THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020576
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
A proposed fishing license for coastal anglers faces a key test today when the state Marine Fisheries Commission decides whether to accept a study committee's recommendations.
Interviews with panel members indicated that the commission will endorse the controversial proposal.
``The vote will not be unanimous, but I think there's general support for the license,'' said Robert V. Lucas, commission chairman and a Selma lawyer. ``I support what the study committee did and will recommend that the commission approve the plan.''
If the commission endorses the license, the legislature's reception for the proposal is not likely to be cordial next year, said one incoming House leader and a senior coastal legislator.
Smithfield Republican N. Leo Daughtry, who will be the House majority leader, said in an interview in Raleigh that he and other legislators have ``serious concerns'' about the proposal.
Based on his conversations with sports fishermen and others in the recreational fishing industry, Daughtry said many legislators see the proposed license as an undue burden on the sports fishing community and an unfair tax by state fisheries regulators on a group that is not responsible for the decreasing numbers of fish.
Daughtry and Rep. Billy J. Creech, a Republican from Wilson's Mills, are scheduled to meet with the commission Saturday morning.
Despite the apparently dim outlook for the license next year,Daughtry said the new Republican majority in the House is willing to do ``what it takes'' to protect and restore coastal fish populations.
While sports anglers who fish in the state's inland waters have been required to buy a license for about 50 years, recreational fishermen in the coastal waters are not.
Under a plan approved by a study committee last month, coastal sports anglers would pay $5 per week, $15 each year or $250 for a lifetime saltwater license.
Under the committee's proposal, owners of fishing piers and charter boats could exempt their patrons from the license if they buy fishing licenses whose fees would be based on the length of the pier and the length of the boat.
Fisheries managers estimate that the 626,000 sports anglers who fish in North Carolina's coastal waters - including 302,000 in-state and 324,000 out-of-state anglers - would pay about $5.9 million in license fees, including exemptions and reduced fee license sales, for all sports fishing licenses.
The plan approved by the committee calls for the establishment of a trust fund from the proceeds of license sales.
The money generated by the license would be used to enhance recreational fishing through habitat restoration, new hatcheries, improved boating and beach access, construction of submerged reefs and other fisheries programs.
Generally, commission members who favor the license say it would mean additional, more accurate data for coastal fisheries managers and more money to protect and restore the state's coastal fish populations.
Some commission members questioned this week whether the state is acting fairly in promoting sports fishing at a time when it has imposed a moratorium on commercial license sales. Others see a saltwater fishing license as a means of enhancing the influence of sports fishermen at the expense of commercial fishermen.
William A. Foster, Hatteras commercial fisherman and commission member, said he will listen to today's report before deciding how to vote on the proposal. But he said the proposed license should not have been considered separately from other fisheries issues under review by a study panel.
Lucas said similar sports fishing licenses in other states were not necessarily approved by legislatures the first time they were considered. He said he hopes the commission members will agree to seek legislative approval of the license next year despite a reduced chance of success.
The license proposal will be ``introduced as one part of a larger package of solutions'' to the state's coastal fishing woes, he said.
``I don't see it as absolutely critical that the license is approved in 1995, but what I do see as absolutely crucial is that the license be approved as part of a package of recommendations that will be part of the moratorium study,'' Lucas said.
Other commission members disagreed and said in interviews this week that a defeat of the proposal in 1995 could mean a significant delay for the license.
``Once it's killed, I think it will take several years to bring it back,'' said Curtis A. Donaldson, a commission member and sports fisherman from Weldon.
The proposed license is just one of several issues to be discussed by the commission today and Saturday.
The panel is also scheduled to vote on several proposed rule changes that were the subject of public hearings last month. And it is scheduled to hold emergency meetings on the state's plans for protecting weakfish and striped bass populations in the Atlantic and Albemarle Sound. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
PROPOSED FISHING REGULATIONS
The state Marine Fisheries Commission on Saturday approved 22 of 24
changes infisheries regulations concerning 10 fisheries issues that
were under consideration for the coming year. Most of the rule
changes will be effective March 1, 1995. Here's a look at some of
the proposals approved by the commission:
Assess violators of state fisheries rules with the cost of replacing
fish and shellfish caught illegally.
Prohibit shad and herring from to Jan. 1 through April 15.
Change the minimum size for weakfish, also known as gray trout,
caught by sports anglers to 14 inches and the catch limit to 14
fish.
Prohibit the taking of coral and live rock from state waters.
Extend the authority of the fisheries director to continue
restrictions on commercial net fishing off of Oregon Inlet and other
sections of Dare County implemented in recent years.
Allow the transfer of a vessel license from one vessel to another or
from one individual to another.
Establish procedures for appeals under the moratorium on commercial
fishing licenses.
by CNB