Too Many Licenses

State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky blew it. The Elmsford Democrat, chairman of the Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee, failed last week (undoubtedly with the concurrence of Sheldon Silver, the Majority Leader), to back legislation limiting the number of new commercial fishing licenses, thereby setting the difficult process of fisheries management back at least three years.

In the absence of legislation preventing uncontrolled growth of the fisheries, nearly 500 applications for "food fish" and lobster licenses have come in to the State Department of Environmental Conservation since July 1. A two-year moratorium on new licenses had expired the day before.

The landslide of applications has buried many months of difficult negotiations among the environmental community, state managers, and commericial fishing leaders over the dicey question of eligibility - that is, who would be allowed to continue fishing and who could be locked out. It's called "limited entry," actually capping the number of persons who have access to fish for commercial sale.

Because of the depletion of fish stocks and the failure of other management systems, the industry had come to accept the limited-entry concept. A Senate version of capping legislation, sponsored by Owen Johnson of Babylon, a Republican, passed easily.

But the D.E.C., which helped write the Assembly's capping bill, is not entirely blameless. By insisting on dramatic increases in license fees, the agency angered many and gave the Assembly yet another excuse to take no action. Although the Assembly's Democratic majority seems to have squandered a number of hard-fought, painful gains in fishery conservation, it may not be too late. At the very least, a bill to extend the license moratorium should be written to protect the fish and commercial fishing. The Assembly should climb on board before it goes on vacation.