THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280392
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Researchers are staging a series of public hearings next month to encourage North Carolina commercial fishermen to discuss whether a fisheries management option known as limited entry might work in the state.
Duke University researcher Michael K. Orbach and Jeff Johnson of East Carolina University are seeking opinions from fishermen on the limited-entry concept. The information gleaned from the workshops will be used by the fisheries Moratorium Steering Committee as it revamps the state's fisheries management system.
The workshop schedule:
Oct. 4, Manteo, N.C. Aquarium.
Oct. 5, Washington, Beaufort County Community College auditorium.
Oct. 10, Raleigh, Archdale Building, ground floor hearing room.
Oct. 11, Beaufort, Duke University Marine Lab, auditorium, Pivers Island.
Oct. 12, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Morton Hall.
Workshops begin at 7 p.m. and are scheduled to last until 10 p.m.
While fisheries managers in North Carolina have for a number of years limited where fishermen can use their nets and other fishing gear - closing some waterways to trawl boats, for example - these are not limited-entry management systems.
So-called limited entry, or limited-access systems, assign specific fishing privileges of some kind to commercial fishermen and also place a cap on the number of fishermen eligible to receive those fishing privileges, according to Orbach.
Generally, limited-entry systems fall into one of three general categories, including those that restrict:
People and vessels, such as one of the country's oldest limited-entry systems used in Alaska's salmon industry and the new limited-entry system in Maryland;
Gear, such as the spiny lobster fishery in Florida, where the number of lobster traps are restricted, and the system in Maryland, which limits the number of crab pots fishermen can use;
Amount of catch, such as limits imposed by the federal government on the wreck-fish industry in the South Atlantic.
Most limited-entry systems in use nationwide are fisheries specific, Orbach said, and North Carolina's review of limited-entry systems will be the most comprehensive review of management systems undertaken by any state.
For more information about the workshops, contact Orbach at (919) 504-7606. by CNB