Meeting is scheduled for July 30 in New Bern to accept public comment
Four advisory committees of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) will meet jointly on July 30 at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center to accept public comment and discuss appropriate actions on a petition to classify most internal coastal waters as secondary nursery areas – a move that would likely end shrimp and crab trawling in those waters.
This is the first step in response to the petition for rulemaking that was submitted by Tim Hergenrader of New Bern on June 20. The Commission has 120 days to respond to Hergenrader’s petition, which requested that all coastal waters not currently classified as either primary or special secondary nursery waters be classified as secondary nursery waters.
The Finfish, Shellfish/Crustacean, Habitat and Water Quality and Sea Turtle advisory committees will present at the specially called meeting. They will be tasked with soliciting and reviewing public comment, the supporting materials provided by Hergenrader and any materials presented by the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, then make a recommendation to the Commission, which is expected to take action at its Aug. 28-30 meeting in Raleigh.
The meeting will begin at 12:30 p.m. Members of the public who wish to comment will be limited to three minutes each.
A copy of the petition and the supporting documents is posted on the Marine Fisheries Commission/Division of Marine Fisheries website at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/june-2013-mfc-briefing-book. For more information, contact Nancy Fish at 252-808-8021 or Nancy.Fish@ncdenr.gov.
