THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260515
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MOREHEAD CITY LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
Recreational anglers who fish in North Carolina's coastal waters soon may have to buy saltwater licenses.
On Thursday, the Moratorium Steering Committee proposed a complete overhaul of the state's recreational and commercial fishing licenses, gear restrictions, laws and penalties.
More than 100 people attended the six-hour session at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City.
The first change fisheries experts suggested would require coastal anglers 16 and older to buy a saltwater fishing license. Recommended fees were $15 for annual licenses and $5 for weekly permits.
Income from such sales would go into a fund for fisheries resources. License costs would be the same for in- and out-of-state anglers.
Virginia and Maryland both require licenses for recreational fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. Between Maryland and Texas, North Carolina and Georgia are the only two states that don't have saltwater sports fishing licenses. Georgia officials also are considering the option.
``Most of our saltwater sports fishermen come from Virginia,'' North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries spokesman Mike Street said. ``We don't want to discriminate against them. We've been very sensitive to the tourism concerns in developing these ideas.''
Proposals outlined Thursday were the first recommendations to come out of the state's Moratorium Steering Committee, which has been meeting for 1 1/2 years to try to revamp North Carolina's fisheries system.
Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert Lucas, who also chairs the Moratorium Steering Committee, stressed that the suggestions were only preliminary - and will not even be presented to the legislature for at least another year. He urged recreational and commercial watermen to get involved in the public debate on fishery issues.
``It's almost mind-boggling, the emotional level these fishery issues get to,'' Lucas said. ``I'm bound and determined to protect this resource, though, and to protect commercial fishing as a way of life in coastal North Carolina.''
Leaders of five subcommittees outlined ideas for new regulations in almost every area of fishing. Some of the proposals contradicted one another. Others are designed to better coordinate fishing concerns with state environmental agencies. Besides the saltwater sports fishing license, other major changes suggested include:
Licensing individual commercial fishermen instead of their boats. The proposed annual fee is $25 per waterman. To get a commercial license, fishermen might have to prove that a certain amount of their income came from commercial fishing over the previous three years. Amounts suggested ranged form 50 percent of the income or $5,000 annually to 10 percent of the income or $1,000 annually.
Limiting the number of commercial fishing licenses sold. State officials could either cap the number at the current level, not reissue licenses after a holder dies or gets out of the industry, allow holders to only transfer licenses within immediate families, or allow holders to sell their own licenses if they stop fishing.
Restricting the amount of commercial fishing gear people can use for recreational purposes. Fish caught with illicit gear could not be sold. Fishermen using commercial gear for recreational purposes would have to buy a $35 permit. Recreational uses of commercial gear would be limited to three crab pots per person, one dip net, one gill net, one cast net,and one non-mechanical seine.
Instituting a single fish dealer's license to cover all categories of seafood. License fees would range form $200 to $800 depending on how many types of seafood they sold.
Charging commercial fishing pier owners 50 cents per foot for a license. Anglers fishing from piers, head boats or charter vessels would need to buy a saltwater sports fishing license, too.
Licensing commercial fishing boats as gear instead of vessels. Fees range form $1 per foot for small boats to $5 per foot for boats 59 feet or longer.
Instituting other gear license fees such as 50 cents per crab pot, $5 per 100 yards of gill net and $50 for a long-line. The maximum amount any fisherman would have to pay for gear would be $500 - not including boat fees.
``We sold 22,000 commercial fishing licenses before the moratorium went into effect,'' Lucas said. ``Of those, only 6,000 bought licenses for selling fish. . And only 4,800 of those people actually sold fish.
``It appears there are a lot of people out there with commercial fishing licenses who don't earn their livings off the water. . . . One of our goals is to get out of the industry the folks who sold fish from recreational catches.''
Proposals from the gear sub-committee aimed to reduce the amount of fishing gear in the water, minimize gear conflicts and encourage use of species-selective gear, co-chair Pete West said.
Most of the recommendations restricted commercial gear - not recreational hooks and lines. But West said a sports fishing license would somewhat restrict recreational angling and requiring recreational fishermen to buy a separate license to use commercial gear also would help alleviate pressure on the resource. Other ideas West's group outlined include:
Banning flynets and mid-water trawls.
Requiring a $250 fee for new pound net sets and a $50 annual net renewal fee.
Capping commercial fishing licenses at the current level
Further developing recreational and commercial fishing zones for beach seine operations.
``The thought's out there that if areas can be quartered off for recreational anglers only, they should be set aside for commercial operation, too,'' West said. ``The biggest concern we've heard is that commercial fishermen would bear the brunt of these regulations. If you have suggestions to further restrict rods and reels, we'd love to hear from you.''
Moratorium Steering Committee members also recommended that the state's Marine Fisheries Commission be reduced from 17 to 9 members; that the Marine Fisheries Commission be allowed to play a more active, protective role in habitat and water quality issues; and that a minimum size limit be established for all food fish.
The Moratorium Steering Committee will continue meeting today to discuss the recommended rule changes. MEMO: Public comments are invited on any of the suggestions. Address them to:
Moratorium Steering Committee, Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box
769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557; or call (919) 726-7021 or
1-800-682-2632. by CNB