March 8, 2017 — The following was released by the the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries:
The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is seeking applicants for the division’s director. The news release is below, and the link to the posting is:
For more information, please contact Patricia Smith.
Patricia Smith
Public Information Officer
Division of Marine Fisheries
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
252 808 8025 office
252 342 0642 mobile
March 8, 2017 — The United States Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in federal court that David Saunders Jr. and Michael Potter pleaded guilty to federal charges regarding the illegal harvest and sale of Atlantic striped bass from federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.
According to the indictments and information in the public records, in February 2010, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received information that commercial trawlers were illegally fishing for Atlantic striped bass in federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.
Upon receiving the information, NOAA engaged the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard and a patrol vessel in the area intercepted one of 17 commercial trawlers.
Based on its review, NOAA determined that in seven separate fishing trips between Jan. 27, 2009, and Feb. 9, 2010, Saunders, then Captain of the Bridgot Denise, a commercial trawler, harvested approximately 14,579 pounds of Atlantic striped bass from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). He sold the fish to a fish dealer in Wanchese, NC. The estimated fair market retail value of the 14,579 pounds of illegally harvested fish exceeds $116,000.
March 1, 2017 — For months at a time, fisherman Dennis Aultman lives on his boat, the “Bertie P,” where he said he spends his time trawling along places like the “the Pamlico Sound and out off of the beach off of Ocracoke and Kitty Hawk.”
He’s just one of hundreds of North Carolina fishermen who said any changes to the industry would affect their livelihoods.
The N.C. Wildlife Federation introduced a petition last November to the state Division of Marine Fisheries that adds new regulations on shrimpers.
“I don’t understand why they want to shut us down,” said Aultman. “It creates jobs for a lot of people other than just us.”
But David Knight of the N.C. Wildlife Federation said the organization sees the regulations as a necessity.
“Those that are saying this is about banning shrimp trawling in North Carolina are incorrect,” said Knight. “That statement is untrue. If you look at our petition and read it closely, we want there to be more restriction on these nursery areas.”
February 28, 2017 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted February 16th to grant a petition for rulemaking and began drafting rules to implement it. If adopted, the rules will limit shrimp trawling in most North Carolina waters.
According to the Division of Marine Fisheries, shrimp are the second most economically important fishery in North Carolina. In communities like Englehard, Lowland, Hobucken and Down East Carteret County, many commercial fishermen make their living trawling for shrimp in the Pamlico Sound. That’s why a petition to reclassify most internal waters is a contentious topic right now.
At a public hearing last Thursday in Wilmington, the North Carolina Fisheries Commission voted 5-3 to grant a petition for rulemaking that if adopted would limit shrimp trawling in most North Carolina waters. Proponents say the changes would greatly reduce bycatch and help bolster populations of commercially valuable finfish. Those against the measure say it will raise the price of locally caught shrimp and could decimate the shrimping industry in North Carolina. Jerry Schill is the President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a nonprofit organization that lobbies local, state and federal policymakers on behalf of commercial fishermen.
“It was not surprising to us but it was very disappointing after you come off an advisory committee meeting in New Bern where the five advisory committees votes overwhelmingly to recommend that the Commission reject the petition or deny the petition. And they went ahead and accepted it anyway which was very disappointing.”
The petition, submitted on November 2nd by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and modified on January 12th asks the commission to designate all coastal fishing waters not otherwise designated as nursery areas (including the Atlantic Ocean out to three miles from shore) as special secondary nursery areas. It also seeks to establish clear criteria for the opening of shrimp season and define the type of gear and how and when gear may be used in special secondary nursery areas during shrimp season. Since the meeting, advisor with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation David Knight says he’s received a positive response from people who feel the recommendations are a step the right direction.
February 23, 2017 — NEW BERN, N.C. — A fishing industry advocacy group said the proposed state regulations in a recently approved petition could sink shrimp trawling in North Carolina, but a recreational fishermen’s environmental nonprofit thinks shrimping will just need to change.
Representatives from the N.C. Fisheries Association, a nonprofit industry group that advocates for the state seafood industry, and the North Carolina branch of the Coastal Conservation Association, an interstate nonprofit dedicated to protecting the coastal environment, spoke Tuesday to a crowd of about 84 people at the regular meeting of the Coastal Carolina Taxpayer’s Association at the Stanly Hall Ballroom. The association invited them to provide their opinions on the petition for rulemaking approved Thursday by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.
Jerry Schill, NCFA executive director, said the association thinks the proposed special secondary nursery areas are the biggest problem with the petition’s proposed rules.
“The people who created this petition, they don’t understand the history of the (shrimp trawl bycatch) issue,” he said. “The fishing industry created nursery areas in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the term ‘bycatch’ came up. Now we have turtle excluder devices in shrimp trawls and sea turtles have rebounded. Finfish bycatch is still an issue, but bycatch reduction devices are being used.”
February 22, 2017 — Proposed shrimping regulations was once again at the center of debate in New Bern Tuesday night.
A meeting, hosted by the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association, aimed at providing people in attendance arguments for, and against, the petition.
The petition would create stricter regulations on those fishing for shrimp. It would limit trawling to 3 days a week, increase the size of fish-eyes to reduce bycatch, and limit where trawling could take place.
It would also put significant restrictions on shrimping in the Pamlico Sound.
Those supporting the petition said it is needed to protect shrimp populations, as many fish species have declined in North Carolina waters.
“A lot of things will have to be looked at. Will the petition stand as written? I doubt it,” said Donald Willis, VP of the North Carolina Coastal Conservation Association.
February 21, 2017 — Opponents of proposed shrimp trawl limits in the US state of North Carolina say they don’t plan on backing down, reports JD News.
“It’s going to be a long road,” said Allen Jernigan of Sneads Ferry, a full-time waterman who runs fishing charters and also does some commercial fishing.
The state’s fisheries commission voted five-three, with one member abstaining, last week to approve a petition for rule-making from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, setting in motion a lengthy process of reviewing the rules proposed in the petition before a final decision is made.
February 17, 2017 — WILMINGTON, N.C. — The state Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday to begin drafting rules that would limit trawling for shrimp in North Carolina’s inland coastal waters, a move that many on the coast say could destroy the shrimping industry.
The decision came after months of wrangling between commercial and recreational fishermen, with the latter group arguing that trawlers are scooping up millions of young fish before they’re old enough to spawn, effectively killing off fish stocks in the region.
The North Carolina Wildlife Federation petitioned the state – the only one on the East Coast that allows shrimp trawling in its sounds and estuaries – to reduce the size of trawler nets, limit how long nets could be pulled in the water, permit shrimping only three days per week and eliminate night-time shrimping.
“North Carolina has some of the most lenient shrimp trawling rules on the East and the Gulf Coast,” said David Knight, a policy consultant for the Wildlife Federation.
Thousands of people signed petitions against the proposal, and commercial fishermen packed Marine Fisheries Commission meetings in recent months to make their stance known. Hundreds left in disgust Thursday after the commission overrode the recommendations of its advisory committees and accepted the Wildlife Federation’s petition.
“What just happened today is appalling,” said Brent Fulcher, who owns Beaufort Inlet Seafood in Beaufort. “The state process is broken.”
February 17, 2017 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Thursday approved a petition for rulemaking that could ultimately limit how shrimpers operate up and down the North Carolina coast.
At the close of the four-hour hearing at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, the commission voted to approve the N.C. Wildlife Federation’s petition 5-3, with one member abstaining.
Federation officials explained earlier in the meeting the proposed rules are designed to protect juvenile fish that depend on the estuaries and near-shore waters to mature from being caught up in shrimp trawlers’ bycatch.
February 16, 2017 — The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission approved in a split vote on Thursday a contentious resolution restricting shrimp trawling in state waters.
The vote was 5-3, with Commissioner Joe Shute abstaining. Commissioners Mark Gorges, Chuck Laughridge, Brad Koury, Rick Smith and Mike Wicker voted for the measure. Opposed were Sammy Corbett, the commission’s chairman, Janet Rose and Alison Willis.
All three commissioners voting “no” represent the commercial fishing industry.