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Sponsors
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History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to impose a moratorium upon the taking of horseshoe crabs and the eggs thereof; to direct the department of environmental conservation to study and report on the populations of shorebirds and horseshoe crabs; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof
Purpose or general idea of the bill
Establishes a 5 year moratorium on the taking of horseshoe crabs or the eggs of horseshoe crabs by any person
Summary of provisions
No person shall take any horseshoe crab or the eggs of any horseshoe crab from the waters or land of the state, nor possess any horseshoe crab or the egg of a horseshoe crab, regardless of the origin.
The department of environmental conservation may issue a permit for the taking and possession of horseshoe crabs or the eggs of horseshoe crabs for scientific, biomedical or educational purposes only, provided that such department determines that the collection of the horseshoe crabs or the eggs of the horseshoe crabs for such purposes will not cause harm to the red knot, other shorebirds or the horseshoe crab population; or the collection of blood from the horseshoe crabs for biomedical purposes, provided that the horseshoe crabs are released otherwise unharmed to the same waters from which they were taken.
The department of environmental conservation shall examine and evaluate the population of red knots, other shorebirds and horseshoe crabs in the state to determine whether the population of red knots has reached 240.000 and a fisheries management plan, based on scientific study and evidence, demonstrates that a more than adequate supply of horseshoe crab eggs exists to ensure population viability for both shorebirds and horseshoe crabs.
The department of environmental conservation shall submit its findings, conclusions and recommendations to the governor and the legislature with regard to the study conducted pursuant to this section.
Justification
Each spring more than one million shorebirds of six species, including the red knot, stop at Long Island beaches and feed upon horseshoe crab eggs. The red knot was once considered one of the state's most abundant shorebirds. Horseshoe crab eggs are a critical source of food for red knots which they consume during their stopover in New York. Such food source is necessary for the red knots to gain sufficient weight to continue their migration north to breeding grounds in the Canadian Artic. Surveys have shown that red knot migration through the state declined by 65 percent since 2000. Thus, both state and international biologists fear that the red knot will become extinct in as few as five years. We have to stop this.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and deemed repealed January 1, 2015.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.