THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070518
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Outraged coastal legislators shouted at their colleagues, and a hostile crowd of commercial fishermen heckled a bipartisan group of legislators at a raucous news conference Thursday.
The outbursts came in the state legislative building at the unveiling of a bill that could lead to a ban on most fishing nets in the state's sounds and rivers.
Rep. W.O. ``Billy'' Richardson, a Cumberland County Democrat, said it's time to give the state's voters a say in fisheries management. He is sponsoring legislation that calls for a non-binding referendum in November 1996 on whether the state should ban nets in places like the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds and the Neuse and Pamlico rivers.
The referendum, if successful, could give legislators the support they need to enact sweeping changes to the state's commercial fishing industry. The changes would affect commercial fishermen all along the coast, where nets are routinely used to catch most species of fish and some shellfish.
Richardson said his experiences as a boy at the side of his grandfather, a shrimp fisherman, and his concerns about declines in coastal fish populations led him to sponsor the measure.
``We are fighting a losing battle and if we don't do something about it, we're all going to lose,'' Richardson said.
Richardson was joined at the press conference by a group of recreational fishermen from Fayetteville and four Republican House members, who co-sponsored the bill: Reps. James S.
``Sam'' Ellis, R-Wake; Robert C. ``Robin'' Hayes, R-Cabarrus, House minority whip; Daniel F. McComas, R-New Hanover, and Dennis A. Reynolds, R-Alamance.
Rep. W. Robert Grady, R-Onslow, interrupted the briefing to criticize Richardson and his Republican colleagues for failing to consult with coastal legislators before introducing the bill.
``We're very disappointed that you didn't ask our opinions,'' Grady said. ``You could have at least consulted with the people who represent commercial fishermen.''
The tenor of Thursday's press conference was unprecedented among recent legislative events.
Richardson's meeting with reporters drew about 60 commercial fishermen and their families from Dare, Carteret and Pamlico counties, and six coastal legislators who said they would do everything they could to block the measure.
``There will be a long, hard-fought battle over this issue,'' said Sen. Beverly Perdue, a Craven County Democrat. ``And the fight has just begun.''
North Carolina is the most recent entrant in a national debate over the use of commercial fishing nets.
In November, Florida's voters approved a ballot initiative similar to Richardson's bill that bans the use of commercial nets in coastal and inshore waters. Texas and parts of California have similar restrictions and Washington and Oregon are considering some form of net ban.
But North Carolina is unique among coastal states in its extensive estuarine system and its use of nets in internal coastal waters.
Of North Carolina's 22 principal coastal fin-fish species, 14 were listed in 1992 by the state Division of Marine Fisheries as stressed or overfished. Those listed included Atlantic croaker, summer flounder, river herring, spot and weakfish.
Of the state's six principal shellfish and mollusk species, three are listed by the division as stressed or overfished, including clams, oysters and scallops.
Only the state's blue crab, shrimp, Spanish and king mackerel, southern flounder and Atlantic menhaden were listed as healthy, according to division data.
Commercial fishermen attending the press conference said that banning net fishing would not restore fish stocks, but would devastate the commercial fishing industry.
A net ban would place most of the regulatory burden on commercial fishermen, they said, just one of the contributors to the decline in fish stocks. But a ban would accomplish little to curb pollution entering the state's waters or to stop habitat destruction, two major causes of declines in some fish populations, said Robert A. Nelson, a commercial fisherman from Atlantic.
``Every dollar I make, I make commercial fishing but it's really not the problem,'' Nelson said. ``There are only about 6,000 to 7,000 full-time commercial fishermen, but we get blamed for depleting the fish stocks.'' ILLUSTRATION: NET BAN PROPOSAL
Here's a look at the proposal, introduced by Rep. Billy
Richardson, D-Cumberland, that calls for a referendum on limiting
marine net fishing:
The bill calls for a voter referendum in November 1996 on
limiting nets in state's sounds and coastal rivers.
The referendum, if approved, would not bind state lawmakers to
any specific action.
The referendum would ask voters to prohibit the use of
entangling nets in estuarine waters and to limit the size of nets
used by trawlers in those waters to less than 500 square feet of
mesh area and no more than two nets per vessel.
The proposal is expected to be introduced in the legislature
early next week.
For a copy of the bill, call the legislative library, (919)
733-7778, ask for the bill number and then call the printed bills
office in the state legislature at (919) 733- 5648.
by CNB