BREAKING NEWS: Fishing license still lifted for East End

Island anglers can continue to fish license-free through the
end of the year, at least, and the towns of  Brookhaven,
Oyster Bay and Huntington have joined the lawsuit and
injunction against a new state fishing license. The Town of
Southold has also asked permission to join the suit.
Representatives of the New York state Department of
Environmental Conservation and six towns: Shelter Island, East Hampton, Southampton, Brookhaven, Oyster
Bay and Huntington appeared before Judge
Patrick Sweeney of the State Supreme Court in Islip
Thursday.
According to Town Attorney Laury Dowd, the DEC stipulated in
court to allow the three  western towns to join the
lawsuit filed by the East End towns. The state asked for more
time to file a response brief to the lawsuit – January 2010 – but
agreed to keep the temporary restraining order in place during
that time.
The DEC also plans to file a motion to dismiss the entire suit,
Ms. Dowd reported.
The state is required by federal law – the
Magnuson Stevens Act – to comply with
requirements to register recreational salt-water anglers. The
DEC complained in court Thursday that they were unable to seek
an exemption from the federal fishing registry until this case
was settled, an exemption they need before the federal law goes
into effect in January 2010, Ms. Dowd said.
The towns said that they were not in support of the
DEC’s efforts to be exempted from the
federal fishing registry requirement.
Senator Charles Schumer and others have called for a free
registration program and argue that the Magnuson Stevens Act
does not require annual registration or any fees. The
state’s marine recreational fishing license,
which went into effect on October 1, costs $10 per year for
residents.