Saving Seafood

BOB WOODARD & BEN CAHOON: No to seismic testing off North Carolina

December 17, 2018 — LAST WEEK, the administration of President Donald Trump approved requests by five companies to search for oil and gas deposits along the Atlantic coast by conducting seismic surveys.

This approval was granted despite the opposition of every governor on the East Coast except Maine’s and despite opposition from hundreds of coastal municipalities, and without holding listening sessions in the affected coastal communities.

As elected representatives of Dare County and Nags Head, we share concerns over threats to North Carolina’s coast. We are both Republicans and conservationists. We both recognize the importance of a healthy coast to maintain our prosperity and way of life. Our combined history of listening to our constituents and neighbors allows us to speak out about risks to our coastal business sector and livelihoods, and we can say with certainty: Offshore oil-drilling activities are bad for business, and North Carolinians don’t want them.

Seismic testing alone, even if it doesn’t lead to wells being drilled, will be harmful enough. Seismic surveys use  air gun arrays towed by ships to produce powerful sound waves. Sudden releases of pressurized air create the sound, with up to 20 guns fired simultaneously. Most air gun arrays can be 200 to 240 decibels in water, equivalent to about 140 to 180 decibels in air. A loud rock concert is about 120 decibels, and a jet engine from 100 feet away is about 140 decibels. And a typical seismic air gun array might fire such sound waves into the ocean five or six times a minute — more than 7,000 shots in 24 hours.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

NORTH CAROLINA: Dare County GOP confronts N.C. GOP chair on shrimp vote

March 29, 2017 — In the wake of the N.C. Fisheries Commission’s approval of a petition putting greater limits on shrimp trawling, the Dare County GOP has written a letter requesting that N.C. GOP Chairman Robin Hayes appear before its executive committee and “provide relevant information regarding his personal involvement and influence in the 2016 appointment process of members of the North Carolina Fisheries Commission.”

In its letter to Hayes, dated March 16, the Dare GOP said the commission’s approval of the petition represented a decision to “ignore science and destroy our state’s shrimping industry,” and accused Hayes of intervening improperly in the process of selecting commission members.

The letter goes on to say that, if Hayes does not comply with that request to appear before the local party, he should resign his post as state party head.

The Dare County Board of Commissioners has also expressed anger at the Fisheries Commission’s Feb. 16 decision to adopt the petition from the N.C. Wildlife Federation calling for new regulations on shrimp trawling after five advisory committees had voted to deny the petition.

The petition calls for all inshore waters and the ocean out to three miles to be designated as special secondary nursery areas. It also proposes limiting tow times to 45 minutes and trawling to three days per week in the estuarine waters and four in the ocean during daylight hours.

Read the full story at the Outer Banks Sentinel

Judge blocks closure of southern flounder fishing

October 12th, 2016 — A Wake County Superior Court judge has issued an injunction preventing the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission from closing the entire southern flounder fishery from October 16 through January 1.

During its November 2015 meeting at Jeanette’s Pier, the commission voted 6-3 to shut down both the commercial and recreational fisheries for southern flounder during the fourth quarter of 2016.

A lawsuit was filed by the New Bern-based North Carolina Fisheries Association, the Carteret County Fishermen’s Association, as well as Dare, Hyde and Carteret counties, against the commission’s action, and resulted in a temporary restraining order being issued on Sept. 28.

The defendants are the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, as well as NCDEQ secretary Donald R. Van Der Vaart, DMF Director Braxton Davis, and all nine members of the NC Marine Fisheries Commission,

After two hours of testimony on Oct. 6 from attorneys representing the NCFA and the state, Superior Court Judge John Jolly, Jr. issued an order preventing the Division of Marine Fisheries from instituting the October 16 closure.

When the MFC voted for the closure last year, interest groups from the commercial fishing industry, which were opposed to the ban, lined up against the recreation-oriented Coastal Conservation Association and Recreational Fishing Alliance.

The 6-3 vote pitted the three recreational, two at-large, and one MFC member representing the scientific community against the three members holding commercial seats on the commission.

CCA and RFA actually came into the meeting advocating that restrictions be imposed on the commercial fishery only, but both groups eventually took a public stance accepting the closure of the entire fishery.

Read the full story at The Outer Banks Voice 

Counties and fishermen’s associations file lawsuit over flounder supplement

September 27th, 2016 — Several coastal counties have joined with commercial fishermen in litigation against the State of North Carolina regarding last year’s decision by the Marine Fisheries Commission to adopt new regulations on the southern flounder fishery by using the “Supplement” process.

According to a press release issued Monday by the N.C. Fisheries Association, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the state’s seafood industry, and distributed by the N.C. Press Association, Steve Weeks, an attorney with Wheatly, Wheatly, Weeks, Lupton & Massie of Beaufort and Todd Roessler, attorney with Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton of Raleigh, are representing the plaintiffs. The complaint was filed on Sept. 23 in Carteret County Superior Civil Court in Beaufort.

The plaintiffs include NCFA Inc., the Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Inc., Carteret County, Dare County and Hyde County.

Read the full story at The Carteret County News-Times

Congressman Walter Jones Opposes More Federal Restrictions on ENC Waters

The following was released by the office of Congressman Walter Jones (NC-3):

April 11, 2016 — Washington, D.C. – Last week, Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) joined Dare and Carteret counties in opposing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) proposed expansion of the Monitor Sanctuary off the Eastern North Carolina coast.  The existing sanctuary protects the remains of the USS Monitor, a Civil War ironclad that sank in December 1862.  In January, NOAA published proposals to significantly expand the Monitor Sanctuary.   Dare and Carteret counties subsequently passed public resolutions opposing expansion due to concerns they may be used in the future to restrict public access to large areas of federal waters off the North Carolina coast.

“There is no need for new designations or access restrictions for fishermen and boaters that may flow from them in the future,” said Congressman Jones.

Congressman Jones has long been an advocate for Eastern North Carolina fishermen by fighting against overreaching government regulations on recreational and commercial fishing.  He has also secured much-needed money for dredging at Morehead City Harbor, and Oregon, Hatteras, and New River Inlets, in addition to fighting the Obama administration’s assault on fishing access through unilateral marine monument designation.  

For additional information, please contact Maria Jeffrey in Congressman Jones’ office at (202) 225-3415 or at maria.jeffrey@mail.house.gov.