THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505200378
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
A panel that oversees the state's coastal fishing industry is seeking to expand its authority over the commercial ocean flounder catch to help protect North Carolina fishermen later this year.
The state Marine Fisheries Commission voted unanimously on Friday to seek legislative approval this year for a bill that would give the panel the authority to enact limits on the ocean flounder catch when the state's ports reopen to the fish.
If the General Assembly gives the commission the power to restrict the catch, the commission could enact the restrictions at its September meeting, in time to benefit commercial fishermen later this year
``We think this is the way to proceed and we're moving in this direction,'' said fisheries Director Bruce L. Freeman.
Commission members generally agreed on extending the commission's powers over the number of vessels that can participate in the industry and the amount of fish they can catch this fall.
``I feel like this is the right method,'' said Commissioner W. Kurt Fickling, a Greenville sports angler. ``We're going to have more and more out of state boats and we need to protect North Carolina fishermen.''
But some commercial fishermen on the panel said they want the state to take a tougher stand against out-of-state boats that have been landing flounder catches at North Carolina ports.
Freeman said the legislation is needed because state statutes do not allow the Marine Fisheries Commission to limit the number of boats participating in the commercial flounder industry in the Atlantic.
Earlier this month, Freeman halted the landing of all flounder caught in the Atlantic Ocean by commercial gear at North Carolina's ports bringing to an early end the state's most valuable finfish catch.
By halting the ocean flounder fishing early, the state will probably have enough of its quota left to allow commercial fishermen to land ocean flounder in November and December, traditionally valuable months for the fishery in North Carolina, Freeman said.
About 700,000 pounds of ocean flounder are available for commercial fishermen to land at North Carolina ports for the rest of the year and without enacting some types of restrictions on the amount of fish each vessel can land or on the number of boats that can participate in the industry in the fall, that quota would be depleted in days, Freeman said.
``We would reach the quota very rapidly,'' he said.
Freeman decided to halt flounder landings after meeting earlier this month at a Washington, N.C. restaurant with commercial flounder fishermen.
Atlantic Coast states from North Carolina - the southern range of the summer flounder - to Maine are in the fourth year of a 10-year recovery plan for summer flounder.
The plan is managed by the Mid-Atlantic Council of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
The plan, intended to restore flounder stocks, which have dwindled in recent years, sets annual commercial and sports fishing quotas for Atlantic Coast states within the flounder's migratory range.
The 1995 commercial quota is 14,690,407 pounds, with North Carolina's quota accounting for 4,031,905 pounds, or about 27 percent of the total.
As of April 22, about 3.032 million pounds, or about 75 percent of that quota had been landed, leaving less than 1 million pounds available for commercial fishermen, who traditionally have caught more than 900,000 pounds of flounder in the ocean during November and December.
In the past, North Carolina had a surplus of its flounder quota, but that situation changed this year as greater numbers of fishermen - closed out of traditional fishing grounds and industries to the North - have come to North Carolina, Freeman said.
Faced with two options - halt flounder fishing now and conserve some of the quota for the fall or continue flounder fishing until the quota is depleted - opinions among the two dozen fishermen who met with Freeman were divided.
But most felt the best action would be to halt flounder fishing now and conserve some of the quota for later this year.
KEYWORDS: FISHING INDUSTRY FLOUNDER by CNB