THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505010076
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Coastal anglers might be closely watching the state Senate over the next two weeks as one local senator considers whether the state should withdraw from a 15-state compact that manages migratory fish.
Sen. Beverly M. Perdue, a Craven County Democrat, said she will file a bill this week in the Senate that will give the state's commercial and sports fishermen, fisheries managers and other coastal interests time to make their case regarding North Carolina's membership in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Facing a bill-filing deadline, Perdue said she intends to file a blank bill, or legislation introduced without any text, to give herself and legislative staff members time to evaluate whether withdrawal from the compact will be in North Carolina's best interest.
``I promised the commercial fishermen in my district that I would file a bill,'' Perdue said last week. ``But the coastal senators don't want to do anything until we are certain that we won't be bound to the ASMFC as captive.''
Most lawyers with expertise in fisheries and environmental issues generally agree that North Carolina would be required to follow AFMFC fisheries policies even if the state withdraws from the compact.
They also generally agree that the state would lose most, if not all, of its voting privileges if it withdraws.
In an April 7 informal advisory to Rep. Jean R. Preston, a Carteret County Republican, lawyers with the state attorney general's office wrote that ``the result of withdrawal from the ASMFC would be that North Carolina would be held to the terms of any Commission fishery management plans, without the benefit of voting on those plans.''
But not all coastal fishing interests agree with or accept these findings.
The North Carolina Fisheries Association, a commercial fishing trade group, is expected to issue a report this week intended to prove that North Carolina will not have to comply with ASMFC mandates if it withdraws, according to Jerry Schill, executive director of the organization.
Association members were asked last week to send fax their senators to support North Carolina's withdrawal, according to one trade group memo.
Earlier this year, the Virginia legislature approved a measure calling for the state to withdraw from the ASMFC in 1996.
Since then, commercial fishermen throughout eastern North Carolina have advocated a similar move for their state, and most recently one group of commercial anglers spent the day in Raleigh lobbying for the move.
Commercial fishermen say the ASMFC has not lived up to its statutory obligations to hold public hearings and to involve commercial fishermen in developing fisheries management plans.But many sports fishing interests, most coastal legislators and most fisheries regulators oppose withdrawal, saying it would hurt the state's coastal fishing industry.
Last month Preston introduced legislation which calls for a one-year review by a House and Senate panel of the ASMFC.
The committee, which studies seafood and aquaculture issues, would report its findings to the legislature in May 1996, the same time another committee, studying the state's fisheries management structure, is scheduled to report its findings.
The bill is intended to be a compromise between those who want immediate withdrawal from the compact and those who say such action would devastate the state's coastal fishing industry, according to Preston.
Fishing in the state's coastal waters is governed by state laws and by rules enacted by the 17-member Marine Fisheries Commission, whose members are appointed by the governor.
But fish that migrate along the Atlantic Coast - such as striped bass, Spanish mackerel, flounder and weakfish - are also under the purview of the ASMFC, established in 1942 to recommend fisheries management strategies for its member states from Maine to Florida.
The ASMFC fisheries management program, begun in 1980, develops cooperative management plans for marine, estuarine and migratory fish along the Atlantic Coast.
Before 1993, compliance with most of these plans was voluntary. But in 1993, Congress adopted the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, which required states to comply with ASMFC plans or face sanctions - such as a moratorium on fishing for a particular species.
Bills introduced in the General Assembly must pass one chamber by May 11 in order to be considered during the remainder of the session.
Perdue said a review of the state's options regarding the ASMFC is expected to be completed in time for her bill to meet that deadline.
KEYWORDS: FISHING INDUSTRY NORTH CAROLINA REGULATION
by CNB