Shelter Island Reporter

Island anglers can continue to fish license-free through the end of the year, at least, and the towns of  Brookhaven, Oyster Bay and Huntington have joined the lawsuit and injunction against a new state fishing license. The Town of Southold has also asked permission to join the suit.

Representatives of the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation and six towns: Shelter Island, East Hampton, Southampton, Brookhaven, Oyster Bay and Huntington appeared before Judge Patrick Sweeney of the State Supreme Court in Islip Thursday.

According to Town Attorney Laury Dowd, the DEC stipulated in court to allow the three  western towns to join the lawsuit filed by the East End towns. The state asked for more time to file a response brief to the lawsuit - January 2010 - but agreed to keep the temporary restraining order in place during that time.

The DEC also plans to file a motion to dismiss the entire suit, Ms. Dowd reported.

The state is required by federal law - the Magnuson Stevens Act - to comply with requirements to register recreational salt-water anglers. The DEC complained in court Thursday that they were unable to seek an exemption from the federal fishing registry until this case was settled, an exemption they need before the federal law goes into effect in January 2010, Ms. Dowd said.

The towns said that they were not in support of the DEC's efforts to be exempted from the federal fishing registry requirement.

Senator Charles Schumer and others have called for a free registration program and argue that the Magnuson Stevens Act does not require annual registration or any fees. The state's marine recreational fishing license, which went into effect on October 1, costs $10 per year for residents.