THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 29, 1994 TAG: 9408290035
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTIC BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
A committee that has been studying for the last seven months whether to seek a saltwater fishing license for North Carolina's sports fishermen may decide to delay for one year seeking legislative approval of the license, according to the committee chairman.
Michael K. Orbach, chairman of the committee, said the panel might want to delay its push for a new license until the 1996 session of the General Assembly, instead of next year as originally planned.
``We constructed this exercise to aim for the 1995 session,'' Orbach said. ``But recently there are several issues that have arisen . . . that make me think we might want to put off discussion about a new license until 1996.'' The delay would give the Division of Marine Fisheries and the Marine Fisheries Commission time to deal with the current moratorium on new commercial fishing licenses and a related study of the industry. And the division staff is already pressed to handle moratorium appeals and implement a new fisheries grant program approved by the General Assembly earlier this year, he said.
Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert V. Lucas, a Selma lawyer, agreed Saturday that the timing may not be right to press ahead for the new license.
``I think we're going to have a saltwater fishing license,'' said Lucas. ``The question is on the timing.''
Lucas and other members of the commission Saturday got their first look at the latest proposal now before a committee of sports fishing interests and other groups that have been studying the license. A legislative panel studying seafood and aquaculture issues will get its first look at the proposed license next week.
The license study committee is scheduled to make its final recommendations to the commission in December.
The plan requires sports anglers to pay either $5 per week, $15 each year, or $250 for a lifetime license in order to fish in the state's coastal waters.
Owners of fishing piers and charter boats can exempt their patrons from the license if they buy fishing licenses whose fees will be based on the length of the pier and the length of the boat, under the plan.
Children under 16 and subsistence fishermen will not have to buy a license, and the elderly and handicapped or disabled fisherman would pay a reduced one-time license fee under the committee's plan.
The license faces several hurdles, including additional scrutiny by the sports fishing community and approval by the General Assembly before it becomes law.
Generally, proponents of a saltwater fishing license for sports fishermen say the revenue from license sales could be used to better manage and conserve the state's sports fisheries. Opponents of the license fear that tourism along North Carolina's coast will drop if the state institutes a saltwater fishing license because fishermen will opt to vacation in states without such a license or where license fees are lower.
While North Carolina requires recreational anglers to be licensed to fish in its inland waters, it is one of the few states that do not require sports anglers to be licensed to fish in coastal waters. Other states along the south Atlantic Coast charge between $5 and $12 for a saltwater fishing license.
Nags Head tackle shop owner Damon Tatem said Saturday that to delay the license a year would cost fisheries managers valuable momentum that has been gained in the sports fishing community in recent weeks. But he said many questions about the license remain. ILLUSTRATION: Staff graphic by Steve Stone
SALTWATER RECREATIONAL FISHING LICENSE
[Lists the costs of fishing licenses]
For copy of graphic, see microfilm.
by CNB