MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — July 18, 2013 — With two meetings ahead on a petition that could bring an end to shrimp trawling in North Carolina’s inshore waters, opposition is organizing.
About 90 people from the fishing industry, including commercial fishermen and seafood dealers, attended a meeting Wednesday in Morehead city to prepare for meetings scheduled in response to the petition for rulemaking submitted June 20 by Tim Hergenrader.
“There were people there from Dare County and Brunswick County and everywhere between,” said Jerry Schill, former president of the N.C. Fisheries Association, who attended the meeting.
Brent Fulcher of B & J Seafood Co. of New Bern and Carteret County, organized the meeting to bring the industry together to gather information and determine how best to present their case opposing the petition.
“We want to have a coordinated message,” Schill said of the effort.
The petition asks that the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission adopt a rule that makes North Carolina’s internal coastal waters permanent secondary nursery areas, unless they are currently designated as primary nursery areas or special secondary nursery areas. The proposed rule would halt shrimp trawling in the state’s inshore waters.
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