THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 1995 TAG: 9503280266
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WANCHESE LENGTH: Long : 146 lines
Flounder won't start swimming in numbers along North Carolina's shores until fall.
But last week, state processors reportedly packed more than a million pounds of the flat fish.
Harbors from the Outer Banks to Beaufort are filled with commercial trawlers because almost all the flounder commercially caught in the Atlantic Ocean are ending up on Tar Heel state docks. Some crews have traveled more than 55 hours to land their catches.
``It took us three days to get here. It's crazy. We've burned 500 extra gallons of gasoline and already spent 11 days on this boat,'' said Steve Donnelly, a fisherman from New Bedford, Mass., who pulled into port in Wanchese last week.
``Until this month, we were going to Hampton, Va., to land our catches,'' Donnelly said. ``But now they closed that state to us, too. North Carolina is the only one still open. Everyone's having to bring their flounder here.''
For the past three years, the National Marine Fisheries Service has established quotas for the amount of flounder each state can land. The pounds are divided based on historic data. State fisheries regulators decide how the fish can be landed within their jurisdiction.
But since state officials control waters only up to three miles off their shores, the rules apply only to landings - not to actually catching the fish.
New England watermen can continue to catch thousands of pounds of flounder 100 miles offshore from their home ports. Most 55-foot trawlers can catch 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of flounder each time out. But the closest place they can unload boatloads of fish is North Carolina.
North Carolina can land 4 million pounds of flounder this year. As of March 11, fish houses had reported processing 1.2 million pounds - roughly one-quarter of the annual quota. Last week's landings nearly doubled the take, but the pace probably will drop off because some states with quarterly seasons may reopen for flounder in April.
``We're not too happy about having to come all the way down here. It adds six days to our trip. But we don't have any other choice if we want to keep working,'' said Capt. David Chadwick of New Bedford, Mass., whose boat XIPHIAS carried 13,000 pounds of flounder to Wanchese last week. ``This is the first time we've been to North Carolina. At least 15 other boats I know of have come in here this week that have never done this before. It doesn't have to be this way.''
Last year was the first time out-of-state trawlers began showing up in large numbers along Wanchese's wooden docks. Workers at fish houses in this Outer Banks village said at least 30 flounder trawlers from New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts pulled into port last week. About 12 local boats drag for flounder.
Dozens of other commercial craft have gone south to Morehead City and Beaufort, where the inlets are deeper. If the Outer Banks' inlet were better maintained, watermen said, even more boats would be landing their catches in Wanchese. Traveling to Beaufort adds at least six more hours to the boat trip.
Many trawlers that have braved the shoaling Oregon Inlet have struck bottom. Chadwick said his boat, which draws 10 feet, dragged bottom four times coming through the inlet last week. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is supposed to maintain the channel at 14 feet.
Meanwhile, local fishermen are helping the visiting trawlers navigate Oregon Inlet. Some fish houses are sending employees out in 18-foot runabout boats to direct the commercial captains to port. Other entrepreneurial watermen have hired themselves out as inlet guides - for $100 a day.
``If these guys are willing to take all this risk to go through Oregon Inlet, doesn't that show the potential that inlet has if it were maintained with dredging or jetties?'' asked local waterman Moon Tillett, who owns a Wanchese fish house.
``This is the largest number of out-of-state boats I've seen since 1970,'' Tillett said. ``Funny thing is, we're loading their fish on our trucks and taking them right back up there to sell them on their Massachusetts doorsteps. It's good for our income.
``But in the fall, things might get serious,'' Tillett warned. ``This flounder thing is a problem waiting to happen.''
Like Tillett, most Wanchese watermen have mixed feelings about the out-of-state boats filling their docks. Flounder flopping along fish house conveyor belts become money in the bank. But if all the other states' flounder gets counted toward North Carolina's quota, fishermen wonder what will happen when the flat fish start showing up along their southern shores this fall.
``It's definitely helped the business right now. But there's a big Catch-22 to this flounder situation,'' said Wanchese Fish Co. executive Joey Daniels. ``It's not fair to put them out of work when there are fish up there to catch. But we don't want them to catch up all our quota, either. Then our folks won't be able to fish in the fall.
``The quotas really need to be eliminated,'' said Daniels, who sits on the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission. ``All quotas have done is cost the fishermen a tremendous amount of fuel and time.''
North Carolina watermen fish off Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia all the time, Daniels said. Most offshore fishermen agreed that they catch - and land - some of the other states' quota for many species. Trawlers don't need a North Carolina commercial fishing license to land their catches on the Outer Banks, only a $300 unloading permit.
North Carolina has a two-year moratorium on commercial fishing licenses. But there is no limit on the number of unloading permits that can be sold. Nor is there any rule about how many pounds of flounder can be caught at a time.
``In North Carolina, we don't have any authority to put quotas on individual trip limits,'' said David Spitsbergen, an official with the state Division of Marine Fisheries' Morehead City office. ``When we're open, we're wide open. Each year, for the last couple of years, though, we've had some of our quota left over at the end.
``There's a possibility that the added boats will detract from our overall quota,'' Spitsbergen said last week. ``But then again, they benefit the fish dealers and packers.''
``They were trying to protect yellow tails up north. So they started putting all these restrictions on that species this year,'' said Chadwick. ``Almost everyone who was fishing for yellow tails went to flounder. That put extra pressure on the flounder.
``Soon, there won't be any flounder left, either.'' MEMO: ANNUAL QUOTAS
State Pounds
Maine 6,987
New Hampshire 67
Massachusetts 1,001,953
Rhode Island 2,303,894
Connecticut 331,574
New York 1,123,374
New Jersey 2,456,969
Delaware 2,614
Maryland 299,551
Virginia 3,131,519
North Carolina 4,031,905
TOTAL 14,690,407
Source: National Marine Fisheries Service
Massachusetts limits landings to 100 pounds per trip.
Rhode Island has a 500-pound trip limit.
Connecticut imposes a 200-pound trip limit.
New York boats can only land 100 pounds per day.
New Jersey is closed to flounder fishing.
Delaware has a 2,614-pound state quota.
Maryland has a 700-pound trip limit.
Virginia closed its flounder landings March 4.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW WILSON, Staff
Frank Knobby Miller, a fish packer at Wanchese Fish Co., takes home
a flounder for supper. The fish was caught off the coast of
Massachusetts last week. Crew members of a New Bedford, Mass.,
trawler traveled 55 hours before finding a place to unload their
catch.
KEYWORDS: COMMERCIAL FISHING FLOUNDER by CNB