THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200532
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
When North Carolina Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight set up the state's fishery resource grant program, he said he wanted the money to go to watermen and recreational anglers so they could study ways to improve marine resources for everyone.
Since much of the $1 million allocation this year went to academic institutions, research organizations and environmental groups instead, the Dare County Democrat said Tuesday, the General Assembly may need to look somewhere besides the Marine Fisheries Commission to disperse those funds in the future.
Less than one-third of the taxpayers' funds were given to fishermen or fishing groups this year.
``That's never what I intended when I presented this program to the General Assembly. And it's not what the legislators intended when they passed it two years ago,'' Basnight said. ``At no time was it my intent for any of this money to go to the academic community - except when researchers were working in concert with the fishermen.
``My thought was that members of the Marine Fisheries Commission would spend some time working with the watermen on the docks, talking to the men at the fish houses, helping them figure out how to put their ideas down on paper and get state funding to work on ways to help all species of fish without disturbing the environment.
``I never even conceived of the grant program panning out the way it has.''
Basnight said he has asked his staff to look into the 70 grant applications that were rejected and compare them with the 39 that were approved. He wants to know why watermen seemed to be at such a disadvantage when it came to getting state money that was meant for them.
And, he said, he may soon ask fellow legislators to amend the law so that funds can be dispersed differently.
``We're looking at maybe the place for this money to get distributed as Sea Grant instead of theMarine Fisheries Commission,'' said Basnight. ``I have to let my staff see what happened and whether fishermen really got a fair opportunity to compete against the academics. I never got to see any of the grant applications until I got word of the ones that had been approved.''
Of the 39 projects funded, 16 grants were given to state or county schools, colleges and academic research institutions - which have dozens of other public funding sources. 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 biologist based in Florida and other individuals.
``We got other environmental money already allocated for those studies in a separate pot,'' Basnight said. ``They don't need to reach into this small $1 million amount set aside for the fishermen to fund those environmental studies.
``Watermen say they've been placed at a disadvantage because they can't really compete with professors and PhDs who are writing grant proposals. They don't feel their government is listening to them - anywhere.''
State Division of Marine Fisheries spokesman Jess Hawkins said the statute setting up the fisheries resource grant program doesn't discriminate when it comes to who can apply for research funding. He agreed that watermen probably haven't had as much experience writing grant proposals as academics. And he said, in the future, state fisheries employees and commission members should spend more time helping fishermen put their ideas on paper.
``The commission looked at the quality of the proposals and how the projects could enhance the resource,'' Hawkins said. ``They were trying to pick the best proposals.
``I wish we could help the fishermen write their grant applications. We tried to do that as time was available this year. A process that could make this program better for the commission and the division is to be able to actually sit down with the fishermen and create a partnership with people who will help them design and analyze projects that will eventually help the resource.
``We think this is a very good grant program with tremendous potential. It'll help produce data to better manage our marine fisheries resources throughout the state.''
In the meantime, Basnight said, grant selection committee members should start working on ways to come up with a fair allocation of the $1 million in grant money.
``It seemed interesting to me that almost everything awarded centered itself in Morehead City,'' said Basnight. ``There's a lot of water in the northeast area of this state. But it didn't look like much of the money flowed that way. This is where the money in the fisheries is. You'd think that at least a third of the funds would come up here. But it didn't. And I don't think any of that grant money needed to go to a federal guy in Florida. We need it right here, on the water, in North Carolina.'' ILLUSTRATION: Marc Basnight
by CNB