THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503180316
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A ban on herring-fishing in most of April, one of the industry's busiest months, will remain in effect despite complaints from watermen.
The Marine Fisheries Commission took no action Friday to repeal the measure, and instead asked herring fishermen for their support.
The commission wants to develop a plan that would reduce industrial pollution entering the Albemarle Sound and its tributaries and lead to less stringent restrictions on fishermen in the future.
``This commission does indeed want to work with the commercial fisherman,'' said commission member Kurt Fickling of Greenville. ``It is a very tough issue because it certainly does affect the livelihood of a certain number of people.''
By taking no action to repeal or rescind the rule, the commission, as expected, upheld its Dec. 3 vote - one of its most controversial decisions in recent years - to prohibit herring and shad fishing statewide from April 15 through Jan. 1.
Lawyers for the commission said that because the rule went into effect March 1, along with several other new fisheries rules, the commission would have to repeal the measure in order to re-open herring fishing this year - a move that would require public hearings and additional debate.
Jamesville officials, who wanted a two-day suspension of the rules to allow herring fishing in the Roanoke River during their annual Herring Festival set for April 17, said the panel's decision will have little effect on their festival.
``A lot of people like to come to Jamesville to see them dip herring out of the river,'' said Jamesville Mayor Earl Sawyer, in an interview after the meeting. ``It's a tradition.''
``But I think it will be all right for one year,'' he said.
However, a spokesmen for a watermen's group said the commission's decision may be challenged in court.
``What the commission doesn't seem to be able to grasp is that they took something to public hearing without having the information they needed to make an informed decision,'' said Jerry Schill, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a commercial fishing trade group in New Bern. ``They just don't get it.''
But commission Chairman Robert V. Lucas said he is confident the commission's action will stand up to a legal challenge.
``I think we have abided by the law in terms of our duty to protect the resource,'' he said.
Herring fishermen say the ban has effectively ended commercial herring fishing on the Chowan River and has penalized them for a decline in the state's herring catch, even though, they say, they did not cause that decline. by CNB