THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 31, 1995 TAG: 9510310407
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PAMLICO SOUND LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Four years ago, the only pound nets Murray Fulcher could see from his Ocracoke Island office were the four he had set himself.
On Monday, Fulcher estimated that 75 flounder seines were strung along the Pamlico Sound's shallow shoals.
These days, it seems like everyone wants to stake a claim in the state's pound net fisheries.
``Something has got to be done to slow this down,'' Fulcher said from his waterfront fish house. ``It's really been getting terribly out of hand in the last couple of years. Everybody and their brother is running out to get new sets.''
At least 100 more pound net permits have been issued this year than in 1994, officials at the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries said. So far, 967 pound nets have been approved in state waters. That's a 10 percent increase over the previous year, said state fisheries division spokesman Red Munden.
It's the biggest increase in pound net permits the state has ever seen.
``The main proliferation of pound nets has been in Carteret and Hyde counties, around Ocracoke and Cedar islands,'' Munden said. ``All the good sets already have been taken in Core Sound. Now, fishermen are starting to expand their operations and infringe on Ocracoke fishermen's territories. Conflicts for space are causing some problems.''
At 7 p.m. Thursday, state fisheries officials will hold a public hearing at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island to discuss proposed changes in commercial fishing rules. Pound nets are among the gear they want to re-regulate. New laws would go into effect March 1.
Suggestions call for charging watermen $250 per year to set pound nets and requiring them to fish the nets annually to keep the permits. Currently, there is no fee to set pound nets. Watermen can hold permits for certain sets indefinitely - even if they never fish those waters.
``We've seen fishermen applying for new pound net sets just to occupy the space around their existing sets,'' said Munden. ``They don't plan to fish those new nets. They're just creating a buffer zone around their operations.
``People are afraid that the number of nets will be limited or that it will become more difficult to obtain sets after the moratorium is lifted. So they're trying to get those net sets while they can.''
An ancient form of fishing that involves building a pen with long stakes and stringing a 200- to 500-yard net around it for the fish to swim into, pound nets come in four different designs. They are used to catch and corral herring, flounder, menhaden, trout, croaker and mackerel. And unlike other commercial fishing nets, some pound seines can be fished from the shore - without a boat - so even people who don't hold commercial fishing licenses for their vessels can austensibly work a pound net.
``It's getting to be a real mess trying to deal with this,'' Munden said. ``Our staff recommended that the Marine Fisheries Commission take a detailed look at the whole pound net issue: the number of nets each person can have and whether permits can be transferred to someone else. These are all things we need to work on revising.''
When the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries halted commercial fishing license sales in July 1994, state officials did not put any restrictions on the amount of gear watermen could use.
There has never been a limit to the number of pound nets people can set. Some fishermen have permits for 40 or 50 nets. And the only approval process they have to go through is to notify the public about where they plan to set new nets.
Traditionally, Munden said, few people have protested pound net sets. But as the number of nets increases and the waterways become more clogged with stakes sticking out of the sounds, public hearings on pound nets have really proliferated, he said. Shrimpers who can't tow around pound net stakes are starting to complain. Long-haul seiners have ruined their nets by dragging over the pound net stakes. And even gill netters are beginning to worry that their waterways are becoming too crowded with pound nets.
Fulcher, a member of the state's Marine Fisheries Commission, blames the growth - in part - on the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.
``Back in March, they put out a memo recommending that there be a moratorium on new pound nets. That scared everyone into thinking they had to stake a claim in the fishery so they wouldn't be shut out,'' Fulcher said. ``Then, the state never even discussed limiting the amount of pound nets. It was just a scare tactic. But everyone's jumped on that band wagon.''
Originally, the gear subcommittee of the state Marine Fisheries Commission suggested that fishermen pay a one-time $200 fee to register their pound nets. But the whole commission revised that recommendation, Fulcher said. The proposed rule people will be commenting on Thursday night would require watermen to pay $250 per year for pound net permits.
Additionally, they would have to fish those nets every year - or lose their sets. Inspectors would look at each area to determine if the nets had been worked that season. There is no recommendation about limiting the number of pound nets per person.
``I'd like to see a limit per fishing operation of 15 nets each. That would be plenty,'' Fulcher said. ``People are just registering for these pound nets now to keep someone else from getting sets nearby. They're staking their claims out there so others can't. Stuff like that needs to be stopped.
``If you're not fishing a pound net, the state should revoke that permit,'' said Fulcher. ``We're gonna have to do something to control this influx of new gear.'' ILLUSTRATION: NOTES ON MEETING
The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission will hold a public
hearing to discussed proposed rule changes on pound nets, gill nets
and other commercial fishing gear at 7 p.m. Thursday in the North
Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.
The public is invited to attend and offer input about the planned
regulations. For more information, call the state Division of Marine
Fisheries 800-338-7805 or 800-682-2632.
Written comments can be faxed to state fisheries officials at (919)
264-3723 or mailed to: The North Carolina Division of Marine
Fisheries, 1367 U.S. 17 South, Elizabeth City, N.C. 27909.
by CNB