Gov. Hochul Vetoes Jamaica Bay & Horseshoe Crab Bills

By Katie McFadden

Governor Kathy Hochul lists “environment” as a key priority on her website, but when it comes to small environmental issues, New York’s governor appears to fall short. Recently, Hochul vetoed two pieces of legislation that would’ve prevented dumping harmful materials into Jamaica Bay, and one that would’ve offered further protection for horseshoe crabs. “I feel like she’s extremely out of touch,” Broad Channel’s Jamaica Bay Ecowatcher, Dan Mundy Jr. said.

Earlier this year, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato once again sponsored a bill that would help protect Jamaica Bay. Assembly Bill A9036 and the Senate version, S8547, dubbed the “Jamaica Bay Bill,” would have directed “the department of environmental conservation to conduct a study of ecological restoration needs of Jamaica Bay” and impose “a five-year moratorium on placing sediment or fill in the borrow pits in Jamaica Bay.” Mundy says it was a watered-down version of the bill Hochul vetoed in 2022. In August, Pheffer Amato, Mundy and other Jamaica Bay activists rallied, calling on Hochul to sign the bill into law after Assembly passed it unanimously in May and the Senate passed it unanimously in June. On November 22, right before Thanksgiving, Hochul once again vetoed the bill, along with 28 others, citing a lack of funding in the state budget.

“It’s disappointing,” Mundy said. “She didn’t take time to understand the bill. We scaled back on this bill, and all it said was it would conduct a study of the deep portions of Jamaica Bay, which is tremendously needed to be done, and it would put a five-year moratorium on dumping in the bay while this study is being done. It seemed like a no brainer. It wasn’t that big, broad or expensive. I feel like Hochul is extremely out of touch.”

Mundy says who is in touch are the local fishermen and divers who utilize the bay year-round and know the abundance of wildlife in the deep portions of Jamaica Bay by JFK Airport. Fishermen’s hauls and divers’ videos are evidence of the thriving wildlife in the area in early summer. There are concerns over companies or agencies dredging other parts of New York waterways and stirring up potentially toxic sediment that would be dumped into these deep areas of Jamaica Bay, something that has come up time and time again over the years, putting activists like Mundy in endless battles against it happening, so the bill aimed to put a moratorium on dumping in these areas. “We’re flabbergasted that she won’t take the time to understand what we’re talking about,” Mundy said.

In a similar move, on Friday, December 13, Hochul vetoed Bill S3185A/ A10140, the “Horseshoe Crab Protection Act,” which would “prohibit the taking of horseshoe crabs for commercial and biomedical purposes.” The bill even received heavy support from world-renowned conservation scientist Dr. Jane Goodall, who wrote a letter to Hochul last month, asking her to sign it.

While the bill was sponsored by legislators on Long Island, horseshoe crabs are no strangers to Rockaway shores, as they’re spotted all over the beach and bay as they come to mate and lay eggs throughout the summer. They’ve also become a big target for poachers, an activity that Mundy has seen a steady increase in over the last 10 years around Jamaica Bay, as horseshoe crabs have become desirable for the medicinal value of their blood, and as bait, used by fishermen to catch things like conch and eel.

Mundy called the veto another disappointing move. “They clean the bay, they feed the shorebirds and they’re a critical part of the ecosystem. I think the bill was good. I could debate the medical part and would refer that to the medical community, but for bait, I think it made sense. It just feels like Hochul doesn’t get it. She’s a zero when it comes to the environment,” he said.

However, for Mundy and others, the work isn’t done, and he plans to continue the fight and work with elected officials to come back with another bill to protect Jamaica Bay. “We are tenacious, and we’ll be back in 2025,” he said.