New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele wants environmental regulators to reform the commercial fishing licensing system in the state.
Approximately one-third of all licenses in the state are inactive.
Thiele says that commercial fishermen on Long Island have suffered from unfair and inequitable quotas set by the federal government based on faulty data.
Thiele recommends that the State Department of Environmental Conservation use incentives, instead of federal mandates based on income, to reduce the number of inactive fishing licenses.
Thiele plans to introduce this legislation for the 2020 state legislative session.