strikezone31
07-16-2010, 03:12 PM
He should be subject to the law just as the rest of us are.:burn:
The mayor of Northport, who is also a commercial fisherman, was charged with three violations of state law Saturday when conservation officers found him selling untagged clams and striped bass at a village farmer's market, a state official said.
George Doll, 65, "received three tickets from environmental officers," Bill Fonda, regional spokesman for the Department of Environmental Conservation, said. "The tickets potentially could carry fines of $500" each, he said.
One is for selling striped bass without tags, one for selling clams without tags, and a third because he failed to have the bones of the striped bass on display with the filleted fish, Fonda said. Doll, a veteran commercial fisherman, must appear Aug. 30 to answer the violations at First District Court in Central Islip, Fonda said.
By law, clams must be tagged with the date and location they were harvested as a public health measure, to pinpoint beds polluted with fecal coliform or other bacteria. Bass fillets must be sold with the bones to show they meet the minimum legal length.
Reached at home last evening, Doll acknowledged he'd been selling untagged clams and striped bass, but said he thought state commercial fishery laws didn't apply to informal retail sales at a farmer's market.
"We dumped the clams into a bin and the bags with tags are in the garbage," Doll told Newsday. He also said he had thrown the bass carcass away. Doll said his understanding was that "the rules of the farmer's market is that you sell what you catch" so there was no need to follow state commercial fisheries law.
A former Northport harbormaster, Doll said he plans to dispute the violations in court.
Tags are a state and federal government method of controlling seasonal harvests of depleted striped bass stocks. A limited number of tags are allocated to commercial fishermen who, upon catching and keeping a legal striped bass, must insert a tag into the fish. That tag must remain on display with the carcass until the entire fish - whole or filleted - is sold.
The mayor of Northport, who is also a commercial fisherman, was charged with three violations of state law Saturday when conservation officers found him selling untagged clams and striped bass at a village farmer's market, a state official said.
George Doll, 65, "received three tickets from environmental officers," Bill Fonda, regional spokesman for the Department of Environmental Conservation, said. "The tickets potentially could carry fines of $500" each, he said.
One is for selling striped bass without tags, one for selling clams without tags, and a third because he failed to have the bones of the striped bass on display with the filleted fish, Fonda said. Doll, a veteran commercial fisherman, must appear Aug. 30 to answer the violations at First District Court in Central Islip, Fonda said.
By law, clams must be tagged with the date and location they were harvested as a public health measure, to pinpoint beds polluted with fecal coliform or other bacteria. Bass fillets must be sold with the bones to show they meet the minimum legal length.
Reached at home last evening, Doll acknowledged he'd been selling untagged clams and striped bass, but said he thought state commercial fishery laws didn't apply to informal retail sales at a farmer's market.
"We dumped the clams into a bin and the bags with tags are in the garbage," Doll told Newsday. He also said he had thrown the bass carcass away. Doll said his understanding was that "the rules of the farmer's market is that you sell what you catch" so there was no need to follow state commercial fisheries law.
A former Northport harbormaster, Doll said he plans to dispute the violations in court.
Tags are a state and federal government method of controlling seasonal harvests of depleted striped bass stocks. A limited number of tags are allocated to commercial fishermen who, upon catching and keeping a legal striped bass, must insert a tag into the fish. That tag must remain on display with the carcass until the entire fish - whole or filleted - is sold.