What's happening
This bill amends rules on commercial crab harvesting and requires the state to cooperate on local horseshoe crab harvest closures.
Why it matters
Strengthens local control over horseshoe crab conservation. by requiring the state Department of Environmental Conservation to cooperate with towns, villages, or counties that want to close municipal properties to horseshoe crab harvesting, allowing communities to better protect sensitive spawning areas or respond to local concerns.
Potentially impacts commercial crab harvesters. by introducing new avenues for local closures, which could reduce available harvesting grounds and require fishers to adapt their practices or seek permits for different locations.
Aligns state management with broader conservation efforts. by ensuring that any new regulations remain at least as restrictive as federal and regional fishery management plans, supporting sustainable crab populations and compliance with Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission guidelines.
Highlights the ecological and economic significance of horseshoe crabs. , whose populations are under pressure due to biomedical, bait, and ecological uses, making local input and adaptive management crucial for balancing commercial interests with conservation and community priorities.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Regulate Commercial Crab Harvesting
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
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History
- Substituted by S6682
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.315
- Rules report cal.315
- Reported
- Amend and recommit to rules 8184a
- Reported referred to rules
- Referred to environmental conservation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Regulate Crab Harvesting
Signed by Governor · Sponsor Kenneth P. LaValle
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8184--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 1, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation -- reported and referred to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the taking of crabs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 13-0331 of the environmental conservation law, as amended by chapter 365 of the laws of 1994, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 325 of the laws of 1999, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 263 of the laws of 1997, subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 327 of the laws of 1999 and subdivision 7 as amended by chapter 226 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows: § 13-0331. Crabs; permit to take; prohibited acts.
1. No person shall take crabs, including horseshoe crabs (Limulus sp.) for commercial purposes without first obtaining a permit from the department. For purposes of this subdivision, a presumption of "commercial purposes" shall be made wherein one takes or lands more than fifty crabs in any one day or sells or barters or offers for sale or barter any crabs he or she has taken. Permits shall be issued to individuals only but may be endorsed for use on a vessel, in which case it shall cover all persons on board such vessel.
2. A person domiciled within the state may take crabs, for commercial purposes, from the waters of the state upon first obtaining a crabbing permit from the department.
a. The department shall prescribe and furnish forms for application for such permit.
b. The fee for such crabbing permit shall be thirty dollars.
3. A person not domiciled in the state who is domiciled in a state that provides reciprocal permits or licenses to persons domiciled in New
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11984-03-7
A. 8184--A 2
York state may take crabs, for commercial purposes, upon first obtaining a crabbing permit from the department.
a. The department shall prescribe and furnish forms for application for such permit.
b. The fee for such crabbing permit shall be fifty dollars.
4. Permits are not transferable and shall expire on December 31 following the date of issue. If it appears in the public interest, the department may suspend or cancel such permits without prior notice.
5. Female crabs with eggs visible thereon, commonly called sponge crabs, or any female crabs from which the egg pouch or bunion has been removed, shall not be taken, possessed, transported or offered for sale at any time.
6. Crabs shall not be taken by dredging in the waters of Richmond county; Hempstead Bay and South Oyster Bay in the county of Nassau; or in the waters of Great South Bay west of Captree bridge in the county of Suffolk.
7. The department may, until December thirty-first, two thousand [seventeen] eighteen, fix by regulation measures for the management of crabs of any kind including horseshoe crabs (Limulus sp.), including size limits, catch and possession limits, open and closed seasons, closed areas, restrictions on the manner of taking and landing, requirements for permits and eligibility therefor, recordkeeping requirements, requirements on the amount and type of fishing effort and gear, and requirements relating to transportation, possession and sale, provided that such regulations are no less restrictive than requirements set forth in this chapter and provided further that such regulations are consistent with the compliance requirements of applicable fishery management plans adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and with applicable provisions of fishery management plans adopted pursuant to the Federal Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. § 1800 et seq.).
8. The department shall, when adopting regulation measures for the management of horseshoe crabs (Limulus sp.) pursuant to subdivision seven of this section, cooperate with any town, village or county that requests any municipal property be subject to a harvest closure.
§ 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2018.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
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