THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130444
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
State lawmakers on Tuesday asked a steering committee studying North Carolina's coastal fisheries management to hasten its work and report its findings to the General Assembly about a month earlier than planned.
``I want us to go ahead and do some things so we can start trying to restore this fisheries resource,'' said Sen. Charles W. Albertson, a Duplin County Democrat and co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture. ``It's going to be a priority for me in the short session.''
He and other members of the commission said that in order to seriously consider the recommendations of the fisheries Moratorium Steering Committee before the short session that begins May 13, the panel needs those recommendations no later than mid-April.
The chairman of the Moratorium Steering Committee, Robert V. Lucas, said his committee will be ready to report by the revised date.
The joint commission - composed of senators, members of the state House, and commercial fishing and aquaculture interests - is the source of most fisheries-related legislation considered by state lawmakers.
The panel meets when the Assembly is not in session to develop bills to present to lawmakers during the next session.
Any changes in state statutes recommended by the Moratorium Steering Committee as part of its two-year review of state fisheries management practices will face their first test in the legislative commission.
On Tuesday Lucas gave the commission a 45-minute preview of the decisions facing fisheries managers and state lawmakers in the coming months.
``Our fisheries resource has gone down and we've got to make some choices,'' he said. ``Those choices are not piecemeal regulations. We've got to make fundamental change on how we're going to do business in North Carolina.''
It was the legislative panel's first overview of the Moratorium Steering Committee's deliberations on potential changes in commercial and sports fishing licenses, fisheries law enforcement, restrictions on fishing gear, jurisdiction of the state Marine Fisheries Commission and other fisheries management measures.
Several members of the seafood and aquaculture commission speculated that it will probably be two years before most of the steering committee's findings can be implemented.
As expected, the Moratorium Steering Committee proposal that met the greatest initial objection from state lawmakers is a plan to restrict commercial license sales to fishermen who earn at least half of their income from commercial fishing.
``What do you do with the part-time person? That's the issue that's now on the table,'' Lucas said. ``What I'm trying to do and what I'm asking everyone to do is keep an open mind.'' by CNB