Dan's Papers - August 29, 2008

Something odious that everyone on the South Fork has endured for years has finally been voted out of practice by New York State. Yes, the era of having to pay a minimum of 30-40 cents more per gallon of fuel - due to market pricing practices that some describe as "bizarre," and others as "price fixing" - are over.

The recently passed Consumer Protection and Fair and Equitable Motor Fuel Pricing Act, which makes the practice of zone pricing illegal, will now be on the books as law after being signed by Governor Paterson.

Under this new law, zone pricing will become illegal. What is zone pricing, you might ask. It is a "demographic marketing tool." Under this now illegal system, retail gas stations in more affluent communities are charged more money for gasoline and diesel fuel. These higher costs are passed on to the consumer. However, the higher price of fuel, now a reality perhaps forever, is having a negative effect on the South Fork commercial fishing industry, and hurting retail businesses. (And, quite frankly, things most likely will not get better as now, even after the recent dip, fuel prices are expected to be on the rise again.)

While any gas price relief for vehicles on land or water is good news, it is unfortunately a case of too little too late, at least for this past season on East End waters. There are record numbers of commercial vessels up for sale at marinas all over South Fork shores. There was one report in Montauk of a fishing boat going out for a week, catching its quota and coming in, and when all the expenses were balanced against the sale of the catch, each fisherman had to pony up $168 to cover the costs. The limits being put on the catch allowed is bizarre, especially since they come at the same time fuel has doubled.

The federal government relaxed emission standards for GM and Ford when they showed signs of trouble, but the fisherman don't seem to have that type of clout. In England at the moment there is a debate if such practices of limiting fish catch and the new high spike in fuel prices are in fact dooming commercial fishing off the shores of that country forever. In the dark corners of the local bars along the shores of the South Fork there is similar talk. Carl Darenberg, of Montauk Marine Basin, has admitted that business is off "noticeably." He said fuel sales are down substantially and activity is down. On a recent sail, Montauk fisherman Billy Dwyer explained the intense difficulty of fishing 24 hours a day, miles out at sea, for an extended period of time. Add to that unrealistic catch limits and "crazy accumulative fuel costs," and many captains, crews and commercial boat owners are rethinking strategies so that they don't join the lines of boats for sale in the boatyards. It is not a pretty picture moving forward unless something is done - there are no Prius Boats, and it's been a while since sailboats went out fishing commercially. Clearly, something has to give.

The 30 to 40-cent premium fuel surcharge added to all fuel delivered to the South Fork also had its effects on the commercial boat owners who bought their fuel here, thus costing them an extra $3,000-4,000 per thousand gallons of fuel purchased.

Since the incomes of year-round residents in the towns of East Hampton and Southampton are among the lowest on Long Island, zone pricing here was an insult in the first place. Concerning Governor Paterson signing the law, State Assemblyman Fred Thiele is reported to have said, "I expect the governor to sign. There's not a lot of sympathy for the oil companies these days."