THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Proposals to study the environmental effects of unattended crab pots and to study black sea bass fishing gear are apparently ineligible for funding as part of a new $1 million fisheries grant program.
According to North Carolina's Attorney General's Office, those two grant proposals pose ethical problems for the state Marine Fisheries Commission.
A separate study, suggested by the son of a member of the grant selection committee, proposed to study the sizes of gray trout caught in gill nets. While that proposal is not in direct conflict with the selection committee, it could be perceived as a conflict of interest if the grant is awarded, the Attorney General's Office said.
Meanwhile, questions raised over possible ethics violations in the fisheries grant selection process have led the state's top fisheries regulator to call for a detailed review of potential conflicts of interest among fisheries managers. The regulator also asked fisheries officials to develop an ethics policy to prevent such problems in the future.
``I'm interested in taking this issue a step further,'' said Robert V. Lucas, chairman of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission. ``We need to look at this issue of conflict of interest because it's going to come up again.
Lucas said he asked for the opinion from the Attorney General's Office, made in the form of an advisory opinion dated March 7, so the commission could be prepared to act on the grants when it meets next week in New Bern.
Daniel C. Oakley, senior deputy attorney general, and Timothy D. Nifong, assistant attorney general, said that if the commission awards an $11,000 grant to Jodie Gay, a commercial fishermen from Hampstead, and a $6,310 grant to his wife Terry, the commission would violate state ethical standards.
``In our opinion, the situation with which you have your principle concern, the potential grant of fishery resource funds to members of the Marine Fisheries Commission, falls within the coverage'' of conflict of interest statutes, Oakley and Nifong wrote.
Oakley and Nifong wrote, however, that if the commission does not award the grants to the Gays, no violation has occurred. ``Of course, no violation exists under this statute unless or until the commission actually awards contracts to persons who fall within . . . that provision,'' the attorneys wrote.
Oakley and Nifong added that although awarding a $17,000 grant to Brian Shepard and New River Nets of Sneads Ferry does not pose a direct conflict of interest, it could be perceived as one.
New River Nets is a commercial fishing concern owned, in part, by Melvin Shepard, a member of the grant selection committee, and Brian Shepard, his son.
Lucas said Wednesday afternoon that he will ask the Marine Fisheries Commission to disqualify the two grant applications submitted on behalf of Jodie and Terry Gay. Lucas said he will leave it to the commission to decide whether to disqualify Brian Shepard's grant because of his father's involvement in the selection process. But Lucas added that he will vote against awarding that grant.
The fisheries grant program was established last year as a way to encourage innovative fisheries research projects and fishermen to participate in fisheries research and management, much like agriculture research projects that involve farmers in field tests.
Lucas appointed Dirk Frankenberg, a Marine Fisheries Commission member and scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to head a seven-member panel to evaluate the nearly 145 grant applications prepared by fishermen and other groups.
During a two-day meeting last week in Morehead City, the committee culled the list of nearly 145 applications for research projects which totaled more than $8.6 million to a list of 41 projects totaling $959,561. But when the panel released its recommendations, three of the 41 grants that will be recommended for funding by the commission were to be awarded to members of the grant selection committee or their family members - or to organizations to which committee members belonged.
Such apparent conflict sparked claims from some in the state's coastal fishing community of ethics violations on the part of some committee members.
The controversy comes at a critical time for the program as one panel of state lawmakers is considering cuts in the grant program as a way to help pay for various tax cuts offered by state leaders.
Lucas said Wednesday that he hopes the commission's fast response to questions raised about the grant process will prevent any long-term damage to the program. by CNB