THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
State fisheries regulators should ``stay the hell out of marketing fish,'' commercial fishermen have told North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries officials.
``You've screwed enough up already,'' Willie Etheridge of Etheridge's Seafood in Wanchese told state fisheries District Manager Harrel Johnson.
``Leave the selling of fish to us,'' said Etheridge. ``Just give us our quota, let us catch the striped bass, and we'll show the biologists that those fish are really back.''
Most of the 35 fishermen and women gathered at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island Tuesday night seconded the comment.
So Johnson agreed to let the commercial fishermen come up with their own plans to manage striped bass - and get back to him in two weeks.
State fisheries officials had scheduled the public hearing to receive input about how to divide North Carolina's 334,195-pound quota for the Atlantic Ocean's striped bass fishery. This year, commercial fishermen will be allowed to catch more than three times as many striped bass as they were permitted to harvest last winter. Even so, Johnson admitted, state fishermen could catch the entire quota in less than a week.
The striped bass season is scheduled to open between Dec. 1 and 31 and run through March 31 - or until the quota is caught, whichever comes first.
Striped bass, also called rockfish, are a coveted recreational species and valuable commercial catch. According to a plan the state is studying, recreational fishermen will be permitted to keep two striped bass at least 28 inches long per person per day for a yearlong season or two striped bass at least 24 inches long per person per day for a season running from November through April. There is no coast-wide quota for recreational fishermen taking striped bass.
But each state has a specific amount of pounds allotted to its commercial fishery. North Carolina fishermen complained that their quota was too low, given the amount of striped bass available in nearby Atlantic waters. State fisheries experts said the numbers were based on landings from the early 1970s, when striped bass were plentiful along the New England shores but scarce in North Carolina.
Fishermen said such data manipulation to justify increased quotas for the northern states is indicative of the political pressure northern states carry in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
``There's no reason,'' Etheridge said, ``that Massachusetts should get three times more fish than us.''
Commercial fishermen also complained that if there is a coastwide quota for them, recreational anglers, too, should be limited to an overall amount of striped bass for a specific season. ``When we start talking about getting gear out of the water, let's talk about getting all the gear out of the water,'' said North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission member Bill Foster, a Hatteras Island commercial fisherman.
``The discard for commercial fishermen's striped bass was 14,000 pounds for the entire state last season,'' Foster said. ``The hook and release category of recreational fishermen killed an average of 14,000 pounds of striped bass each day along the Atlantic. That's 2.5 million pounds for the coast's 220-day sports fishing season last year - assuming that 8 percent of the fish caught and released actually died.''
Commercial fishermen have to divide their quota between three user groups: beach seiners who haul fish to shore with dories and nets; gill netters who set their nets over 24-hour periods; and trawlers who go further offshore and drag their nets along the ocean floor.
State fisheries experts estimate that North Carolina has about 12 commercial fishermen who use beach seines to catch striped bass; 60 gill netters and 20 trawl boats.
Johnson suggested that each group get an equal portion of the quota. Most fishermen seemed to accept that plan. But they insisted that each type of fishermen should get to manage their own quotas individually - rather than accepting one overall division of fish.
So state fisheries officials decided to let the commercial fishermen go back to their docks and warehouses, talk to their friends and neighbors, and come up with a plan that would suit each user group.
Beach seiners, for example, did not want daily quotas imposed on them because bad weather often keeps them out of the ocean for days. Gill netters preferred daily quotas because they felt they could better allocate the fish that way. And trawlers wanted weekly totals - if any - because they only land their catches two or three times a week.
Most commercial fishermen, however, seemed to prefer the free market system where people could catch as many fish as possible until each user group filled its own portion of the quota.
``Our season coincides with every other state's - and that's terrible for the market,'' Frisco fisherman Kelly Schoolcraft said. ``It'd be wise to schedule our season's opening at a different time. Let us regulate this ourselves so we can keep the prices up as long as possible.
``The system you've set up promotes waste,'' said Schoolcraft. ``I gave away $20 of rock a day last year because I couldn't get the state tags to sell them. We were throwing back dead rock because we already had our daily total.''
Fishermen also complained about the permitting process, dealers and paperwork involved in the striped bass fishery. Although dealers already fill out daily sales reports on each species, they have to keep separate logs - and have separate permits and tags - specifically for striped bass. Last year, 52 dealers sold the regulated fish.
``Poor management on the part of the state division is being passed back to the fishermen,'' Wanchese Fish Co. spokesman James Fletcher said. ``You're making more work for us. When is the division going to start doing something better?''
Replied Harrell: ``I have no answer for that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
PUBLIC COMMENTS
North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries officials will accept
comments on the allocation of the striped bass commercial quota for
the Atlantic Ocean through Oct. 17.
If you could like to comment on the management of this fishery, call
Harrel Johnson at 800-338-7805 or FAX a statement at (919) 264-3723
or write him at the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries,
1367 U.S. Route 17 South, Elizabeth City, N.C. 27909.
by CNB