THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609010078
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 94 lines
Legislators haven't been asked to require a saltwater sports fishing license. Committee members considering that proposal won't even vote on whether to make such a request until November.
But last week a contractor hired by the state Division of Marine Fisheries submitted a report showing how to implement, manage and sell the license.
Opponents of the idea say something fishy's going on - and being financed by taxpayers' money.
``Sounds to me like they've already made up their minds to require that license. It's just sickening,'' said Manteo resident Rick Caton, who runs charter fishing trips around the Outer Banks. ``It's like the state's saying, `We're going to jam it down you're throats whether you like it or not.' They're never gonna listen to the public 'cause they just don't care.''
Wanchese charter boat operator Tom Wagner agreed. ``I can't stand having our tax dollars spent on this,'' he said Thursday. ``I think there's going to be a big revolt. This is going to be bad.''
In July, marine fisheries division hired Swansboro native and former U.S. Air Force planner David Short as a computer consultant to work in the agency's licensing division. Short spent six weeks researching a report about how to track and sell saltwater sports fishing licenses. He gave the draft to his supervisor last week.
``My plan identifies problems, then lines up solutions to solve the problems with software and computer programs,'' Short said Wednesday. ``Once the license is approved, this will be a way to implement sales. If we end up doing what I've outlined, we'll blow people's socks off.''
Short said he didn't work full-time preparing the six-page report. He also worked on other problems within the licensing division. So he doesn't know how much state money has been invested in the project that's still at least six months away from being considered by lawmakers.
He is being paid $13.13 per hour.
Marine Fisheries spokeswoman Nancy Fish said Short was hired ``to set a system in place if we are asked to implement a saltwater sports fishing license.'' The fisheries director probably won't even see the plan unless the legislature passes the permit next year, she said. Fish downplayed the early expenditure of taxpayers' money on a plan that still hasn't even passed the recommending committee - much less been commented on by the public.
State Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said such studies are done early all the time.
``It's not unusual for people to be studying everything,'' the senator said Thursday. ``I'd presume you'd not spend much money at this time with no solid evidence that there's going to be a license. But to have some solid feel for how a license will be implemented - that's legitimate.''
The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that 1.3 million anglers cast their lines in North Carolina's coastal waters last year. Of those, 720,735 were from out of state. And more than 2 million people fished from shore without ever stepping foot aboard a boat or pier.
All of them enjoyed the sport for free.
To generate funds to protect and enhance marine resources, however, committee members want to impose a $15 annual fee and require a ``Coastal Recreational Fishing License'' for all anglers age 16 and older. A $5 weekly permit also would be sold to vacationers or out-of-state anglers. Pier owners and charter boat captains could exempt their customers from the requirement by purchasing a ``Blanket Group Fishing License'' whose cost would be based on the length of the pier or boat.
But many anglers oppose the entire idea of charging people to fish in coastal waters - an activity that no one's ever had to pay for in North Carolina.
``Nobody wants it. I haven't talked to anybody who wants a saltwater fishing license,'' Caton said. This summer, Caton began a petition against the proposed license, circulating papers among fishing parties from Oregon Inlet to Hatteras Village.
By Friday, he said he had collected at least 5,000 signatures against the license.
License proposals call for placing the profits in a trust fund that will be used to restock fish populations, beef up fisheries law enforcement efforts and finance biological research.
Proponents of the plan say new revenue is necessary to augment the state's marine resources. Members of the Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina heartily endorse a saltwater sports fishing license, saying it ``will provide a pool of money that can be used to help preserve, protect and restore our coastal fish stocks.''
The North Carolina Sierra Club says such a license will help biologists better manage fish stocks by identifying all saltwater fishermen ``so that the amount of recreational catch can be better estimated.''
Many saltwater anglers agree.
``We can make all the rules and regulations we want to. But what good are they if there's no resource left to enforce them for?'' asked Nags Head recreational fisherman Norm Bradford, a newly appointed member of the state Marine Fisheries Commission who strongly supports a coastal sports fishing license. ``If we take care of the resource, the resource will take care of us.''
Members of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, who represent primarily commercial fishing interests, however, oppose a recreational saltwater fishing license, saying that the Division of Marine Fisheries is not equipped to handle such regulatory requirements with all the other rules they're working on. by CNB