13-0308 - Surf clam/ocean quahog management advisory board.
§ 13-0308. Surf clam/ocean quahog management advisory board. 1. There is hereby created a surf clam/ocean quahog management advisory board hereinafter referred to as the board. The board shall consist of nine members, who shall be appointed by the commissioner in the following manner. The commissioner shall select three members; the commissioner shall select three members from a list of nominees prepared and submitted by the president pro tem of the senate and the commissioner shall select three members from a list of nominees prepared and submitted by the speaker of the assembly. All members of the board shall either have knowledge of the surf clam/ocean quahog industry who have demonstrated a long-standing interest, knowledge and experience in commercial harvesting and/or processing of surf clam/ocean quahog or shall be involved in scientific research into the fishery. The chair shall be the director of the Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook or his designee, and shall have no vote on matters before the board. 2. All the members appointed shall be residents of a county which borders on the marine and coastal district. No members of the board appointed by the commissioner shall be officers or employees of a state department or agency and at no time shall there be less than five members of the board who shall be representatives of the surf clam/ocean quahog industry. No member of the board may appoint a designee to either temporarily or permanently assume their place on the board. 3. Appointments to the board shall be made no later than the first day of January next succeeding the date on which this section becomes effective. Initial appointments to the surf clam/ocean quahog management advisory board shall be made no later than the first day of January, nineteen hundred ninety-five, and shall be effective upon appointment. The initial appointments of members of the board shall be as follows: three shall be appointed for terms expiring on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-five; three shall be appointed for terms expiring on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-six; and three shall be appointed for terms expiring on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven. Such members may be reappointed at the expiration of such initial terms for full three year terms. Upon the expiration of a member's term of appointment, such member may opt to continue to serve until reappointment or a replacement is appointed pursuant to subdivision one of this section. Any vacancy shall be filled in the manner of the original appointment. 4. The members of the board shall serve without compensation for their services as members of the board, except that each of the members shall be allowed their necessary and actual expenses incurred in the performance of their duties under this section. 5. Board members shall not be considered public officers for purposes of section seventy-three-a of the public officers law and shall not be subject to the financial disclosure as provided in such section, except that, every board member shall disclose all business activity engaged in with the state. 6. The commissioner shall make documents accessible pursuant to section eighty-seven of the public officers law and department personnel available to the board which the board indicates are needed to properly and thoroughly carry out its responsibilities. The commissioner shall also make available to the board such aid as is reasonably necessary to allow the board to carry out its duties and responsibilities. 7. The board shall have the following powers and duties: a. To assist the department in the development and preparation of a comprehensive long-term management plan for the protection of surf clams/ocean quahogs in New York waters. The plan shall take intoconsideration the economic viability of the long-standing, established New York based participants in the surf clam/ocean quahog fishery and the domestic processors and packers that rely on this fishery within one year of the date on which this section becomes effective; b. To serve as a working forum for the review of data collection needs and scientific information and the exchange of views, concerns, ideas, information and recommendations about the surf clam/ocean quahog resource and fishery; c. To request and receive from the department at each meeting of the board information in the possession of the department about the surf clam/ocean quahog resource and fishery, existing and proposed revisions to any rule, regulation or policy relative to surf clams/ocean quahogs. Fisheries data collected by the department shall be provided by the department in aggregate or summary form which does not directly or indirectly disclose the identity or business of any person who submits such data; d. To consult with and make reports and release information from time to time as it deems necessary to commercial harvesters of surf clams/ocean quahogs; and e. To monitor, assist and advise the department's efforts to draft, revise and implement regulations consistent with the comprehensive long-term management plan. 8. a. The board shall meet at least monthly until the comprehensive long term management plan for surf clams/ocean quahogs is developed and enacted. Thereafter, the board shall meet as necessary to assist the department in the adoption and implementation of rules and regulations consistent with the comprehensive long term management plan, but in any case, the board shall meet at least quarterly. b. The board shall keep a record of all its proceedings and provide such record to the public upon request and determine the rules of its own procedures. c. Staff services, including recording of board proceedings, shall be performed by personnel of the department. 9. Nothing shall prohibit the department from adopting pursuant to subdivision twelve of section 13-0309 of this article, interim or emergency regulations pending the preparation of the comprehensive long-term management plan and adoption of regulations consistent with such plan, provided that such interim or emergency regulations consider and maintain the economic viability of the traditional established New York based commercial surf clam/ocean quahog harvesting industry participants and New York surf clam/ocean quahog processors and packers that rely on this fishery. For the purposes of this section "traditional" shall mean prior to nineteen hundred eighty-nine.