Game-fish bill on track to move from North Carolina House to Senate

HB 353 would prohibit commercial fishing for redfish, speckled sea trout and striped bass.

The home stretch is in sight for the fate of House Bill 353, the piece of legislation that would declare red drum, spotted seatrout and striped bass as game fish in North Carolina. coastal waters. The bill must be approved by the House and moved to the Senate by June 9 to continue through the legislative process.

Before the piece of legislation can receive approval by the House, a public hearing must be held by the House Committee on Commerce and Job Development. North Carolina Sportsman has learned a hearing could be held as soon as the week of May 23-27.

Tarheel recreational saltwater anglers who want to make sure the game-fish bill receives a fair public hearing should contact their legislators, both on the House and Senate sides, to ask them to approve the bill.

Opponents of HB 353, particularly lobbyists for the commercial fishing industry, have spread the rumor that the bill is dead because no action has been taken in recent weeks. But legislative sources told North Carolina Sportsman that budget considerations caused the delay.

Because HB 353 wasn’t accompanied by a companion bill in the Senate when it was introduced, the bill is subject to the “crossover” rule which declares any legislative bill must be approved by the body in which it was introduced, and then sent to its opposite chamber (in this case to the Senate) before a certain deadline date or it will become dead for the entire legislative session.

The first crossover date for this session of the legislature was May 12, but that deadline was pushed forward to June 9 while the House was attempting to craft a state budget. Many other House bills also haven’t received public hearings and votes because of work on the budget.

“Now the House has approved a budget and that bill’s in the Senate,” Rep. Dan Ingle (R-Alamance) said Thursday night at a Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina  fundraiser in Burlington. “The way should be clear for a public hearing (on HB 353), then a vote on the House floor and transfer to the Senate for consideration.”

Game-fish status would mean red drum, spotted seatrout and striped bass couldn’t be caught for commercial sale or barter, but only could be harvested by hook-and-line anglers.

North Carolina remains the lone state on the eastern seaboard and one of the few in the nation that allows netting of these fish. These fish also comprise only 2 percent of the total commercial catch (by weight) each year.

The bill was introduced in the House March 15 by four primary sponsors, Darrell McCormick (R-Iredell, Surry, Yancey), Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), Dan Ingle (R-Alamance) and Ruth Samuelson (R-Mecklenburg). HB 353, with bi-partisan support, has 16 co-sponsors.

A similar bill (HB 918) was left to die on the vine in committee last year, never receiving a full hearing before House or Senate members when Democrats controlled the legislature.

No bill that gives gamefish status to saltwater fish in North Carolina ever has been considered by the full legislature.

Red drum, the official North Carolina state fish, already can’t be caught on purpose for sale, and commercial netters are only allowed 10 incidentally-caught reds in each net set for other species.

However, even with this restriction, North Carolina manages to supply 90 percent of the red drum for dozens of Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states – states that don’t permit drum netting in their own coastal waters. Not only that, but the North Carolina cap on red drum harvests by netters is 250,000 pounds annually, a ceiling that regularly is violated, as it was in 2010.

Speckled trout have been hit hard in the last two winters by cold-stun kills. The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries closed recreational fishing of specks in February 2011, and will re-open the season June 15 for hook-and-line anglers.

DMF didn’t close the netting season for specks, instead only restricting netters to 10 percent of their daily catch for a total of 50 pounds.

Huge excess commercial trawler kills of thousands of Atlantic Ocean striped bass during January and February prompted outrage across the nation. No other state allows commercial trawling for striped bass.

Commercial fishery, although traditionally strong, makes up only a small percentage of the state’s fishing industry.

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries statistics indicate 803,308 individuals were eligible to fish with a Coastal Recreational Fishing License in 2008. That same study showed only 714 individuals landing at least $1,000 of fish for commercial sale in North Carolina.

Nonetheless, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission recently voted 7-1 to oppose HB 353, saying it would violate the terms of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997.

However, the FRA’s Spotted Seatrout Fisheries Management Plan requires that if stocks of those fish ever become low, the FMP will go into effect and require rebuilding of speck numbers within two years. Despite that clause, the MFC has introduced a bill into the legislature that would exempt spotted sea trout, declared depleted by DMF biologists, from the FRA.

North Carolina Sportsman also has learned through its sources that Democrat Gov. Beverly Perdue does not support the bill. She is from New Bern, and has close ties to the commercial fishing industry.

The chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Job Development, which will examine HB 353, is Daniel McComas (R-Wilmington). Vice chairmen include  Rep. William Brawley (R-Matthew), Rep. Craig Horn (R-Weddington), Rep. Carolyn Justice (R-Hampstead), Rep. Tim Moffitt (R-Asheville), Rep. Phil Shepard (R-Jacksonville), Rep. Fred Steen (R-Landis) and Rep. Mike Stone (R-Sanford).

Other committee members include Reps. Adams, K. Alexander, Avila, Bell, Boles,  Bradley,  Brandon,  L. Brown,  Brubaker,  Carney,  Collins,  Cook,  Current,  Dockham,  Dollar,  Farmer-Butterfield,  Floyd,  Folwell,  Frye,  Goodman,  Graham,  Hager,  Hamilton,  Hastings,  Hill,  Holloway,  Jeffus,  Johnson,  LaRoque,  Lewis,  Lucas,  McCormick,  McGuirt,  McLawhorn,  R. Moore,  Murry,  Owens,  Parfitt,  Pierce,  Rapp,  Sager,  Samuelson,  Sanderson,  Setzer,  Spear,  Starnes,  Tolson,  Torbett,  Wainwright,  E. Warren,  H. Warren,  West,  Wilkins,  Womble and  Wray.

To contact these committee members by email, letter or phone, go to the Committee on Commerce and Job Development’s Web site and click on each member’s name.

Finding and contacting your legislator is as easy as going to the North Carolina Camo Coalition’s Legislative Action page and enter your address or zip code.