DEC comes to Southold
DEC commissioner talks fish, deer, dredging and wine
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If you want to hunt, trap, fish, drill for oil, run a kid's summer camp, or open a resort on the East End, you've got to get a permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
And according to DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, these permits can number in the tens of thousands, making it difficult for his organization to deal with a "very, very broad array" of environmental issues in Suffolk County, especially on the East End.
Mr. Grannis made a rare local appearance on the North Fork last Wednesday afternoon, at a roundtable meeting called by Assemblyman Marc Alessi at Southold Town Hall. He took questions from a crowd of about 30 people made up of professional fishermen, farmers and environmental activists from all over the East End. DEC regional director Peter Scully and Long Island Farm Bureau executive director Joe Gergela were also on hand for the discussion.
Improving aging sewage systems, controlling deer population and reviving Long Island's waning fishing industry were forefront issues. Another was how the upcoming state deficit will affect DEC's day-to-day operations.
Mr. Grannis said the DEC will not cut jobs.
"We'll have to absorb the cuts with no layoffs," he said.
"[Sewage] is a big issue," he said. "Not just here, but all across the country."
Mattituck resident Nicholas Degan wanted to know where the DEC "came down" on the dredging of the Mattituck Inlet, an ongoing issue of contention between local, county, and federal governments. Cindy Kaminsky, a woman who's been fishing out of the inlet since 1966, said the sediment buildup since the last dredging has created a "very dangerous situation" for boaters.
Mr. Scully responded that DEC has purchased several parcels of land around the inlet and that they are "neighbors" with concerned Mattituck residents and business people. But, he said, there is little they can do about this small but important federally-maintained waterway.
He said he felt bad about that, but he did not recommend that the town take on a federal responsibility.
"A small town is really not supposed to be in the dredging business," he said. "It's a very costly undertaking."
Whoever dredges the inlet has to do it during very specific "windows" of the season as to not disturb the ecosystem of certain species of marine life such as winter flounder, Mr. Scully said. Someone asked if there was any flexibility to these windows, and if winter flounder population problems were site specific. Audience member Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizen's Campaign for the Environment, said no and no.
"We need to start thinking of Long Island Sound as one system, holistically," she said. "It's not site-specific."
Eugene Burger, head of Southold Town's dredging advisory committee, added that he's not seen any study or hard data on winter flounder more recent than the early '80s. He added that the people of Southold don't want DEC's sympathy regarding matters of dredging -- they want cooperation, he said.
"It's very difficult to reach out to DEC," he said.
Joe Gergela of Long Island Farm Bureau suggested hiring professional hunting teams to control eastern Long Island's exploding deer population. Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell agreed. He said "deer are running the day out here." He added that the "culture" of deer hunting is much different on the water-locked East End than it is compared with the rest of the Empire State.
Chris Baiz, vice president of the Long Island Wine Council, also acknowledged a problem with deer eating his crops on his vineyard dating back to Walt Disney's "Bambi," he said.
"We have a pest now," Mr. Baiz said. "And we're still treating them like an endangered species."
But he did applaud the DEC for years of help promoting Long Island's wine industry, which is now on the world map completing with "classic" regions in France and California.
Struggles in the Long Island fishing industry took center stage near the end of the meeting as Mary Bess Phillips, co-owner of Alice's Fish Market in Greenport, described her growing dilemma.
"The industry is not what it used to be," she said. "I'm imploring you, asking you, begging you... to see that fishing comes back to Long Island."
She said many of her frustrations come from ever-changing federal mandates limiting what kind and what size of fish a fisherman can or cannot catch.
"Communication is the issue," Ms. Phillips said, adding that the DEC needs to help clarify federal and state regulations sooner than they do for industry professionals.
eschultz@timesreview.com
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