January 25, 2019 — Captain George’s was the venue for the recent 2019 North Carolina Fisheries Association’s Annual Meeting, which addressed issues that included conflicts with special interest groups, shrimp trawl bans and aquaculture in the sounds.
The NCFA is the primary organization promoting, providing education and, in recent years, defending North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry.
NCFA board presided over an extensive agenda, discussing and taking comments from the dozen or so NCFA members attending on a wide range of legislative, regulatory and other issues the organization faces in 2019.
As board Chairman Brent Fulcher worked his way through the agenda, many of the same concerns facing the NCFA this year are the same, unresolved issues that were on the board’s plate five, 10, and even 20 years ago.
Primary among them were the continuing challenges of well-financed efforts of special interest groups claiming to represent recreational fishing interests.
For those who have followed these issues in the past, the actions of the Coastal Conservation Association, a national group with state chapters active in virtually every state, was once again behind several initiatives seen as a threat by the NCFA to their industry.