MOREHEAD CITY — August 17, 2013 — As the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission prepares to review a petition for rulemaking that could ban shrimp trawling from the state’s coastal waters, it’s shrimp advisors are also looking at management options to reduce bycatch that could put more restrictions on where shrimpers can fish in coastal waters or on the gear they can use.
The MFC’s Shrimp Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee received these management options from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the division of the state that enforces fisheries regulations and conducts fisheries-related research, at the regular committee meeting Thursday. No action was taken at the meeting, however; the committee will come up with its list of recommended options for the MFC at the Sept. 11 committee meeting.
A number of people who came to the meeting Thursday, including commercial and recreational fishermen, were opposed to additional restrictions on shrimp trawling. Fifteen people spoke during public comments, all of them opposed to one or more of the proposed management measures.
The committee is looking at these measures to try and reduce bycatch in the shrimp trawl fishery. According to data from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the state division that implements fisheries regulations and conducts fisheries-related studies, finfish are often caught in shrimp trawls, particularly spot, croaker and weakfish.
The committee is looking at a suite of options that include gear restrictions on trawl headropes – the line on a trawl that supports the mesh or webbing nearest the water surface that determines the net’s size, area restrictions and removal of certain trawls from the Recreational Commercial Gear License (RCGL).
Read the full story at the Cateret County News-Times