THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605160403
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
Commercial fishermen may not get a piece of the bluefin pie this year.
But by the time the giant tuna begin schooling off the Outer Banks again in December, watermen will at least get an answer about whether they can keep or sell any of the high-priced fish.
``We need to give these people an answer,'' National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman Bill Hogarth said Tuesday night after a public hearing at the North Carolina Aquarium. ``They need to be able to plan. We'll try to have something in the proposed rules in time for the season to open in January - if that's the direction we decide to take.''
North Carolina's commercial fishermen have been asking federal officials for a chance to cash in on Hatteras Island's bluefin blitz for more than a year. The National Marine Fisheries Service held meetings on the East Coast this month to decide how to divide the country's 1,311 metric ton quota. But fisheries regulators had not scheduled a hearing on the Outer Banks until local watermen requested one.
On Tuesday night, more than 50 recreational and commercial fishermen turned out for the Roanoke Island meeting. All asked - again - to be included in the country's most profitable catch. All seemed angry that they've been shut out of the industry - and that their comments have seemingly gone unheard despite at least four previous federal public sessions on the issue.
``In 1994, you guys said there were 5,000 bluefin wintering off North Carolina. In 1995, more than 5,000 of the fish were caught. This year, at least 10,000 bluefin tuna were caught and released off Hatteras by recreational anglers. That was supposed to be the basis of our allocation to be able to get some of these fish,'' said Charter Boat Captain Paul Vissicchio, who also is a commercial fisherman.
``Every time we come here it's the same story: You have to get up with Mr. So-and-so. Current mandates require commercial fishermen to waste and throw back a substantial number of bluefin. That's a waste of the resource and a financial hardship on the watermen,'' Vissicchio said.
``Are we just wasting our time coming to these meetings?'' Vissicchio asked. ``What's the deal? Is the federal government so broke you can't get someone to work on this for us? We want to know when - and if - we're going to get a piece of the quota.''
Among the Atlantic's largest fish - and one of the few warm-blooded fish in any ocean - bluefin tuna can live to be 40 years old; weigh up to 1,000 pounds; grow up to 10 feet long; travel from the rocky coast of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters in a single breeding season, and sometimes fetch $50,000 for a single fish in Japanese sushi markets.
Until 1993, the profitable tuna were seldom seen off Atlantic shores during the winter. They congregated from Canada through Maryland in the summer. But about four years ago, giant bluefin began showing up in masses along the Gulf Stream off Hatteras Island.
Although sports fishermen were allowed most of this winter to keep two bluefin per person per day up to five feet long; one per boat per day up to 73 inches long; and one per boat per year bigger than that, they weren't allowed to sell those tuna.
North Carolina's commercial fishermen have been virtually shut out of the high-priced industry because of National Marine Fisheries Service quotas and season-setting policies. The national season for commercially catching and selling bluefin runs from June through December, when the fish are off northern coasts. The giant fish start swimming south off Hatteras Island in January.
``The decision has been that no new fisheries will be established for bluefin until the quota goes back to 2,600 metric tons,'' said Hogarth, who presided over North Carolina's Division of Marine Fisheries until moving to the federal fisheries organization. ``North Carolina isn't an historical fishery for bluefin.''
Later, however, Hogarth said bluefin have been documented as being caught off Tar Heel state shores since at least the early 1960s.
``A new fishery is a new type of gear being used to catch the fish - not a new geographic area where the fish just happen to be swimming,'' said Jerry Shill, who leads North Carolina's Fisheries Association and represents more than 1,000 commercial fishermen, seafood processors and fish house owners. ``The opening date for this tuna needs to be moved to Jan. 1 and, if not, it at least needs to be divided quarterly to give our guys a chance to catch some fish before they all swim back up north.''
Shill said he planned to call his attorney to ask about legal ramifications of the federal rules - and ways to fight them.
Hogarth said at other East Coast meetings in northern states, no one has wanted to let North Carolina watermen begin catching and selling bluefin.
That didn't surprise Outer Banks fishermen - but it seemed to make them angry that the allocation of the national resource could continue to be relegated to a single section of the coast.
``We had three months of good recreational fishing off North Carolina and you guys jump to give the angling category for bluefin more fish so the guys up north can catch more,'' Hatteras Island fishermen Steve Coulter said. ``But you jerk us around in the general category and won't let us in at all.''
Some watermen requested that instead of regional quotas or set seasons, each bluefin tuna permit holder be allowed to catch three to five fish per year.
Other fishermen said they have to take their cause to elected officials at the state and federal level since National Marine Fisheries spokesmen seem to be turning a deaf ear to their pleas.
Commercial fishermen also complained that federal fisheries regulators are considering allowing a new type of gear - pair trawling in which two boats drag a single net - to fish for tuna while they won't even include opening a North Carolina season on bluefin under the proposed rule changes.
Charter boat captains also opposed a proposal to keep increase the minimum size of keepable yellowfin tuna from 22 inches to 27 inches.
Dare County Commissioner Doug Langford, who attended Tuesday's bluef-in meeting, said he attended a hearing last week at which federal officials said they plan to discontinue dredging Oregon Inlet, and he thinks the federal government may be out to do away with commercial fishermen. ``I do think there's a conspiracy going on,'' Langford said. ``First, they won't dredge your channels so your boats can get out to the fishing grounds. Then, they up your size limits on certain species. Now, they won't even give you all part of the federal quota.''
Hogarth promised - as other federal fisheries officials have for the past year - to take the watermen's comments back to national headquarters and consider them before setting new rules.
``I'm tired of going to meetings,'' said Hatteras Village charter boat Capt. Rom Whitaker. ``I want to see something done.'' by CNB