THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506030327
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Congressional debate over the future of the federal Clean Water Act seeped into discussions of state fisheries management and water quality again this week as one North Carolina fisheries official questioned the role of a state commercial fishing trade group, saying its efforts could weaken the act.
JoAnn Burkholder, a member of the state Marine Fisheries Commission and chairman of its committee on habitat and water quality issues, sought support on Friday from the state's largest commercial fishing trade group for strong legislation protecting the nation's waterways.
In the process, Burkholder questioned Jerry Schill, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, about his involvement in the Alliance for America. The Alliance is a nationwide umbrella organization of about 650 grass-roots groups, some of whose members support weakening the Clean Water Act.
Schill is the southeast regional director of the Alliance for America and is chairman of the group's Fly-In for Freedom, a national meeting of alliance organizations that will be held June 10-14 in Washington, D.C.
Schill said his participation in the Alliance for America, as well as the fisheries association's membership in the group, has been publicized for at least three years. Such affiliation does not mean he or the association agrees with every other alliance member on every issue, he said.
``Any group of any size whatsoever is going to have differing opinions,'' Schill said. ``It's an educational forum. That's what the alliance is all about.''
Burkholder originally inquired about the organization and Schill's role in it two weeks ago at a meeting of the state Marine Fisheries Commission in Greenville.
Her inquiry has led other policy makers and some commercial fishing advocates to question whether Schill's involvement in the organization and its goals is consistent with growing concerns among commercial fishermen over declines in water quality and loss of valuable fisheries habitat.
In recent months, commercial fishermen have asked repeatedly for more help from the state's Marine Fisheries Commission in protecting water quality and preserving valuable marine habitat.
Partially in response to concerns from commercial fishermen, the fisheries commission has sought to play a more active role in water quality issues, Burkholder said.
``We're only interested in making sure that the battle we're fighting on the Marine Fisheries Commission over water quality you're with us on,'' Burkholder told Schill. ``We need folks getting out there to support the Clean Water Act.''
Questioned last week about their group's participation in the alliance, some North Carolina Fisheries Association board members either said they did not know what the Alliance for America is or said they were not aware of the alliance's involvement with the Clean Water Act.
Among those board members questioned was Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert V. Lucas, who was appointed to the fisheries association's board by Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr.
``The Alliance for America has never been brought up at a meeting I have been to,'' Lucas said Friday. ``I wasn't aware of it.''
Lucas said receiving the fisheries association's support for strong water quality protection measures and expanding the Marine Fisheries Commission's jurisdiction into water quality issues is more important than questions about organizations the group has joined.
Boasting at least 5 million members nationwide, the Alliance for America began monitoring and coordinating the national property rights movement in the late 1980s. Its mission is ``finally bringing human concerns into the environmental debate,'' to balance environmental issues with economic concerns, according to Harry McIntosh, vice president of the group.
The organization operates a computer and fax center out of its headquarters in Caroga Lake, N.Y.
The North Carolina Fisheries Association has focused its activities in the alliance primarily on the Endangered Species Act. The Act, the group has said, requires commercial fishermen to protect endangered and threatened sea turtles at great expense to the fishermen, but does not adequately address the issues of habitat loss that also have contributed to the decline in the sea turtle population. by CNB