THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9410190406
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
Anglers who support plans for a new saltwater sports fishing license contend the $9 million revenue they say it would produce is needed to help manage North Carolina's coastal fishery stocks.
Opponents balk at the suggestion of another regulation - and another tax.
But fishermen on both sides agree: If the recommended $15 a year license is eventually adopted, stringent restraints on how the money is spent will be needed.
North Carolina Senate President Marc Basnight, D-Manteo, says saltwater fishing license revenue should be put into a trust fund. Interest from the endowment, he says, should only be used to benefit the state's fisheries. The principle should not be touched by bureaucrats or politicians.
Many of the 150 anglers at a Monday night public hearing on the proposal, however, claimed legislators probably would find other ways to spend the license proceeds - even if the money is deposited into a fisheries trust fund.
``We don't trust you all very much,'' Outer Banks charter boat Capt. Chip Shafer told Basnight and representatives of the state's Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Committee during the hearing at Roanoke Island's aquarium. ``Most of what we've been given by the government in the past few years has been a big enema to all of us.''
Manteo fisherman Bob Webster questioned why other governmental entities are not helping clean coastal waters. ``There are a number of federal and state agencies already in place that are supposed to address water quality, resources and the environment,'' Webster said during the hearing. ``But we can't even eat a lot of the inland fish we catch.
``A saltwater sports fishing license won't solve our water, habitat or fisheries problems,'' Webster said. ``Are we using the money we have wisely? Don't the revenues already exist to begin cleaning up these waters without our measley little $9 million from a new license?''
``Why don't we enforce the laws we have instead of making new rules and requirements?'' Manteo fisherman Ryan Brown asked. ``We should be using fisheries fine money to pay for the programs you said the saltwater fishing license will finance. The Marine Fisheries Commission has a $7 million annual operating budget now. Revenue from the license would more than double your income.''
In a chart proposing how license revenue should be spent, state fisheries managers recommend that ``not less than 20 percent but no more than 25 percent'' of the income be spent on law enforcement.
Basnight criticized that plan - and said the proposed $15 annual fee is too high.
``I don't agree with the pie graphs presented,'' Basnight said. ``I don't want that money to go to enforcement. The endowment should be used for the sole purpose of creating more fish. We need it for our future generations.
``We've got to give something back to the resource,'' the senator said. ``If we don't, it will all eventually dry up.''
To ease the process of obtaining a salt water sports fishing license, Basnight recommended that it be sold through an Automatic Teller Machine type venue: customers could insert a credit card and receive a license.
Another suggestion involved vending machines in which anglers could deposit a fee, pull a lever and get a license. Fishermen would have to mail back a receipt form to register themselves with the state.
Instead of requiring an added license, one opponent of the plan suggested, North Carolina legislators cold impose a tackle tax. Revenue from the tax, Wanchese resident Tom Wagner said, could be used for the same purposes as income from the licenses. But it would not be nearly as restrictive on people's freedoms to fish.
``We could charge 2 to 3 percent tax on fishing tackle and supplies and put that money into a trust fund,'' said Wagner, who told state officials he had gathered 2,577 signatures on a petition against the proposed license. ``That would bring you a lot of money year round. And you could spend it right here on North Carolina's waters.''
Michael Orbach, who chairs the state's Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Committee, agreed that a tackle tax would help raise money. ``But that wouldn't do anything we need to in terms of fisheries management,'' Orbach said. ``We need licenses so we can estimate the number of recreational fishermen out there - and so we can predict the recreational harvest. Only a license would give us the management tools we need for our fisheries.''
Near the end of the three-hour hearing, some fishermen began questioning whether the saltwater sports fishing license was really only a proposal. The way officials have been presenting their plans, some anglers said, it seems like the license already is a done deal.
Legislators plan to vote on the proposal sometime in early spring.
``The General Assembly asked us to look at all the options for doing this,'' Orbach responded. ``Our task is NOT to tell the General Assembly what the people want. That is not our assignment. We're looking at costs and benefits that would result from a salt water sports fishing license.''
``A tax is not inevitable,'' Manns Harbor resident Asher Vandenburg said. ``It is not ordained by God. I'm concerned you all will put the money into a trust fund. And then it will be gone.''
``We'll have to figure it out,'' Orbach said. ``What will give you the most protection for the license revenue?''
Vandenburg responded: ``No politicians.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by DREW C. WILSON
About 150 anglers attended a public hearing Monday at Roanoke
Island's aquarium on a proposed saltwater sports fishing license.
Staff color graphic by JANET SHAUGHNESSY
Expenditures
Source: Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Committee
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: FISHING LICENSE
by CNB