 631/632-8656; FAX 631/632-9441; wwise@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.

 

Page last modified Thursday, April 8, 2004 by George E. Carroll