Section 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 two 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 no
  more than four free sport fishing clinics in each year for each separate
  administrative  region  of the department, provided however that nothing
  in this  subdivision  shall  preclude  the  department  from  conducting
  additional  free  sport  fishing  clinics during free sport fishing days
  designated by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision fifteen  of  this
  section.  A  free sport fishing clinic shall include, but not be limited
  to, instruction provided by employees of the department 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
  is  required  to  take  fish by angling while participating in a fishing
  clinic conducted by the department  that  has  been  designated  by  the
  commissioner  as  a  free  sport  fishing  clinic. Such clinics shall be
  implemented 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.
    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 not exceed 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.