Politicians playing shell games again

Senate bill falls short of original goals as far as protecting marine resources

North Carolina’s saltwater resources watchers may be jumping too high and too soon with regard to Senate Bill 821, which emerged May 21 after the state legislature’s Marine Resources Study Committee adjourned.

Although the committee’s original intent drastically would have altered the face of saltwater-resources management, it’s done a little of that — while real change was kicked down the road and is missing from this bill, whose main points would:

• Ban menhaden reduction boats from North Carolina waters (0-3 miles offshore);

• Increase boat-registration fees and marine-fuel taxes to pay for dredging of the state’s smaller inlets;

• Strengthen fines for violating commercial fishing regs;

• Change how Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee members are appointed;

• Direct the executive directors of the N.C. Wildlife Resources and N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries — and North Carolina’s Secretary of Agriculture — to determine how to merge the Commission and Division to eliminate duplicate services.

• Establish a “super majority” needed for the Marine Fisheries Commission to override recommendations of the NCDMF’s scientific staff to halt overfishing or rebuild marine stocks.

Some of these points sound good, but what’s not in S 821 is more informative than what’s included.

One original goal of the study committee was to join the two agencies, in doing so, doing away with the system by which political appointments are made; that format always has been ripe for abuse. Currently, the governor appoints all marine fisheries commissioners, including a voting majority with private economic interests to encourage take of North Carolina’s finfish and shellfish. It’s as if the governor of Missouri had appointed Jesse James, Frank James and Cole Younger to head that state’s banking commission in the 1870s. Anybody wonder why certain stocks are crashing, why inshore trawling hasn’t been outlawed or why hanging-on-by-their-fins species such as summer flounder continue to be targeted by commercial fishermen?

There’s no mention of stopping or even changing drivers of a political machine that encourages abuse of saltwater resources. Oh, things appear different, but there’s no substance to many of them.

What is obvious is that politicians in Raleigh continue to play the old shell game with saltwater resources, while proclaiming change and hope.