THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250313
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
This week, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission approved $905,251 in grants for 38 projects that will help develop innovative fishing practices, new ways to process seafood and new methods of restoring the state's dwindling fish populations.
In approving the grants, the commission stipulated that research work be monitored by the directors of the agency's regional office and that grant recipients submit quarterly reports on their progress.
The state's top fisheries officials said Thursday that the commission's actions should end questions raised about ethics violations that were associated with the grants.
``The process was handled very thoroughly and professionally,'' said Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert V. Lucas. ``There are probably no grants in the history of North Carolina that have gotten a more thorough review than these.
``We have dealt with the matter of any actual and perceived conflict. And all of it was done in an open forum.''
But not all members of the Marine Fisheries Commission are happy with the program.
Jule Wheatly, a commercial fisherman from Beaufort, told the Jacksonville Daily News that the grants are a waste of money and should be halted.
The fisheries grant program has been the subject of controversy for the past three weeks since a grant review committee, charged with winnowing the application pool to match the available funds, released its recommendations.
During a two-day meeting earlier this month in Morehead City, the committee culled a list of nearly 145 applications for research projects that totaled more than $8.6 million to a list of 41 projects totaling $959,561.
But three of the 41 grants that the fisheries commission recommended for funding had been requested by members of the grant selection committee or their families - or had business ties with grant selection committee members. Those ties to the selection committee sparked claims of ethics violations from some members of the state's coastal fishing community.
Two applicants for the grants - Jodie Gay, a commercial fisherman from Hampstead and a member of the Marine Fisheries Commission - and his wife, Terry, withdrew their requests for $17,310 for two grants to study sea bass pots and unattended crab pots.
On Thursday, the commission voted 7-4 to disqualify a $17,000 grant application from Brian Shepard because his father, Melvin Shepard, served as a member of the grant review committee.
The commission also voted to set aside a $30,000 grant for M.N. ``Tom'' Caroon of Oriental to study new blue crab pasteurization, packaging and processing techniques and substituted a $10,000 grant from the Carteret County Marine Fisheries Advisory Board of Beaufort to study salt water intrusion in the Newport River.
Four grants totaling $73,971 for Albemarle area research projects were approved as follows:
Lloyd L. Barnes of Hertford, a $20,471 grant to study fyke net alternatives to gill nets;
Scott G. Keefe of Winfall, a $23,000 grant to study striped bass bycatch in flounder gill nets;
Mattamuskeet Seafood Inc. of Swan Quarter, a $7,000 grant to study ways to use crab processing waste;
Robert A. West of Buxton, a $23,500 grant to document and monitor dissolved oxygen levels in the Pamlico Sound.
The controversy over the grants came at a critical time for the program. One panel of state lawmakers targeted the grant program for elimination as a way to help pay for various tax cuts offered by state leaders.
Lucas said he hopes the commission's fast response to questions raised about the grant process will prevent long-term damage to the program.
``I am satisfied that we have a good group of studies proposed,'' he said. ``Any politician concerned about the program might want to take the opportunity to review these grants because there is a lot of merit there.''
The fisheries grant program - a brainchild of Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare - 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. by CNB