The North Carolina legislature will attempt for the fourth time this year to approve a gamefish-status bill for spotted seatrout, red drum and striped bass.
House Bill 983 has bi-partisan support with Tom Murry (R-Wake) the bill’s manager. Other major sponsors include Tim Moffitt (R-Buncombe), Michael Wray (D-Halifax/Northampton) and John Bell (R-Craven/Greene/Lenoir/Wayne). It also has other support from other members of both parties.
Political maneuvering stymied three previous attempts, including 2011, when Republicans was forced to sidetrack to get five Democrats to switch sides and guarantee on override of Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a Republican budget. If voted upon, last year, the bill likely would have been approved in the legislature, but it’s almost certain Perdue wouldn’t have signed it.
The benefits of such a bill are immense and not only for the fish, which could be worth an estimated $15 to $20 billion to the state’s economy if afforded gamefish status and protected from netting and sales.
Specks and redfish would be put off limits for sale, and striped bass still could be netted and sold only if caught in the ocean.
Only a handful of netters make at least $10,000 annually selling these species, mostly speckled trout. Netters can’t legally target red drum, and only a few — less than 50 percent of a netter’s total daily catch — can be sold.
Sources told us earlier this year that Sen. Jerry Tillman (R-Randolph), the Senate majority whip, sent Moffitt and Murry to a meeting with commercial fishermen to seek grounds for compromise. The story goes, they were met by a stone wall.
H 983 still offers a financial incentive, as it would pay netters who can show they’d lose income if the bill passes. However, netters would have to show trip-ticket proof of their income from these fish during 2010 through 2012.
Other parts of the bill moved the financial cost of dredging inlets to a portion (1/6th of 1 percent) of the marine fuel tax instead of increasing recreational fishing license fees; $1.3 million in General Fund money would pay for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Observer Program; and annual and 10-day coastal fishing licenses would increase $10 and $5, with those fees going to the Marine Resources Fund.
The only disappointing feature of the bill is it still allows ocean stripers to be netted; huge numbers of stripers have been wasted by ocean netters for years.
Ironically, because the legislature and governor are Republicans, this version of the bill shouldn’t meet major obstacles, as it’s an economic development act.
It’s past time for North Carolina to join other southeastern states in protecting the valuable coastal resources provided by seatrout, red drum and stripers.
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