THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504090050
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MILL CREEK LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Levy Lilly, a longtime seafood dealer and fish farmer from the Mill Creek community in Carteret County, is spending much of his time keeping an eye on the General Assembly, where lawmakers are wrestling with legislation that could affect the future of his industry.
Lilly raises striped bass, in addition to buying and selling seafood, and he was one of about 60 commercial fishermen who made the drive to Raleigh last week for the unveiling of legislation that could lead to a ban on nets in the state's sounds and rivers.
On Friday, he was at a meeting of fellow commercial fishermen from this out-of-the-way community on the banks of the Newport River who gathered at the Mill Creek Fire Department to talk about commercial fishing issues with Robert V. Lucas, the state's top fisheries official, and Sen. Beverly Perdue, the Craven County Democrat who represents the community in the state Senate.
``I think it's going to be a tough fight,'' Lilly said.
As he spoke, Carteret County Commissioner Betty Bell wrote a name, address and telephone number on a blackboard - Rep. W.O. ``Billy'' Richardson, a Cumberland County Democrat who is the principal sponsor of the legislation.
``Everybody needs to pay close attention to this,'' Bell shouted above the din of fishermen talking in small groups and eating clam chowder from pink plastic bowls. ``All he needs is 61 votes for the bill to pass the House and we hear he's already got 35.
``If it ever gets put on a referendum, every commercial fisherman will be put out of business,'' she said.
On Thursday in Raleigh, Richardson, the grandson of a Craven County waterman, discussed a bill, to be filed this week in the state House, that calls for a statewide voter referendum on the use of most types of nets in the state's rivers and sounds.
Citing a recent Division of Marine Fisheries study that says 17 of 28 principal finfish and shellfish stocks are stressed or overfished, Richardson said the bill is a response to those declines and the failure of fisheries managers to address those declines.
His action touched off a series of meetings by commercial fishermen, local officials and coastal legislators.
The net bill and a commercial license moratorium were the hot topics Friday night at the fire department, where about 40 commercial fishermen from this multigeneration community of primarily oystermen and clam- and scallop-fishermen had gathered to talk about their concerns.
Sponsors of the net bill said Thursday the legislation, if approved, would not ban net fishing, but would just let state residents express their opinions on the issue.
The commercial fishermen and state and local officials at Mill Creek disagreed.
They worry that their numbers are so small compared with the state's sports fishermen that voters will endorse a net ban and state lawmakers will use that vote to enact strict regulations on their industry.
They also believe the vote, if successful, could give legislators the support they need to enact sweeping changes that would affect commercial fishermen all along the coast.
There, fishermen use nets routinely to catch most species of fish and some shellfish that comprise the state's commercial fishing industry.
``We can't afford to let this go to the people of North Carolina,'' said Perdue. ``The six and a half million people of this state will vote to ban nets . . . and it will be the end of commercial fishing in North Carolina.''
Commercial fisherman Wallace Ballance agreed.
``The sports fishermen will pass it,'' said Ballance, a native of Elizabeth City, now living in Mill Creek.
A net ban, he said, would unfairly place most of the regulatory burden on commercial fishermen. That group, he said, is just one of many contributors to the decline in fish stocks. The net ban would accomplish little to curb pollution entering the state's waters. Nor would it do much, he said, to stop habitat destruction, which, with pollution, is a major cause of declines in the population of some fish populations, he said.
``If they're going to do away with fishing, you ought to do away with hook-and-line fishing too - have no inside fishing at all,'' Ballance said.
North Carolina is just the most recent entrant in a national debate over the use of commercial fishing nets in state estuarine and coastal waters.
In November, Florida's voters approved a ballot initiative similar to Richardson's bill, which bans commercial nets in coastal and in-shore waters. Texas and parts of California have similar restrictions, and Washington and Oregon are considering some form of net ban.
Reaction to Richardson's bill has been mixed.
Todd Miller, director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, an environmental group, said last week that the bill will distract state lawmakers and the coastal community from the issues of habitat and water-quality protection - which he said are more important to the coastal fish populations than fishing practices are.
``Unless we deal with these other issues, nothing is going to solve the problem of vanishing resources,'' Miller said.
Meanwhile, Richen Brame, executive director of the state chapter of the Atlantic Coast Conservation Association, a statewide group of about 3,000 sports anglers, said that while the bill may be premature, debate over fisheries management is needed.
``I think it's good for the public to vote on a public resource issue,'' Brame said from Raleigh. ``I hope it will bring about a healthy debate.''
Lucas told the commercial fishermen that he has been under increased pressure from sports anglers to support the bill, which he has also called premature.
``I have caught pure hell all day long from recreational fishermen mad that I'm not supporting this bill,'' he told the commercial fishermen Friday night.
He said a bitter struggle will only hurt the state's commercial fishermen.
``Nobody is going to win by having a knock-down, drag-out fight,'' he said. ``You don't want to send the message that we ought to break into sides and this is war.''
But not all commercial fishermen Friday were worried about Richardson's bill.
Longtime commercial fisherman and Mill Creek resident Nick Culpepper said he is confident at least one key coastal legislator will be able to beat back the proposal.
``That net ban isn't going anywhere this session,'' Culpepper said.
``Marc Basnight will take care of that.''
Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, is president pro tem of the state Senate. MEMO: Graphic with fish icon
The issue: A proposed bill calls for a statewide vote on the use of
nets in North Carolina's rivers and sounds.
Sponsors say that if approved, it would not ban net fishing, just let
them express opinions on the issue. It's main sponsor, Rep. W.O.
``Billy'' Richardson of Cumberland County, says the bill is a response
to the decline in fish stocks and the failure of fisheries managers to
address the decline.
Commercial fishermen say they're worried that they will be outvoted
by the state's sports fishermen, and state lawmakers will use the vote
to enact strict regulations on their business. They contend that a ban
on net fishing would do nothing to correct other causes of fish
depletion: pollution and the destruction of fish habitats.
KEYWORDS: COMMERCIAL FISHING by CNB