THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603210167
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
I recently attended a hearing with the North Carolina Moratorium Steering Committee in Nags Head. After I left this meeting, several important things came to mind, namely that this committee has only addressed what they think is an answer to our marine fisheries problem, not a solution to the problem.
I went net fishing, shrimping and crabbing on the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers, as well as several tributaries, with my father in the '40s, '50s and '60s. Now I am trying to do the same thing that we did together in the '90s in Dare County, but I am running into rules, regulations and licenses that did not happen those years.
I see more and more attempts to regulate the marine resources with net sizes, hours of operation, catch regulations, by-catch limits, etc., that never appeared before.
I listen to the recreational fishermen complain about ``those - - commercial fishermen,'' and I hear one group - but have compassion for the other.
I also know that there are a lot of us who don't make a living like a REAL COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN, but should we be regulated out of existence because we also like to pull our shrimp trawls and set a gill net, but not sell anything?
The problem is not either group. We are not impacting each other like the newsprint would have us believe. What is the problem?
It is the cities upstream of the sounds and rivers that have been using the streams and rivers for their sewage treatment plants. Can you imagine if Raleigh was asked to pay just 10 cents a gallon fee for the use of the Neuse River?
They dump more than 50 million gallons of primary treated sewage into that river each day. Add Smithfield-Selma, Goldsboro, Kinston and New Bern (my hometown) to that list you are asking for that fishery nursery and hatchery to absorb those amounts of - daily and for a fish who wishes to lay its eggs to brave that - in order to reproduce.
No wonder we have a problem. Licenses, regulations and fish cops are not the solution. Make those towns that I just discussed and others treat their sewage so that is drinkable quality before it is released back into our rivers, and charge a fee for the use of the rivers to absorb their waste. That also means that trace elements such as chlorine used in water treatment cannot exist, for they are also detrimental to the marine industry.
In conclusion, forget a recreational fishing license, because if they get their foot in the door there's no telling how much they will charge. If it has to be charged to lower the impact from visitors from other states, then charge $1 to residents and $50 to non-residents, similar to our hunting fees. Reduce fees that commercial fishermen have to pay. Control commercial fishing by regulated numbers of people allowed to have the license. Allow the numbers to increase by some percentage of the population increase. Allow existing commercial fishermen to pass their license down through their families, not turn it into the state if they desire to retire.
It is an earned right, not something that we have, as citizens, given to the state for them to give out to who they want. Wake up, politicians - bite the bullet, clean up our waterways, regulate the cities, the hog farms, the real polluters, not the watermen and sportfishermen who want to make a living or just have some fun and eat some fresh fish!
Chuck Thompson
Nags Head Politics and jetties
When I read the March 11 report of the Dare County Commissioners meeting, it was with great disbelief and some trepidation.
Here we go again. We are all for the jetties, but we are going to play politics once more and nothing will get done. Commissioner Owens and his party cohorts have once again turned the project, which is a lifeline for Dare County, into a political football.
The jetties project is in the process of being turned into a weapon to defeat Congressman Jones. In fact, the article indicated that the opposition party is flirting with the man Jones defeated during the last election, Martin Lancaster, now a Clinton bureaucrat.
Let's review the bidding:
Congressman Jones is in the process of sheperding a jetties bill via the appropriate legislative channels with the assistance of the rest of our Congressional delegation.
The current budget problems and the non-availability of research funds is not of Rep. Jones' making, but rather lies in the Congressional morass of budgetry and President Clinton's veto of the balanced budget bill. Rep. Jones, in our interest, maintains and takes actions toward a balanced budget.
As far as I can remember, Mr. Lancaster never put any bills into the hopper, nor did he ever do anything to ``push'' the jetties, but only paid lip service to the project, along with other state and county elected officials.
The only reason the jetties project is not now on the front burner and being constructed is the fact that President Clinton's secretary of the interior, Mr. Babbitt, sneaked into Dare County and made off with our permits in broad daylight. He was accompanied by a fellow traveling environmentalist. Nothing has been done about this action by our elected county and state officials.
I don't consider the $20,000 for more research ``heroic.'' In fact, my belief is that we don't need any more studies. This project has been checked and rechecked. It has been studied as a state of the art model elsewhere. The need for Oregon Inlet stabilization is so important to our northeastern North Carolina residents and their fishery that sand transfer studies should not hold up this VITAL project any longer.
In closing, let me reiterate that party politics is not the answer. But if Commissioner Owens and his buddies want to play hardball, remember in this issue our party holds the wild card, since we have always been actively for the jetties.
Only those in power in Dare County and the state have delayed and slept at every turn. Don't try to put the blame on Congressman Jones, but support him, and his bill. He needs our help, not politics as usual.
Daniel B. Gray
Chairman, Dare County Republican Party
Avon by CNB