THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507050043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
The state Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to respond Friday to a proposed federal closure of offshore waters to the catch and possession of weakfish.
Politics more than conservation could drive the commission's response, some of its members have said, when the panel meets in New Bern.
The 17-member commission - which oversees management of the state's coastal fishing industry - is expected to oppose closure.
The commission could also vote Friday to consider changes in the minimum size for weakfish, along with other measures to be reviewed for possible rule changes in Wilmington in September.
But such a change may be too hot for the commission to handle - at least this week, during negotiations for fisheries budgets in the General Assembly.
One fisheries official said privately last week that the commission should consider increasing the minimum size for weakfish caught by commercial fishermen from 10 to 12 inches, and reduce the minimum size for weakfish caught by sports anglers from 14 to 12 inches.
The changes would mean a uniform minimum size for commercial and sports anglers, the official said. The changes also could help reduce conflicts among the two groups over weakfish, as well as help restore the Atlantic Coast stocks of weakfish.
But the timing of the meeting, which coincides with crucial budget negotiations for new fisheries programs in the General Assembly, may prevent the fisheries commission from recommending any controversial measures for federal fisheries managers to consider as alternatives to an outright ban.
Commercial fishermen and seafood processors from Carteret County, home of most of the state's flynet fishery, can be expected to strongly oppose a 12-inch minimum size for weakfish for commercial fishermen.
And loud cries of outrage from constituents this week would be heard by Sen. Beverly Perdue, a Craven County Democrat who represents the central coast in the state Senate and chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
More than $1.2 million in new programs and construction for the Division of Marine Fisheries - including first-time funds for the Marine Fisheries Commission and funds for a new deputy fisheries director - hangs in the balance.
The so-called ``expansion'' and capital budget approved by the House late last week included only $500,000 for new equipment purchases for fisheries law enforcement and left fisheries managers looking to the Senate for help in obtaining state money for new programs and buildings.
And any decision that would substantially hurt commercial fishermen along the central coast could also hurt the division's chances for new funds and may be delayed, some fisheries officials have said privately.
The commission meeting was called to allow its members to respond to a plan, proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, to prohibit the catch of weakfish by recreational and commercial fishermen in the Atlantic Coast Exclusive Economic Zone, a conservation zone between three and 200 miles in the Atlantic Ocean off East Coast states from Maine to Florida.
The proposal would also bar fishermen in the zone from possessing weakfish, also known as gray trout, taken incidental to catches of other species of fish.
Federal regulators have set September as a target date.
Last week, the state commission's finfish committee voted 7-3 to ``strongly oppose'' the proposed moratorium on weakfish in offshore waters and recommended that the division and the Marine Fisheries Commission also ``strongly oppose'' the plan.
Weakfish landings by both commercial and recreational fishermen along the Atlantic Coast have declined steadily in the last 30 years, from 80 million pounds landed in 1980 to 19.9 million pounds in 1990 and 8 million pounds in 1993 - about a 90 percent decrease over 13 years, according to state and federal statistics.
North Carolina officials have said the federal proposal is based on outdated data. They contend that in 1994 and 1995, the stocks of weakfish have begun to improve.
And most commercial fishermen and state fisheries regulators worry that it would leave a significant number of Hatteras commercial fishermen scrambling for something else to do this winter and could lead to a significant increase in inshore fishing.
North Carolina is expected to be one of the few Atlantic Coast states to oppose the plan.
State fisheries directors from several Northern states, some of whom have pressed for stronger weakfish regulations for almost 10 years, said in interviews earlier this week that they support the federal regulatorsand have little sympathy for North Carolina commercial fishermen who say they would be hurt by the proposal.
And last week, the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, the panel that oversees weakfish management in federal waters, voted to endorse the closure.
The mid-Atlantic council has listed weakfish as a species in need of management, but its members told federal regulators the council has been unable to go forward with a management plan for weakfish in federal waters because of the workload associated with management of other species. ILLUSTRATION: WEAKFISH MEETING
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB