Many sides to an East End fish tale

It's a fish story that never ends. The characters include the fiercely independent folks who fish for a living or for fun -- and those who work to make sure that there will be fish to harvest in the future. Now the struggle has reached a mythic, almost whale-sized level.

And all for $202.

Cast in the role of villain: the Department of Environmental Conservation, a state regulatory agency. DEC's job, under state and federal law, is to make sure that those who catch fish are doing it legally. If people are endangering the future of the resource, by catching too many or keeping fish too small, the DEC employs people who have the power to conduct warrantless searches, bring criminal charges, seize the illegal fish, sell them and put the proceeds in a state fund.

Playing the oppressed fisherfolk: Paul and Kelly Lester. Their forebears have been fishing in these parts for eons. These Lesters are no strangers to DEC enforcement. They've won some and lost some, paying roughly $6,000 in fines. Last summer, the DEC raided their Amagansett yard, filed charges that they were running an illegal clam stand and possessed over-the-limit fish, confiscated the fish and sold it. The Lesters were acquitted in East Hampton Town Justice Court, and now they want to be paid for the fish.

Riding to the rescue: Assemb. Fred W. Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) and Sens. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) and Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley). They're pushing legislation that would limit the power of the DEC to do warrantless searches. And they've asked the state's inspector general to investigate. She tells them she's on the case.

All of this needs sorting out.

As to searches, a long line of legal precedents supports warrantless searches in highly regulated industries such as fishing. Think about it: If DEC officers had to get search warrants before seizing fish -- evidence that can disappear fast -- how often could they really do their job? So the bill is not a good idea, and it's not going anywhere.

As to the acting inspector general, the lawmakers want Catherine Leahy Scott to look at both the warrantless search issue and the matter of the DEC's sale of fish and disposition of those funds. The money part seems like a more fruitful area of inquiry than the warrant issue.

Is the DEC expeditious enough in paying back people found not guilty? Couldn't it have simply paid the $202 the Lesters want and saved all the embarrassment? DEC says the law is the law, and it can't repay the Lesters until it's been shown that the fish really were theirs. But Scott can take a look at the statute and at DEC's procedures and see whether it has been handling this issue properly.

And what about the fish tale that DEC agents have stepped up enforcement to bring in more dollars and make up for budget cuts the agency has suffered in recent years? Well, DEC says that proceeds from the sale of confiscated fish have added up to less than $29,000 from April 2008 to this March. That doesn't even pay for one DEC enforcement officer.

So, how to resolve L'affaire Lester? Scott should see if DEC needs to do better at handling the money and paying back folks found not guilty. Meantime, while fishers fish, enforcers must continue to enforce -- to make sure there are fish left for tomorrow's anglers.