THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507150343
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WANCHESE LENGTH: Long : 178 lines
In a cluttered commercial-fishing supply shop on the Wanchese waterfront, Gale Ballance stepped up to the counter and unscrewed the lid of her plastic peanut butter jar.
She dumped the contents beside the cash register, smoothing crumpled pink, green and yellow permits for the clerk's inspection.
A line of rubberboot-clad watermen waited behind her.
It's not easy these days to wade through the red tape required to comply with fishing laws.
This month, people who commercially fish or crab have to renew their North Carolina licenses. Some fishermen have to purchase five separate state permits. Fees range from $30 to $300 annually per person.
The commercial licensing system, watermen and regulators agree, stinks like rotten fish.
A legislative committee is working to overhaul the process. Members plan to report their recommendations to the General Assembly in May 1996. In the meantime, commercial fishermen are struggling to keep their heads above water in an ever-deepening sea of regulations.
``I think this whole process is ludicrous. Government is just burying us all in bureaucracy,'' Ballance said. ``We're just local people who like to go out in the evenings and catch a few crabs. We don't even sell them. But it costs us $79 a year.''
The Wanchese woman forked over the cash and kept talking.
``We eat this food. We've lived and fished here all our lives. It's like raising a garden to eat. We get crabs from our back yards. But now we have to pay the state for the privilege,'' Ballance said.
Until 1994, commercial fishermen needed one state permit: a vessel license for each boat. Fees were based on the craft's length. Costs ranged from $1 to $3 per foot. In 1994, at least 16,250 vessel licenses were issued throughout the state.
Those fees haven't changed since 1984.
But in January 1994, the General Assembly added a second type of permit: a license to sell, required for anyone who wants to sell fish caught from a boat. Fees range from $25 to $45, depending on the vessel's length. At least 7,243 licenses to sell were issued to North Carolina watermen last year.
By July 1994, state officials had created three other commercial fishing license categories - and closed the industry to anyone who did not have a commercial fishing permit. The original closure was supposed to last for two years. This month, legislators extended the moratorium until July 1997.
The other license categories are:
Nonvessel licenses to sell cost $15 and cover clams, crabs caught from shore, fish caught from piers - basically seafood that was not caught with the help of a boat.
Nonresident land and sale endorsements are required for out-of-state fishermen who want to land or sell their catches in North Carolina. Fees are based on similar costs assessed to North Carolina watermen who fish in other states. Costs range from $200 to $1,500 each.
Shellfish and crab licenses are required for individual fishermen, rather than boats. Shellfish licenses cost $7.50 each. Combined crab and shellfish permits cost $15.
Last September, yet another state license category was created. Vessel crab licenses are required for crabbers who want to bring passengers. These $22.50 permits are required even if the waterman is carrying his child on board. They can only be issued to licensed commercial crabbers. Anyone who crabs from a boat, whether they sell their catches or not, must have a state license.
``I can't believe we have to pay to bring our daughter with us. She's only a child. We crab as a family,'' said Ballance, whose 12-year-old daughter stood nearby. ``I'm not even going to be able to go out on the water this year because I'm being treated for cancer. But I had to buy the permits anyway because otherwise I wouldn't be allowed to crab next year.''
Along the entire coast of Carolina, watermen and fisheries regulators are complaining about the licensing process. Even dealers who receive $1 for each permit issued have begun getting out of the increasingly complicated licensing business.
In June 1993, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries had 46 license sales agents. Since then, that number has dropped to 35. Only two Outer Banks outlets are selling licenses this summer.
``It's an incredible pain. I'm just doing it because no one else up here was. And I didn't want these guys to have to travel to Hatteras to get their permits,'' said Butch Midgett, who runs the shop at Etheridge Fishing Supply in Wanchese.
``It used to be so simple. Now, it's nearly impossible,'' said Midgett, who keeps the 270-page state marine fisheries rule book beside the cash register.
``I had to hire another employee just to keep the business going while I filled out these permits. It's definitely not worth it. If the state is going to require all this paperwork, they should get their own employees to set up shop here and handle all the mess.''
Dan Willis agreed. As owner of Willis Boat Landing in Hatteras Village, he has issued more than 600 commercial fishing licenses this month. Early summer is the busiest time, he said, because renewals are due July 21.
``We've got three people processing permits full time. It's crazy. It don't seem like anybody knows what they're doing,'' Willis said. ``It's such a confusing system. The fishermen don't understand it. We spend half our time trying to explain. But they just listen and say, `Tell us what we owe.' They have to put up with it, though. Commercial fishing is their livelihood. They all depend on it.''
Ace Hardware in Manteo sold commercial fishing and boat licenses for more than a decade. Last year, the shop's owners pulled out of the process. Complicated policies and constantly changing rules were too much to keep up with, they said.
``At the end there, it was taking all day long. We didn't have time to sell hardware,'' Ace employee Barbara Bohannon said Friday. ``We were spending all our time answering questions and processing paperwork.''
The Division of Marine Fisheries administers all commercial permits. But local independent agents sell and process the forms. In July 1994, the state fisheries license office logged more than 3,000 phone calls from watermen who had questions about licensing requirements.
This month, the five full-time licensing staff members have fielded more than 100 inquiries a day from commercial fishermen, Division of Marine Fisheries license auditor Martha McGavern said Friday from her Morehead City office. Two additional part-time employees were brought on to help. Licensing agents, McGavern said, also call dozens of times a day with questions, problems and complaints.
``We're hoping this state licensing committee will come up with some results and recommendations that will be equitable and make it easy for fishermen to obtain licenses,'' McGavern said. ``The current process has just been pieced together and added onto for so long, it's become extremely complicated for everyone.''
Preliminary suggestions to change the commercial fishing license process include issuing permits for each waterman - rather than for individual boats. Fishermen would receive a plastic card similar to their driver's license or a credit card with a personalized number. That process, proponents say, would give state regulators a more accurate overview of the number of people participating in the North Carolina's commercial fishing industry.
``I'd do it like license plates,'' suggested Willis, who has sold state licenses for 30 years. ``The state should mail people an application when it comes time for renewal. Then, the watermen would know how much they owed, for what, when they came in to get a sticker. That would make things much easier for everyone.''
Other commercial fishermen suggested requiring permit renewals every five years, instead of annually. Some feel part-time watermen should not be permitted to hold commercial licenses. Others insist that anyone who wants to should be allowed to catch and sell fish and shellfish.
If the current permitting process doesn't change soon, watermen say they will have to begin carrying briefcases aboard their boats to hold all the paper work.
``Plastic jars won't be big enough to contain all the licenses,'' Etheridge Fishing Supply employee Ricki Burrus said. ``One crabber told me he'd have to eat peanut butter for six months just to clear out enough containers to put all his permits in.'' MEMO: Staff writer Betty Mitchell Gray contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Fishermen caught in sea of regulations
[Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
Staff
Butch Midgett, who runs the shop at Etheridge Fishing Supply in
Wanchese, holds up the paperwork most commercial fishermen are
required to fill out.
PROPOSED CHANGES
The Moratorium Steering Committee's license subcommittee is
studying a number of changes in the system the state uses to license
commercial fishermen. The The panel will meet at 10 a.m. Aug. 10 in
Wilmington and at 10 a.m. Sept. 14 in Manteo to consider the
changes. Some proposed changes:
Identification system: Adopt an individual or company
identification system including a number that would be used on all
license, permit and law enforcement actions.
License individuals: Individual licenses should be issued to
anyone who takes any saltwater species of fish or shellfish from any
coastal or estuarine waters for any purpose. The individual license
would replace the current system of licensing vessels.
License cap: Impose a cap on the number of commercial fishermen
allowed in any fishery. When the cap is reached, individuals could
buy a license only when someone else drops out of the industry.
License sales: Eliminate license sales agents throughout the
state for commercial fishing licenses and sell all those licenses
through division headquarters in Morehead City.
Gear licenses: Establish a gear license for all fishermen and
specific restrictions on the amount of gear that can be used.
Vessels would be licensed as a type of gear.
Source: Division of Marine Fisheries License Information.
KEYWORDS: FISHING LICENSE by CNB