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stripermania
10-01-2009, 09:13 AM
East End towns seek court order to block saltwater license

September 30, 2009 By MITCHELL FREEDMAN


Three East End towns have gone to court to seek a restraining order to stop the state from enforcing a new regulation that would force local saltwater fishermen to purchase a $10 license.
A State Supreme Court judge in Riverhead (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Riverhead%2C_NY) was expected to hear the towns' request for a temporary restraining order Wednesday afternoon.
The state will begin issuing the saltwater licenses Thursday, although the temporary restraining order would mean they would not be needed in Southampton (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Southampton%2C_NY), East Hampton (http://www.newsday.com/topics/East_Hampton%2C_NY) or Shelter Island (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Shelter_Island%2C_NY).
"If it's $10 now, it will be $20 or $50," said East Hampton (http://www.newsday.com/topics/East_Hampton%2C_NY) Trustee Stephanie Talmage at a news conference in Riverhead (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Riverhead%2C_NY).
Southampton (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Southampton%2C_NY) senior assistant town attorney Joseph Lombardo said that anyone fishing in the ocean in any of the towns would be covered by the restraining order.
The injunction would remain in effect until a trial could be held on claims that Colonial patents, issued long before the United States (http://www.newsday.com/topics/United_States) of America was created, grant the exclusive rights to control fishing in local waters to East End town trustees and the town boards that have assumed their duties.
Officials in Southold (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Southold%2C_NY) and in Brookhaven (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Brookhaven%2C_NY) are looking into joining the suit as well, although their Colonial patents differ slightly from those in the other three towns.
Riverhead, which broke away from Southold (http://www.newsday.com/topics/Southold%2C_NY) to become a separate town in the late 1700ss, is also checking to see if its town board retained the power of the Colonial trustees.
State Department of Environmental Conservation officials could not immediately be reached.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/east-end-towns-seek-court-order-to-block-saltwater-license-1.1488829