THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230453
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The state's embattled chief fisheries enforcement officer tangled Tuesday with the chairman of the Marine Fisheries Commission in a heated meeting on a request for more money to uphold state laws.
The law-enforcement section needs $1.28 million more from the state next year to improve enforcement programs, said Fred Swain, chief of the division's enforcement section.
But Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert V. Lucas, a Selma lawyer, said Swain had not done enough to justify his request.
The sharp exchange Tuesday between Swain and Lucas led one legislator to criticize the division as being disorganized and divided over its needs. He said the exchange gave credence to newspaper reports about enforcement problems.
While some members of the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture said they generally would support Swain's request for more funds, some members questioned the agency's organization and effectiveness.
Swain said he was unhappy with ``the things that I've seen in the newspaper lately. We've made a lot of inroads that have not been mentioned in the newspaper.
``Eventually the criticism will go away with the money we have coming in,'' he said.
The state's program of enforcing fisheries regulations has come under attack this year by scientists, fishermen and former fisheries regulators who say the Division of Marine Fisheries enforcement section is disorganized and inefficient in enforcing coastal fisheries regulations.
Forty-seven enforcement officers cover 2.4 million acres of state waters. Each writes fewer than two tickets a month. And nearly one-third of the division's boats are in disrepair, according to a recent report by The News & Observer in Raleigh.
In a report last week, the newspaper alleged that laws protecting the state's fishing industry have gone unenforced in northeastern North Carolina, the most productive section of the coast. The paper contended Senate leader Marc Basnight used his political power to keep tickets from being issued, a charge the Manteo Democrat has angrily denied.
Commission member Gerry Smith, a commercial fisherman from Carteret County, said that commercial fishermen in his area of the coast don't fear getting tickets from fisheries enforcement officers ``because we never see them.''
Said Swain: ``I just don't know how some of these people can do any more than they're doing right now. We just haven't had the equipment we need to do the job.''
Swain's budget request includes $226,758 for seven additional fisheries enforcement officers and uniforms; about $317,840 for employee training and travel expenses; $150,000 for new boats and $562,321 for new equipment, including communications equipment.
The outburst between Swain and Lucas startled some commission members.``I'm just astounded at the exchange I have just witnessed,'' said Rep. W. Robert Grady, R-Onslow. ``That conversation just taught me a lot. I take the allegations in the articles very seriously.''
Grady, the dean of the Republican Party's coastal delegation in the House, has served as the sole Republican member of the seafood and aquaculture commission for over five years and is expected to play an increasingly important role in fisheries issues when the General Assembly convenes early next year.
But Rep. David Redwine, D-Brunswick, who serves as co-chairman of the study commission, said it's time the legislature took steps to improve its enforcement of fisheries regulations.
``We do need some help in our enforcement area,'' he said. ``What we've got in marine fisheries is we've got the Model T . . . and we've got to do something.''
KEYWORDS: NORTH CAROLINA MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION BUDGET
by CNB