Allows the village of Schuylerville, Saratoga county, to conduct up to two fishing tournaments per calendar year in the fourteen mile stretch of the Hudson River between Champlain Canal Lock C5 and Champlain Canal Lock C4 and to exempt such tournaments from catch and release orders.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6906
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
October 11, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. MARCHIONE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to allow the village of Schuylerville, Saratoga County, New York,
to conduct up to two fishing tournaments per calendar year in the
fourteen mile stretch of the Hudson River between Champlain Canal Lock
C5 and Champlain Canal Lock C4 and to exempt such tournaments from
"catch and release" orders
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule, order or
2 regulation to the contrary, the village of Schuylerville, Saratoga Coun-
3 ty, New York, may conduct up to two fishing tournaments per calendar
4 year in the fourteen mile stretch of the Hudson River between Champlain
5 Canal Lock C5, just north of Schuylerville, and Champlain Canal Lock C4,
6 just north of the town of Mechanicville. Such tournaments shall be
7 exempted from any "catch and release" order issued by the department of
8 environmental conservation and shall be conducted in accordance with the
9 provisions of this section.
10 (b) Each tournament shall be conducted between the hours of 6:00 am
11 and 2:00 pm, and shall be limited to a maximum of 50 boats. All partic-
12 ipating boats shall be outfitted with fully functional live wells, which
13 shall be checked before the tournament by the tournament operators to
14 assure that they are clean and empty. The live wells will only be filled
15 in the designated section of the Hudson River between Lock C5 and Lock
16 C4. All live wells in the boats shall be aerated.
17 (c) Only artificial bait will be used at each tournament. Live bait is
18 prohibited. No fish caught during the tournament shall be consumed or
19 used for bait.
20 (d) Only largemouth and smallmouth bass shall be entered into the
21 tournament. All fish brought to the judges to be weighed must be a mini-
22 mum of 12 inches in length. Fish smaller than 12 inches shall be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13594-01-7
S. 6906 2
1 released immediately upon being caught. At weigh-in, all fish caught
2 shall be placed in special fish bags with water in them and shall be
3 promptly carried to the weigh-in scales area. A water tank containing
4 water from the Hudson River tournament area will be available at the
5 weigh-in area to protect fish prior to weigh-in. Each fish caught shall
6 be released back into the Hudson River at the weigh-in area immediately
7 following weigh-in of that fish.
8 (e) The operator of each boat shall drain the water from the live well
9 or wells on his or her boat back into the Hudson River at the tournament
10 site following the weigh-in or at the conclusion of his or her partic-
11 ipation in the tournament.
12 (f) Sponsors of the tournament and all boaters shall provide the
13 department of environmental conservation with proof of liability insur-
14 ance covering participation in the tournament not less than ten days
15 prior to the date of the tournament. Participating boaters shall
16 provide such proof to the sponsors of the tournament who shall, in turn,
17 provide it to the department of environmental conservation.
18 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
