2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 11 - Fish and Wildlife › Title 3 - General Powers and Duties of the Department › 11-0305 - General Powers and Duties of the Department.

§ 11-0305. General powers and duties of the department.
In addition to the powers and duties provided in other sections of the
  Fish  and  Wildlife  Law, the department shall have the following powers
  and duties:
1. To sell or furnish trees, shrubs and  other  plants  to  owners  or
  lessees of private lands situated in the state on such terms as it deems
  to be for the public benefit;
2. To issue the licenses and permits provided for by law, to fix their
  terms,  and  the  fees therefor, when no statutory provision is made, to
  designate agents to sell and promote the  sale  of  licenses,  to  adopt
  procedures  for  the  issuance  of licenses, to establish the design and
  format of licenses and the  information  to  be  contained  thereon,  to
  provide  where  it  deems  appropriate  for  tags  and buttons, to adopt
  license conditions respecting tagging or identifying fish  and  wildlife
  being possessed or transported, to establish procedures and requirements
  for  reporting  license  sales  and  handling  and remittance of license
  revenues by persons or entities issuing such licenses,  to  provide  for
  acceptable  methods  of  payment of license fees, and to revoke licenses
  and permits as provided by law;
3. To regulate the taking of fish in any manner  other  than  angling,
  except as to migratory fish of the sea within the marine district;
4.  To  increase by regulation the size, as established by statute, of
  mesh of nets that may be used for taking fish;
5. To declare by regulation that waters, specified in the  regulation,
  are  not inhabited by trout, whenever it shall determine that the waters
  specified in the regulation,  previously  inhabited  by  trout,  are  no
  longer so inhabited, or shall determine that the waters specified in the
  regulation are unsuitable for trout;
6.  To  control, manage, propagate and distribute, and to regulate the
  transportation, importation and exportation  of  shellfish,  cephalopoda
  and crustacea;
7.  To  regulate  the examination and inspection of shellfish grounds,
  boats used in taking and buildings used for storage  of  shellfish,  the
  handling  and  shipment  of  shellfish,  the  floating of shellfish, the
  removal  of  shellfish  from  unsanitary  beds  and  their  deposit   on
  unpolluted grounds;
8.  To  enforce all laws relating to lands under water which have been
  or shall be designated, surveyed and  mapped  out  pursuant  to  law  as
  oyster  beds  or  shellfish  grounds  and to grant leases of such lands,
  belonging to the state, for shellfish culture, according to law;
9.  To  conduct,  manage  and  control  all  hatching  and  biological
  stations,  game farms, game refuges, rearing stations and public hunting
  and fishing grounds owned or operated by the state;
10. To enforce all  provisions  of  the  Fish  and  Wildlife  Law  and
  regulations  pursuant  thereto, and all laws relating to fish, wildlife,
  protected insects, shellfish, crustacea and game;
11. To settle or compromise in its discretion any action or  cause  of
  action  to  recover a penalty under the provisions of this chapter as it
  may deem advantageous to the state;
12. To grant refunds of moneys erroneously received by the department,
  within two years of receipt  thereof  and  upon  satisfactory  proof  of
  entitlement,  which refunds, upon approval of the commissioner and audit
  by the State Comptroller, shall be paid from any moneys available to the
  department in the Conservation fund.
13. Notwithstanding any  other  provision  of  law,  to  regulate  the
  possession,  transportation, sale, barter and purchase of Pacific salmon
  and parts thereof; and to require  permits  or  otherwise  regulate  the
  sale, barter and purchase of raw or unprocessed Pacific salmon eggs.
14.   Notwithstanding   any   inconsistent   provision   of  law,  the
  commissioner may designate no more than eight days  in  each  year  that
  shall  be effective in every administrative region of the department, as
  free sport fishing days during which any person may,  without  having  a
  sport  fishing  license and without the payment of any fee, exercise the
  privileges of a holder of a sport fishing license, subject to all of the
  limitations,  restrictions,  conditions,  laws,  rules  and  regulations
  applicable  to the holder of a sport fishing license. Free sport fishing
  days shall be designated in a manner determined  by  the  department  to
  best  provide public notice thereof and to maximize public participation
  therein, so as to promote the  recreational  opportunities  afforded  by
  sport fishing.
15.  To  identify,  manage and conserve plants, animals and ecological
  communities that are rare in New  York  state,  located  on  state-owned
  lands under the jurisdiction of the department.
16.  Notwithstanding  any  inconsistent provision of law, to authorize
  free sport fishing clinics. A free sport fishing clinic  shall  include,
  but  not  be  limited  to,  instruction  provided  by  employees  of the
  department or  its  designee  in  recreational  angling,  including  its
  benefits  and  values,  and  may  also  include  instruction  and  other
  information relevant to an understanding of fisheries management, ethics
  and aquatic ecology and  habitat.  No  license  or  recreational  marine
  fishing   registration  is  required  to  take  fish  by  angling  while
  participating in a fishing clinic conducted by  the  department  or  its
  designee  that  has  been designated by the commissioner as a free sport
  fishing clinic.  Such  clinics  shall  be  implemented  consistent  with
  department  standards  and  in  a manner determined by the department to
  best provide public notice thereof and to maximize public  participation
  therein,  so  as  to  promote the recreational opportunities afforded by
  sport  fishing.  Further,  the  commissioner  may  designate  additional
  fishing events organized through the department that provide physical or
  emotional  rehabilitation  for veterans, as defined in subdivision three
  of section one of the veterans' services law, or active duty members  of
  the armed forces of the United States. No license or recreational marine
  fishing  registration shall be required for such veterans or active duty
  members to take fish by angling while participating in these events.
17. To prepare or cause to be prepared voluntary  habitat  stamps  and
  furnish  such stamps annually to license issuing agents and officers for
  sale and issuance in the same manner as  licenses  and  other  types  of
  stamps. The department shall, by rule, establish the fee for the habitat
  stamp which shall be no less than five dollars plus an additional amount
  for  the  issuing agent or officer. The purchase of a stamp is voluntary
  and a stamp need not be possessed in order to take fish or wildlife.
18. To provide a mechanism for a one dollar voluntary contribution  to
  the  venison  donation  account  on  all  hunting  and  fishing  license
  applications administered by the department. The option to  utilize  the
  mechanism  shall  be voluntary and the mechanism need not be utilized in
  order to process hunting or fishing license applications.