ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — State environmental officials are planning public meetings in an effort to reform New York's commercial fishing license system.

The sessions to be conducted by the Department of Environmental Conservation will be over a three-week period beginning in late July. That will allow officials to gather feedback from key stakeholders about the current system and ideas for reforms to modernize and improve it.

New York's current licensing system has evolved over the past 30 years in response to changing fish populations in state waters, and the system has become complex.

Marine fisheries consultant George LaPointe will preside at the meetings, which begin July 30 at Kingsborough County College in Brooklyn.

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