Tag Archives: Schumer
Feds answer lawmakers’ calls to fast-track replenishment of Dune Road
Army Corps of Engineers will begin seeking bids Wednesday for a project to replenish a severely eroded beach along Dune Road in Hampton Bays after lawmakers pushed for the federal agency to fast-track the work. The barrier island has sustained several washovers since October in the area near the Shinnecock Commercial Fishing Dock, the state’s second-largest fishing port, putting millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure in jeopardy. >click to read< 16:04
Fishing advocates seek delay in new limits on fluke fishing
Fishing advocates seeking to head off what they described as “devastating” reductions in the New York quota for fluke next year are calling on federal regulators to forestall planned 2017 cuts until a more current assessment of the fish population is completed. Led by frequent fishing advocate Sen. Chuck Schumer, a group of 50 recreational and commercial fishing boat captains and advocates gathered at the Captree Boat Basin in Babylon Thursday to say a planned 30 percent reduction would threaten hundreds of businesses. Schumer said he plans to reach out to the U.S. Department of Commerce and its newly nominated secretary, Wilbur Ross, to address his concerns, including requesting an expedited fluke population assessment and a suspension of the new cuts until improved data is available. Schumer said he was hopeful that Ross, a New Yorker who was once an adviser on the Long Island Lighting Co. buyout by LIPA, could step in to forestall management moves by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees councils that manage the fluke fishery. Schumer said he would reach out to President-elect Donald Trump, Ross and “whoever I have to to get this changed.” Read the story here 20:06
Senator Schumer pushes for new black sea bass commercial fishing regulations
Sen. Charles Schumer was in Northport Wednesday calling for updated fishing industry regulations and to consider allowing commercial fishers to catch black sea bass in June. New York’s sea bass fishing closed on May 31, and does not reopen until July 1 – a schedule Schumer claimed is hurting the industry. “The black sea bass stocks are thriving and the industry is well below its allowable quota so it makes sense to keep open this fishery in June rather than close it,” Schumer said. “We also must change the arbitrary and outdated federal regulations that hamstring the state DEC so we can more coherently and fairly manage the black sea bass fishery.” Citing the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Schumer said the 2016 New York State allocation for black sea bass is approximately 200,000 pounds, yet as of May 25. Yet only about 40,000 pounds have been caught. Read the rest here 13:43
Federal ‘Fluke Fairness Act’ would correct inequitable treatment of L.I. anglers: Schumer, Zeldin
The current system of federal regulations for fluke fishing has created a complicated patchwork of quotas and rules for each state in the region, according to a press release from Zeldin’s office. “The …data collection system for commercial landings that was in place during the time period that established individual states’ percent allocation of the summer flounder annual commercial quota caused inherent inadequacies in New York’s allocation,” Cornell Cooperative Extension fishing expert Emerson Hasbrouck, Read the rest here 13:47
