February 16, 2018 — WILMINGTON, N.C. — In a narrow vote, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Commission amended a motion involving commercial fishing regulations Thursday.
The 5-4 vote removed stipulations that nearly 100 people from across the state spoke out against at Wednesday night’s meeting. Hundreds attended to urge the commission to not create tighter restrictions on commercial fishing.
The following regulations will be presented to state legislators, who will have the final vote:
- Develop a new commercial fishing license based on criteria to qualify current commercial license holders. Current license holders must demonstrate a minimal level of participation in the fishery as reported by landings (1,000 pounds of seafood products) or effort (15 trips) through the DMF trip ticket program during any two out of five continuous calendar years.
- Only allow license transfers or assignments to members of the immediate family or corporation of a licensed commercial fisherman.
- Create a crew license for individuals to apprentice with commercial fishermen for three years, after which time they would be eligible to purchase a standard commercial fishing license. The annual fee for the crew license would be $100.
- Cap the pool at 100 and establish a new pool to receive licenses that are not renewed each year. Any non-renewed licenses would be transferred into the new pool and used to fill new commercial fishing license demand for qualified applicants. Inactive licenses may be reactivated for a fee.
- Inactive standard commercial fishing licenses that do not have requirements set forth by the legislature would go back into a special pool and these licenses may be reissued to the original holder without going through the eligibility pool.