Committee on Marine Fisheries meets, hears input from saltwater-fishing industry.
The state legislature’s Committee on Marine Fisheries met for the second time on Thursday (Feb. 2) this time to hear comments from stakeholders in the saltwater fishing industry.
Speakers gave their testimonies about the troubled state of North Carolina’s saltwater resources, the management of those resources by a state agency (the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission) and how proposed changes will affect the state’s economy, their lives and the lives of coastal residents.
They spoke to the full committee (absent one member, Rep. Dan Ingle, R-Alamance), and an overflow crowd of observers and media representatives numbering around 150, and their statements boiled down to those who want no significant changes and those who wanted a reassessment of saltwater resource management and policies.
Three commercial fishing representatives criticized the goals of recreational anglers who want some kind of hope and change they can support. Sean McKeon, director of the N.C. Fisheries Association, led the commercial segment, along with Wanchese seafood buyer Willie Etheridge and Morehead City realtor and radio host Bill Hitchcock.
Six speakers represented the recreational point of view, including charter captains Seth Vernon of Wilmington and Richard Andrews of Washington, tackle store owners Donald Willis and Chris Medlin, Jim Hardin of Grady White boats in Greenville, and veteran angler Ray Brown of Goldsboro.
Brown, known for his long support of a resource-oriented approach to saltwater management, best expressed the viewpoint of 480,000 holders of recreational saltwater fishing licenses.
“I’m here today to talk about angling, “he said. “Angling is done to experience a moment between man and fish that cannot be duplicated – a moment so addictive that thousands upon thousands seek it over and over, and pay to do it
“Parents share it with their children. It is our heritage. The virtual world cannot duplicate it, and it’s not available as an App on an Ipod. Fishing is an experience that needs fish in the water to unfold.
“Some will question me and sincerely ask, ‘Are you saying we need to relegate, legislate and manage red drum, striped bass and speckled trout simply so people can enjoy the experience of catching them?’ The answer is ‘Yes.’ It’s the sole reason hundreds of thousands go fishing every year. Ask a person who went fishing yesterday what he or she enjoyed most about it. Rarely will you hear anyone talk about how the fish tasted.
“They’ll mention an event that happened, a big fish, a comment from others, something they saw. To partake of the experience is why they left the house.”
What galvanized Brown was the collapse of the river herring fishery, an event he called “the greatest failure of fishery management ever to befall North Carolina. That collapse is the driving force within me to stay engaged in fishery issues. I pray I never see anything like that again.”
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, knowing overfishing with nets for herring had reduced river herring numbers to a pittance of their former glory, still allowed 17 commercial netters to continue to land herring until they virtually disappeared. With 70 million pounds caught by nets in the late 1950s, by 2005 the net take was down to 700,000 pounds. The Commission installed a 100,000-pound season netting quota in 2006, and then closed the season July 1, 2006. By then, it was too late.
But McKeon, a lobbyist for commercial fishing industry, called the committee’s work “sad.”
“It’s a truly sad day for working families in the state of North Carolina,” he said, “in light of the some of the worst unemployment figures in the nation and a national economic crisis.
“I think we need to be really clear why we’re here. We’re being asked to put into (North Carolina) law a new definition of which ones of our citizens are more important than others…. You’re being asked to take a group of people and put them out of work or at least take a large part of their income away in order that others may come down to the coast and enjoy recreational sport.
“There’s no mention of the science, and biology shows the very individuals you all are contemplating giving these fish to exclusively kill millions and millions more fish and more pounds than does the commercial industry.”
Actually, statistics from the NCDMF show from 2006 to 2010, commercial landings of striped bass averaged 408,344 pounds annually, spotted seatrout averaged 302,866 pounds and red drum averaged 214,996 pounds. NCDMF’s 2010 report of fishing success noted that commercial fishermen landed 72 million total pounds of all species, while hook-and-line anglers caught between 14 and 15 million pounds. Specks, reds and stripers are 1.2 percent of the total annual commercial harvest.
McKeon also referred to the rejuvenation of House Bill 353, which is part of the saltwater committee’s study. That bill, sidetracked for the second time last year in the legislature, was revived and became a part of the Committee’s study. It would grant gamefish status to spotted seatrout, red drum and striped bass in coastal waters.
Willis said his tackle shop is a family business, and he’s had to lay off employees because interest in fishing has waned so much.
“It’s hard; it hurts,” he said. “I solely make my money off recreational fishing, and over the last 10 years, I had to lay off people and cut hours on people. It hurts. I have never done that before. I hate it. These three fish make up 80 percent of my total sales, so they’re vitally important to myself and the other tackle shops in the area. I’ve lost a lot of sales to people who are going out of state to fish in states that have gamefish-type bills or gamefish because the fishing is better. I’ve had people quit fishing because the fishing isn’t that good in North Carolina”
At times, Etheridge almost sounded as if he was a recreational angler.
“The fish belongs to all of the people of North Carolina,” he said. “I can’t understand for the life of me how you people and consider turning the fish over to such a small percentage of the people of this state.”
That is precisely the argument recreational anglers have made for decades as licensed hook-and-line anglers currently outnumber netters 533-to-1 in North Carolina, according to NCDMF figures.
Etheridge added if the gamefish status bill is adopted, it will put saltwater fish “in the hands of a very small percentage of people. It definitely will hurt the fishing communities along the coast.”
Commercial fishermen and his industry “are not evil, bad people,” he said. “Everyone should be concerned about the fish. The gamefish bill will do nothing to protect the fish; there’s no real consideration of the fish.”
Hitchcock said “Ninety-five percent of (North Carolina’s population) doesn’t fish in saltwater. It’s not fair to ban (commercial fishermen from landing and selling stripers, specks and red drum) because (the 95 percent) won’t have access to them.”
Medlin, who helps operate his family business, East Coast Sports, on Topsail Island, rebutted a statement that the gamefish bill would keep state residents from being able to enjoy red drum and speckled trout at restaurants: “I’ve never seen a redfish or speckled trout on the menu at any restaurant in Pender or Onslow County.”
He added, “My family has lived off recreational fishing for the last 50 years. Ask the Outer Banks if recreational fishing dollars feeds families or on my island.”
Vernon, who opened Intercoastal Angler near Wilmington, said he had to sell his business because of the lack of customers buying tackle as fishing populations fell.
“We are two decades behind neighboring states, particularly South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, who long ago named these three fish gamefish,” he said. “How is that possible with 1.4 million saltwater anglers in this state? These fish are a matter of a public trust.”
Andrews said he often takes clients who “might have” a good fishing day for speckled trout, then when he returns the next day to the same area, “I found the bottom torn up (by strike netters’ chains) and no fish to be found. When this happens, it doesn’t create much of an incentive for people to return for fishing trips. Destructive fishing gear creates a bad impact (on the marine environment). This resource should be managed for best use.”
Hardin said his business depends on recreational anglers.
“Thirty-three percent of the people who buy boats do so in order to go fishing.”
As for people losing jobs, Brown noted that only 87 commercial fisherman made more than $2,000 annually, and 29 of that 87 made more than $10,000 from selling specks, reds and stripers.
“So how big of an economic impact is that in other terms?” he asked. “Down the street from us is a Marriott. If it closed tomorrow morning, more than 87 employees who make more than $2,000 per year would lose their jobs. More than 29 of that 87 make over $10,000 per year, and they would lose their jobs, but unlike our fishermen, they wouldn’t be losing part of their income from hotel work, they would be losing all of their income.
“Should that Marriott close, the state of North Carolina would probably not even note it anywhere in writing that the closing occurred. It’ll affect 87 real people, but in the whole scheme of things, gamefish status would result in short-term economic loss no greater than one large hotel closing somewhere in North Carolina.”
Part of the gamefish bill includes $1 million in restitution to be paid to commercial anglers who supply three years worth of trip tickets so the state can figure out how much lost income they had and cut them a check.
Hardin also asked when North Carolina’s fisheries management would join the 21st century.
“Most (eastern seaboard) states protect striped bass, so why does North Carolina not do it? In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a law to protect striped bass in federal waters. The continued decline of the spawning stock biomass of these (species) means it’s time for the General Assembly to protect these fish.”
Sen. Don East, a Republican from Pilot Mountain whose district covers parts of Alleghany, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties, asked Louis Daniel III, director of the NCDMF, what the agency’s position was regarding gamefish status, and Daniel said the agency abides by the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, which said his agency had to manage saltwater fish for all user groups.
East also requested that the committee enter into the record the views of several governmental bodies from coastal communities on the redfish bill. Rep. Darrell McCormick, a Republican whose district covers parts of Iredell, Surry and Yadkin counties, accepted the information, which was never revealed to the audience.
Follow the fight for gamefish protection of redfish, speckled trout and striped bass on the dedicated Gamefish Status page. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed to receive notifications right on your browser each time the page is updated.
Users are encouraged to email committee members clicking on their names below and demand protection of North Carolina’s valuable saltwater fisheries.
• Harry Brown
• Don East
• Thom Goolsby
• Bill Rabon
• Tommy Tucker
• Jean Preston
• Stan White
• Darrell McCormick
• Dan Ingle
• Ruth Samuelson
• Danny McComas
• Bryan Holloway
• Pat McElraft
• Tim Spear
• Brent Jackson
• Tom Murry
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