Ocracoke, North Carolina
March. 29 - 30, 2001
The Marine Fisheries
Commission and the Division of Marine Fisheries continue to look for ways to
keep committee advisors and the public informed about commission
activities. It is our intent to publish
The
MFC Advisor after each business meeting, summarizing the meeting, and
providing a list of motions, actions, and rulemaking proceedings. All agenda items and motions are
highlighted. Your comments regarding this update are always appreciated –
please contact Nancy Fish by e-mail at Nancy.Fish@ncmail.net
or by phone at 252-726-7021 or 1-800-682-2632.
The Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) held a
business meeting March 29 - 30 at the Community Center in Ocracoke, North
Carolina. The meeting opened with an Invocation delivered by the Rev. Bill Holmes, Ocracoke United Methodist Church, and a Roll Call. Members in attendance included: Dr. B.J. Copeland – Vice Chairman, Norm
Bradford, Willy Phillips, Mac Currin, Robert Southerland, Rusty Russ, Dr.
Barbara Garrity-Blake and Bryan Gillikin.
Chairman Jimmy Johnson did not attend this meeting.
Motion:
A motion was made to accept the minutes from the
last meeting – motion passed
unanimously.
Jerry
Schill, President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, spoke about the
revised guidelines for Fishery Management Plans (FMPs), recommending the language
should read ‘standing committees “shall” review,’ rather than “may” review, in
the FMP guidelines, and stressed the public needs more than 10 days notice to
comment on guideline changes. He discussed problems marketing legal weakfish,
primarily in New York at the Fulton Fish Market and asked the MFC and DMF for
help with this problem. Mr. Schill also
made comments on behalf of Terry Pratt, Albemarle Fishermen’s Association, on
the River Herring FMP, stating the present plan was inadequate - the herring
quota needs to be set higher to accommodate increased populations of alewife
and herring.
Eugene Balance spoke about the Red Drum FMP Advisory Committee and the need for a process to replace members who are suspended. A discussion ensued about the FMP process.
Murray
Fulcher discussed the Red Drum FMP/50 lb. commercial trip limit and asked the
DMF to consider using a 10-fish limit instead.
Ten red drum would be close to 50 lbs., and would make it easier for
enforcement and for the fishermen. He talked
about the validity of DMF data, saying that landings data are only good back to
1994, when the trip ticket program started. Prior to 1994, landing reports were
voluntary and dealers gave DMF the numbers they wanted to, so landings from the
1970’s and 1980’s are inaccurate and should not be used in stock assessments.
He also indicated if North Carolina is going to mirror everything the federal
government and the ASMFC does, the DMF and the MFC should be abolished to save
the taxpayers money.
David
Naegle talked about the need to create a trophy category or a stamp for red
drum. His charter business has been hurt because fishermen cannot keep large
red drum. He also asked that the trout
size limit be lowered to 12 inches, from 14 inches.
Vince
O’Neal spoke about tourists coming to Ocracoke for the fresh seafood and talked
about the impact of poor water quality and pollution. He feels fish will
replenish themselves if the water is clean. He felt the thoughts of fishermen
needed to be incorporated when making management decisions and setting quotas.
He also indicated turtle strandings were not a problem until the deep-water
gill net fishery began. He supports the
recent red drum management/gill net attendance decisions and said there are as
many red drum as ever and we need to protect them while they are here, but does
not think the five-fish-per-day commercial limit is practical. He also feels recreational anglers are
getting more red drum than commercial fishermen and that was not equitable.
Alex
Scarbourgh said he wanted to catch a mess of fish for a family dinner and was
frustrated by rules that didn’t allow him to do this. He also had concern about the amount of clams he and his family
could harvest recreationally.
Murray
Fulcher talked again about determining when the spawning potential ratio of red
drum began to decline and suggested that a season could be established for the
larger red drum that were no longer prolific spawners. At that point DMF staff
explained that all available studies indicated that there was no decline in the
spawning potential for large red drum, followed by a discussion that the Red
Drum FMP Advisory Committee had considered establishing a trophy category or
fishing stamp for large red drum, once the stock was no longer considered
overfished.
South Atlantic Fisheries
Management Council Nominations – Governor Mike Easley has recommended Robert Southerland as his preferred
nominee to the Council to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The final selection
to fill the Council seat will be made by late June.
Committees Reports
Reports
were given on all of the various committee activities.
Motions:
Motion was made to approve and send letters to 1)
Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Secreatry Bill Ross to include the MFC in the SEPA process for
PCS Phosphate permits for mining which will effect South Creek/Pamlico River
systems; and 2) the Corps of Engineers to include the MFC in the NEPA process
for the same PCS Phosphate permits. Included in this motion was a
request for a completed Environmental Impact Statement for this proposed mining
expansion – motion passed unanimously.
Motion was made to approve letters to DENR Secretary
Bill Ross and Brunswick County Commissioners asking for additional review of a
storm water runoff permit in Brunswick County to protect shellfish waters in
the area and to work with DENR and Brunswick County officials to find solutions
to the problem of storm water runoff – motion passed unanimously.
Motion was made to send letters to DENR Secretary
Bill Ross regarding the MFC’s concern about the rising number of reverse
osmosis plants in northeastern N.C. that are depositing high salinity/altered
salinity waste waters into nursery areas for fish and shellfish – motion passed
unanimously.
Red Drum Fishery Management
Plan – Final Approval
Motions:
Motion was
made to adopt the final Red Drum FMP – motion passed unanimously.
Motion was made to adopt the following amendments as
temporary rules - motion passed unanimously:
·
Technical
amendment to giving the DMF Director proclamation authority to set the quantity
and size of red drum that can be taken by commercial and recreational
fishermen;
·
Establish
a new fishing year that runs from (Sept. 1- Aug. 31) for commercial red drum
harvest;
·
Delete
the 100-pound commercial trip limit, as set by rule; and
·
Clarify
areas/coordinates where it is unlawful to leave a commercial gill net
unattended with a mesh length less than five inches, during May – October.
The proposed draft updating the Fishery Management
Plan Process and Guidelines was reviewed and adopted.
Motion:
Motion was made to adopt the guidelines with minor modifications – motion passed unanimously.
DMF Director Pres Pate reviewed the following
topics:
Rule Suspension for Red Drum
Commercial Trip Limit – earlier this year, the DMF Director suspended the100-pound commercial
trip limit and implemented a five-fish-per-day commercial limit by
proclamation. The rule needs to be
resuspended at each subsequent MFC meeting until the provisions of the FMP are
adopted.
Motions:
Motion was made to resuspend the rule and continue the commercial five-fish limit per day for red drum until Aug. 31, 2001, when the new fishing year begins with a 50-pound trip limit – motion passed.
Motion was made to set the commercial cap for red drum for the harvest
period ending Aug 31, 2001 at 133,000 pounds – motion passed.
Rule Suspension for
Commercial Minimum Size Limit for King Mackerel – earlier this year, the
DMF Director changed the commercial limit from 20inches to 24 inches by suspending the rule and
implementing a new size limit by proclamation.
The rule needs to be resuspended at each subsequent MFC meeting until
the rule change becomes effective.
Motion:
Motion to resuspend the rule and continue the
commercial size limit for king mackerel at 24 inches – motion passed
unanimously.
Budget – The
budget situation continues to be bleak.
Approximately $586,000, or 6 percent of the DMF’s operating budget, has
been reverted towards the shortage, with additional reductions pending. The
state has adopted a zero-based budget and each division has to justify any
expenditures. It appears budget problems will continue over the next several
years, which will impact the way the DMF carries out its work with FMPs, CHPPS,
and other special projects.
Eligibility Board Report – Overall, since the beginning
of the program, 241 applications have been approved for Standard Commercial
Fishing Licenses from the license pool, and 198 have been denied.
Flounder Gill Net Fishery in
the Pamlico Sound – At the Turtle Workshop in January, Dr. Bill Hogarth, Acting
Administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, expressed his intent
that there would be no deep water gill net fishery in the Pamlico Sound in an
area identified to have high turtle interactions. Based on that information, the DMF has been reviewing options for
establishing a season for flounder gill nets in the remainder of the Sound for
the shallow water fishery. There is some discussion about whether or not to
apply for a Section 10 permit. NMFS is
encouraging DMF to manage the fishery under a Section 10, because there will
still be turtle mortalities and the permit would document the strandings – but
it is very costly and consumes a great deal of staff time
Atlantic Ocean Flounder
Fishery – Management of summer flounder is equally complex. There are three pending lawsuits against the
National Marine Fisheries Service. Two
suits were filed by the North Carolina Fisheries Association to enforce an
order from an earlier ruling that NMFS must set annual quotas in a timely
manner and must be more equitable in management measures between recreational
and commercial fishermen. The third
suit was filed by the environmental community because NMFS failed to set harvest
levels that would have a 50 percent probability of meeting fish stock recovery
goals.
***Summer Flounder Update*** The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission (AMSFC) met in an emergency session on April 3, 2001 in Baltimore,
Maryland over summer flounder. The
meeting resulted in the following actions:
·
ASMFC decided to lower its flounder quota from 20.5
million pounds to 17.9 million pounds to be consistent with the NMFS. North Carolina is in good shape because the
DMF managed its winter flounder fishery based on the lower quota of 17.9 million
pounds. As a result of this action,
Environmental Defense and other environmental groups dropped their lawsuit;
·
NMFS agreed not to have a season closure in the EEZ
for flounder harvest, as they had proposed earlier;
·
ASMFC and NMFS agreed to a 41 percent coast wide
decrease in the recreational flounder harvest target. Reductions range from 57
percent for Rhode Island to 4 percent for Virginia - North Carolina will have
to reduce its recreational summer flounder landings by 32 percent, which means the
DMF will probably have to close the season for several months.
·
Both groups agreed to a facilitated process for
long-term management of summer flounder for commercial and recreational
fisheries.
Striped Bass – There was good attendance
and participation at a Striped Bass Workshop held in Nags Head at the request
of Dare County Commissioners to discuss the history and current status of
striped bass management in the Albemarle Sound Management Area. The Wildlife Resources Commission and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also participated in the meeting, moderated by
MFC member Norm Bradford. There was a great deal of discussion from charter
boat captains about increasing the harvest limits.
Legislative Update – There
are several bills pending in
the General Assembly that directly impact the MFC and the DMF. There are three non-controversial bills that
would stagger the terms of MFC, repeal sunset provisions for licensing system
and require review of FMPs every five years, rather than having a mandatory revision
every three years - all of these bills have passed third reading and should
move forward without complications.
Other items being considered are bills that increase the administrative
cap for the Fishery Resource Grant program to $100,000, prohibit trawling in
Pamlico and Pungo rivers (sent to Rules Committee) and allow fish dealers to
qualify for compensation under the Hurricane Recovery Grant Program. A bill to
create a recreational saltwater fishing license has not been introduced.
Updates were given on the activities of the following groups:
Southern Flounder FMP Timeline Revision
Motion:
Motion was made to push back the timeline for six
months for the Southern Flounder FMP to the third quarter of 2002, to give the
advisory committee adequate time to review and address findings from ongoing
studies - motion passed unanimously.
Oyster and Clam FMP Timeline Revision
Motion:
Motion was made to push back the timeline for six
months for the Oyster and Clam FMP to the third quarter of 2001, because the
plans were delayed at the department-level review - motion passed unanimously.
Plans will be sent to the Legislative Study
Commission for Seafood and Aquaculture and the Environmental Review Committee
in late April.
Violation Point System
Discussion was held on the proposed violation point
system to be voted on at the June MFC meeting.
Motion:
Motion was made to take the Violation Point System
proposal to the regional advisory committees for review and input – motion
passed unanimously.
Red Porgy Rules will be voted on at a meeting on
April 9, 2001, on the following topics:
·
14-inch
Size Limit
·
Possession
Limit
·
Season
·
Trip
Limit
King Mackerel Rules will be discussed at the June
Business Meeting, on the following topics:
·
Permit
Requirements
·
Prohibit
Gill Nets to Harvest South of Cape Lookout
·
Proclamation
Authority
·
24-Inch
Commercial Size Limit
Subject Matter Notice (potential rule changes the MFC is considering)
Motions:
Motion was made to issue subject matter
notification for the following potential rule changes – motion passed
unanimously:
·
Eligibility Rules/Pool
for the Standard Commercial Fishing Licenses
·
Black Sea Bass
·
Revised Coordinates
for Nursery Areas
·
Beach Seine - definition
·
Fyke Nets - definition
·
Southern Flounder FMP
Rules
·
Hickory Shad –
exception to Mutilated Finfish Rule
Motion
was made to delegate blanket authority for subject matter notification to the
DMF Director – motion passed.
Meeting Adjourned
2001 Meeting Schedule
April 9 – Business Meeting – Morehead City
June 6 - Public Hearing and Meeting – New Bern
June 7 & 8 – Business Meeting – New Bern
August 9 & 10 – Business Meeting – Wilmington
October 4 & 5 – Business Meeting – Atlantic Beach
December 4 & 5 – Business Meeting – Kill Devil Hills