Baymen Mull Defiance

East Hampton baymen, fresh from yet another disappointment in their crusade to resurrect striped bass haul-seining, are accusing state officials of saying one thing in private and the opposite once the cameras begin rolling.

Accompanied by their high-profile spokesman, Billy Joel, baymen met privately in Quogue last week with state officials to discuss the current haul-seine policy, and apparently thought they had made some progress.

However, at a press conference that followed the meeting, State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner John Cahill said his agency would probably not change its policy. The statement was seconded by Gordon Colvin, director of the D.E.C.'s Division of Marine Resources.

Just Set Nets?

Arnold Leo, secretary of the East Hampton Town Baymen's Association, warned Monday that the impasse could result in a new protest, meaning baymen might simply launch haul-seine dories and set nets for striped bass in defiance of the state.

Bradley Loewen, a director of the Baymen's Association, concurred. "There's been talk, frustration-type talk, about just going" seining, he said.

The use of haul seines for catching striped bass has been outlawed in New York State since 1990. The official reason for banning the centuries-old fishing technique was that it captured too many undersized bass.

Baymen, however, have always contended it was pressure from sportfishing groups and not environmental concerns that prompted the ban.

Baymen's Proposal

In their meeting with Commissioner Cahill, Mr. Joel and the baymen presented a proposal for a modified haul-seine fishery that would include shortened nets, a quick-release mechanism to free undersized fish, and a neutral observer present each time a net is set.

The baymen pointed out that the method is essentially the same as the one used by state scientists to collect bass for their annual survey.

Baymen also reiterated their belief that haul-seining is being kept at bay for political reasons.

"None of them has the spine to stand up to the sport lobbies," Mr. Loewen said Tuesday. "It's a numbers game. It has nothing to do with science, or conservation, or fairness to the individual."

Surprise

Last year, according to Mr. Leo, after meetings that included both baymen and sportfishermen, Mr. Colvin had agreed that "commercial fishermen could deploy ocean haul seines to harvest striped bass while maintaining release mortality rates at or below the hook-and-line rate of 8 percent" - that is, the rate at which bass caught on a hook die after being released.

Mr. Colvin repeated this position during an earlier meeting with baymen this month, specifically called, Mr. Leo said, "to confirm the D.E.C.'s position. I asked him four times during that [Nov. 10] meeting."

It came as a surprise then, he said, when the D.E.C.'s top officials declared the agency's haul-seine policy unchanged last week.

Political Issues

"Talk about a greased pig. How can we work with these people?" asked Mr. Leo. He said he had fired off a letter to the Commissioner telling him of the apparent contradiction.

But Gary Sheffer, a spokesman for Mr. Cahill who was at the meeting in Quogue, said the baymen had been told not to expect much.

"We said going in that we were not going to change our minds," Mr. Sheffer asserted on Monday. "This is a hot-button issue on Long Island, and no one is denying the political issues. There is more than one user [of the bass resource]. It's as simple as that. There's nothing else here."

"We will take the baymen's wishes along as we move through the allocation process," Mr. Sheffer said.

Formula

He was referring to the complex formula used by the D.E.C. in cooperation with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which sets bass-fishing limits coastwide.

Larry Cantwell, the East Hampton Village Administrator and a state delegate to the Fisheries Commission, said the D.E.C. was stuck between two realities, one technical, one political.

Technically speaking, said Mr. Cantwell, a modified haul seine would not endanger the bass supply. "There is no reason why the baymen should not have a limited haul-seine fishery - period."

He added, however, that "there are other realities, including political. It's unfortunate that a handful of men have to be penalized because sportfishing groups have made haul-seining unpopular."

"It's the most frustrating of developments," Mr. Leo repeated of Commissioner Cahill's post-meeting statement. "If we are unable to discuss and negotiate, we will have no course but civil disobedience."

"They've backed us into a corner."