THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504010239
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
A two-year freeze on the sale of virtually all new commercial fishing licenses should be extended by a year to give legislators and regulators time to implement a new fisheries management plan, the state's top fisheries official said Friday.
Robert V. Lucas, chairman of the state Marine Fisheries Commission, said he will seek a one-year extension to the current ban on commercial license sales while North Carolina lawmakers and fisheries managers overhaul the coastal fishing programs.
``If we are going to have in this state a viable commercial fishery, we have got to make fundamental changes,'' Lucas said. ``And to do that . . . the moratorium will need to be extended one additional year.''
Lucas recommended the proposal at a meeting of three state environmental policy commissions - the Marine Fisheries Commission, the Environmental Management Commission and the Coastal Resources Commission.
His proposal was supported by most commercial and recreational fishermen interviewed Friday.
``Most of the rank and file fishermen that I know are in favor of extending this moratorium until things can be worked out,'' said Terry Pratt, a commercial fisherman from Merry Hill. ``There's a limited amount of water and a growing number of commercial fishermen.''
One key coastal legislator gave her tentative support to Lucas' idea but another questioned whether an extension was needed. Rep. Jean Preston, a Carteret County Republican, said she would likely support an extension of the moratorium.
``We certainly don't want to rush into anything,'' she said Friday from her Emerald Isle home. ``If the delay can be justified, then I would be in favor of it.
Preston was recently named co-chairman of a House and Senate committee that studies seafood and aquaculture issues and would be a key player in any legislative debate over an extension of the moratorium.
But another key coastal legislator, Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Dare County Democrat, said he wasn't convinced an extension is needed.
``The General Assembly doesn't need the review time,'' Basnight said Friday from his home in Manteo. ``There wouldn't be much work on a proposal like this.''
Last summer, the General Assembly approved a two-year moratorium on the sale of most commercial fishing licenses to curb the influx of new fishermen depleting fish stocks.
The moratorium, which went into effect July 1, is scheduled to end July 1, 1996.
Under Lucas' timetable, the moratorium study committee would report its findings to the General Assembly in May 1996 and the ban on commercial licenses would remain in effect until July 1, 1997 - giving the state legislature time to implement some of the less controversial recommendations and an additional year to study some of the more controversial proposals. by CNB