THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502260039
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Commercial and sports anglers who violate state fisheries regulations could be hit with additional costs for their actions under a new marine fisheries rule that will go into effect Wednesday.
The state Division of Marine Fisheries will begin seeking reimbursement for investigative and replacement costs from serious violators of fisheries regulations.
Regulators said the new rule will serve as an incentive for fishermen to comply with fisheries rules and will provide additional money for improving the state's stocks of fish and shellfish.
And they said the new regulation is just the first in a series of steps the commission and the state legislature should take over the next year to deter anglers from violating fishing rules.
``We feel this is a very positive step the commission has taken,'' said Jess Hawkins, a policy analyst for the panel.
The Marine Fisheries Commission and the state Wildlife Resources Commission have had the authority for about 15 years to assess rule-breakers for replacement and investigative costs. While the wildlife commission has assessed violators with the costs of investigating violations of hunting and inland fishing regulations, and has sought replacement costs for a variety of fish and wildlife species, the marine fisheries panel has not.
Jerry Schill, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a commercial fishing trade group in New Bern, said the new regulations will be a deterrent to fisheries-rules violators. But the best deterrent the division could use, he added, is to enforce and advertise some of its existing rules, much as the state enforces and advertises its drunken-driving statutes.
``The whole impetus behind this was good,'' Schill said Friday. ``There's no doubt that this is going to have a deterring effect. But the real problem might be that law enforcement is not doing their job.''
Establishing replacement and investigative costs that can be levied against violators of fisheries regulations is just one of several new fisheries rules scheduled to go into effect Wednesday. Among the other new rules of interest to Albemarle-area fishermen:
Prohibit the taking of coral and live rock from state water.
Extend the authority of the fisheries director to continue restrictions on commercial net fishing off Oregon Inlet and other sections of Dare County implemented in recent years.
Prohibit shad and herring from April 15 through Jan. 1.
Change the size limit for weakfish, also known as gray trout, caught by sports anglers to 14 inches.
Fishermen, under current rules, can be assessed fines of $25 to $2,500 for violating fisheries regulations.
The new regulations establish replacement costs for about 12 different coastal fish and shellfish based on the cost of reproducing and raising those fish in hatcheries. These costs range from $80.28 per pound for a 30-inch Atlantic sturgeon to 35 cents a pound for a 13-inch Atlantic menhaden.
The new regulations set guidelines for assessing investigative costs, including the amount of time, miles traveled by fisheries enforcement officers, the use of division or rental boats and motors and any unusual expenses.
Under the new regulations, fisheries enforcement officers can seek replacement and investigative costs from a judge hearing a case involving a fisheries violation. The costs could then be assessed in addition to any fine or sentence levied by the judge.
Under previous rules, for example, a fisherman caught with 100 pounds of undersized speckled trout would be issued a standard citation, about $65 for court costs plus any fine. Under the new regulation, the division could ask the judge hearing the case to assess a replacement cost for the speckled trout of $117, with the further possibility of investigative costs being levied against the violator. by CNB