Republicans shoot themselves in foot

Gamefish bill snafu is a deal breaker

Recently, as I was vacationing at Oak Island, my cell phone jingled. An upset caller said he’d explored the upper reaches of the creek that flows by the boat ramp off Fish Factory Road in Southport.

“The back of that little creek was full of speckled trout one evening,” he said. “I planned to come back the next day and catch a few, but when I returned the next morning, somebody told me I shouldn’t bother (fishing) because a strike-netter had taken 400 pounds of specks from the creek the night before.”

He fished the creek anyway, with no success.

I don’t know if this creek is off limits to netting or not; it really doesn’t matter. What matters is one netter apparently caught enough specks to pay for two weeks of groceries, while hook-and-line anglers — who spend thousands of dollars at local motels, gas stations, restaurants and tackle shops, and generate enough income for dozens of working taxpayers to buy groceries — have another reason not to visit North Carolina’s coast.

Which leads to this question: “What in the name of Ronald Reagan possessed a Republican-majority ‘economy-first’ legislature that says it wants to revitalize the state’s job market to kill a gamefish-status bill it once supported and Democrats consistently have opposed?”

No matter the spin, the proposal (HB 983) didn’t pit recreational anglers against coastal residents and businesses, nor could it have been only a “local” issue. There are a half-million recreational saltwater anglers across the state, and if gamefish are a “local” issue, then so is inlet dredging, repairing hurricane damage and paying for bridges, ferries and beach renourishment. Maybe coastal residents should foot the bill alone to fix those local problems.

Moreover, these fish annually total only 9/10 of 1 percent of all fish sold from North Carolina. Netters accounted for $3 million 28 jobs in 2012, while the recreational value of the fish was $131 million and supported 1,267 jobs. In total sales, the recreational sector generates 83 times more activity than the commercial sector and supports 45 times more employment.

Apparently, Speaker of the House Thom Tillis and the Republican leadership don’t do the math on statewide economic benefits when a few legislators from eastern North Carolina with ties to commercial fishing oppose a bill.

But 500,000 recreational saltwater anglers helped elect a Republican-majority legislature and put a Republican in the governor’s office with the understanding they’d support game-fish status for these three species.

Tillis, we’ve heard, plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kay Hagan. Good luck, Thom, with no support from sportsmen. By the way, good luck to any Republican in the next election cycle.