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Who cares
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Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Print number 7235a
- Amend and recommit to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7235A
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to establishing the seagrass protection act
Purpose or general idea of the bill
The bill authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation to adopt rules and regulations to regulate coastal and marine activities that threaten seagrass.
Summary of provisions
The DEC shall have authority to:
* Restrict the types of mechanically powered fishing gear in seagrass areas that could be harmful to the grass.
* Identify harmful pesticides and chemicals to seagrass and make recom- mendations in regards to restricting their use in seagrass areas.
* Make this information avaiiable on the DEC website.
* Prohibits a person in a coastal community from applying fertilizer containing phosphorus after November first and before April first.
* Develop and adopt, after consultation with stakeholders, a seagrass management plan for designated seagrass management areas to protect seagrass beds and preserve traditional recreational activities.
Justification
New York seagrass beds are a vital habitat and nursery grounds for numerous commercially, recreationally and ecologically important fish and shellfish species. Seagrass beds used to be much larger-some esti- mates reaching as large as 200,000 acres in 1930. Today only 21,803 acres remain. Seagrass is such a vital part of our underwater environ- ment. The DEC should have authority to protect it. The substance of this legislation was recommended by the NYS Seagrass Task Force.
Fiscal implications
De minimis.
Legislative history
This is a new bill.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.