Make Them Pay

As demonstrated by the successful efforts to reverse the decline of Shinnecock Bay, shellfish are key to maintaining and improving water quality of the East End’s bays. Clams, scallops and oysters, all filter feeders, are not only essential for controlling algae but also are vital to the region’s economy.

So when poachers, willfully or through ignorance, violate harvesting restrictions, they threaten the livelihoods of many, as well as the quality of life on the East End at large.

Another economically important shellfish, the blue-claw crab, is a favorite of poachers. East Hampton has seen a rash of bad actors this year illegally taking undersized crabs, as well as conchs, and often getting away with it, under the cover of darkness. With both relentless, organized poachers and casual violators depleting the harvestable shellfish population, the honest and licensed baymen really could use a hand.

East Hampton Marine Patrol did admirable work this past summer chasing away poachers and sometimes catching them, issuing more than 140 violations. But even when the violators are apprehended — they often scatter and run rather than face the consequences — the fines are de minimis compared to the damage the poachers do.

It’s time for effective deterrents.

The East Hampton Town Trustees and Town Police Department Marine Patrol are calling for steeper fines, and their calls should be heeded. Poachers absconding with scores of shellfish that they can sell for hundreds of dollars can afford an occasional paltry fine — though it’s often the case that they never pay up anyway. To stop them from coming back, the fines should match, or exceed, the commercial value of the shellfish they took, and the authorities should be able to fingerprint and verify the identities of poachers who don’t carry ID and are known to give fake names.

Better yet, poachers should be subject to the same punishments that commercial baymen face when they violate the law — including having the vehicles they use on their poaching trips impounded.

In time, poachers will get the message. But the town must send that message first.