January 15, 2019 — New York State has filed suit against the Trump administration to officially contest the state’s “unfair” share of the federal quota for fluke, state Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday.
The suit follows release of December 2018 allocations for fluke that the state said remained disproportionately small and based on “inaccurate and outdated” fishing data, James said in a statement.
Cuomo had first said the state would sue in 2013, but as recently as last year refrained from doing so as it attempted other remedies, including a petition filed with the federal government. “The message is loud and clear: we will fight this unfair quota until New York’s access to summer flounder is consistent with national standards,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Hundreds of Long Island commercial fluke fishermen have for decades decried New York’s share of the commercial fluke quota, which stands at just 7.6 percent, compared with 21.3 for Virginia and 27.4 for North Carolina.