THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190264
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 155 lines
North Carolina's fisheries resource grant program was designed to help fishermen find ways to enhance marine resources for both commercial and recreational catch.
But when the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission announced awards of almost $1 million for the program Monday, less than one-third of the funds went to watermen or fishing organizations.
Of the 39 projects funded, 16 grants were given to state or county academic and research institutions that have dozens of other public funding sources available. Another 16 of the projects approved were submitted by fishermen or fishing groups. The remaining seven awards went to environmental groups, a television production company, a federal biological institute and individuals.
Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert Lucas, a Selma lawyer, said that's because the watermen's grant proposals just didn't have the merit of those submitted by college professors and scientists.
The grant program ``was aimed, in spirit, to get fishermen to gather information that would help the state better manage the state's marine resources,'' Lucas said. ``If the commission had a preference, we'd much rather give the money to commercial or recreational fishermen. But applications have to have merit. No fisherman was cut out of the funding. But we just didn't have enough applications with near the merit of these that were awarded grants.''
Marine Fisheries Commission member Joey Daniels, who sat on the sub-committee that helped select grant recipients, said the system has upset a lot of people.
``It's got me real bothered,'' Daniels said Monday from his Wanchese fish house. ``If people aren't tied to the fishing industry, they shouldn't get this money.
``Those academics live off grants. So, of course they know what they're doing when they write these funding proposals,'' Daniels said. ``The fishermen had real good ideas. But they just didn't know how to write them into a grant. They need help getting their suggestions onto the table.
``A lot of the fishermen's applications were kicked out just 'cause they weren't written well,'' Daniels said. ``I don't think that's fair.''
This is the second year the Marine Fisheries Commission has awarded almost $1 million under the program.
Last year's funding process came under controversy when the panel evaluating projects to receive the state money recommended that three of the 41 grants go to members of the grant selection committee or their family members - or to organizations to which committee members belonged.
The state's Division of Marine Fisheries received 109 grant applications this year, asking for a total of $4.2 million in funding. At least 70 of the original proposals came from watermen. But only 20 percent of those projects were approved when commissioners awarded $993,938 in state money.
In contrast, 64 percent of the rest of the applications were funded.
The most money given to a single study - $100,000 - went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Institute of Marine Science to study excess nitrogen sources in the Neuse River estuary.
``That was, by far, the most controversial project,'' Lucas said of the Neuse River study. ``We had a 45-minute debate on that one because people worried that it was getting outside the scope of what these grants were set up for. But that funding was based on matching grants of $100,000 from the hog industry and additional money from the state's Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources. Besides, what's better to work on for the fisheries than water quality?''
Among other grants:
About $13,000 went to Carteret County's Cooperative Extension Service to develop environmental programs for middle school students.
North Carolina State University's Department of Agriculture received $9,571 to survey data needs for an economic analysis of fishery stocks.
North Carolina's Cooperative Extension Service got $25,875 to develop a seafood handling program for restaurants.
East Carolina University's Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources received $36,940 to produce a life history of hickory shad in the Albemarle Sound area.
North Carolina State University's Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences got $30,341 to do a statistical analysis of long-term blue crab data.
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington got $15,000 to study Atlantic sturgeon populations throughout the state.
Duke University - a private school - received $10,384 to conduct a feasibility study to develop mobile exhibits for marine environmental education.
Currituck County got $37,900 to document fresh water flow into the Currituck Sound and study its effect on marine resources.
A group of advisors throughout the state evaluated the initial applications and graded them either A, B or C - depending on their perceived merit.
By the time Daniels and three other commission members who sat on the sub-committee recommending grant awards got to see the proposals, the pool had been narrowed to only 60 applications.
``Most of the fishermen's grant ideas got weeded out before we even got to look at them,'' Daniels said. ``What needs to be done in the future is for the state's Division of Marine Fisheries or somebody from the academic world to sit down with the fishermen and help them write their ideas down the right way.''
Lucas said the commission wasn't trying to fund either organizations or individuals. ``We're trying to benefit the resource for everyone,'' he said. ``Obviously, we want to get the fishermen involved because they're the actual people we have to regulate. In the future, it may be beneficial to hire people to help fishermen write grant proposals. I'm not saying our system is perfect by any means. There are still some kinks that need to be worked out.
``But the good of this grant program far outweighs any of the problems.''
Besides watermen, recreational fishing groups and state and county organizations that received funding through the North Carolina Fishery Resource Grant Program, the National Biological Service got $34,720 through a Florida biologist who is planning to develop statistical models from gill net data in the Albemarle Sound fisheries.
State Division of Marine Fisheries grant coordinator Maury Wolff, who oversaw the program, was unavailable for comment Monday. He said earlier, however, that all North Carolina residents were eligible to apply for funding. Division of Marine Fisheries spokesperson Nancy Fish said she could not find anything that determined whether out-of-state individuals or organizations could receive North Carolina fishery resource grants.
A group called Watermen Aligned for the Environment and Resources, Inc., which is led by Melba Edwards, also received $10,000 to develop informational programs on the fishing industry for the general public. Edwards, a member of the state's Moratorium Steering Committee, also sits on the Marine Fisheries Commission's Appeals Board.
``That was not considered a conflict of interest because the Moratorium Steering Committee is not considered part of the Marine Fisheries Commission,'' Fish said. Commission member Twila Nelson ``did not vote on that grant proposal because she's part of the same group,'' said Fish.
At least 23 people and organizations from the Albemarle area submitted grant applications through the program. But only three received state funding for their research. Besides Currituck County, fisherman Scott Keefe of Winfall got $17,000 to evaluate larger mesh gill net catch of flounders and reduced by-catch of striped bass. And Dr. Regis Dandar of Elizabeth City received $14,500 to test multiple ``tie-down'' flounder nets for reduced bycatch.
Other watermen and fishing organizations that got grants include:
Bob Austin of Williston who received $15,500 to perform low density hard clam grow out experiments;
Bear Creek Shellfish of Hubert which got $59,400 to develop a stock of ``dermo'' resistant oysters;
Lucky International, Inc. of Morehead City which received $20,000 to establish new techniques for handling fish for live sale;
David A. Beresoff of Bolivia who got $10,505 to do a sinknet mesh selectivity study;
Mark Hooper of Smyrna who received $3,960 for an analysis of growth and survival from seed clam plantings and $15,500 to investigate improved oyster spat collection techniques;
Bob Austin of Williston who got $12,500 to develop improved bycatch reduction devices for inshore shrimp fisheries;
Milton Cooper Mason of Beaufort who got $8,500 to develop a wet culling and holding system for shrimp;
Leslie A. Lee of Hampstead who got $48,840 to demonstrate the use of West Coast remote spat setting technology for eastern oysters;
Robert A. Cummings of Stella who got $26,900 to study the effect of harvesting shellfish production on shallow water oyster rocks
Robert Hutchinson of Chocowinity who received $14,000 to evaluate the escape panels in eel pots. by CNB