THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120417
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
A 15-state compact that manages migratory fish would face a one-year review by legislators under a proposal filed in the state House Tuesday.
The bill, scheduled to be introduced in the House today, calls for a study of the compact by a House and Senate panel that studies seafood and aquaculture issues.
The committee's findings will be reported to the legislature next May. An additional report, on the state's fisheries management structure, is scheduled to be submitted at that time.
The bill is intended to be a compromise between those who have advocated immediate withdrawal from the compact and those who say withdrawal would devastate the coastal fishing industry, said Rep. Jean R. Preston, R-Carteret, the bill's primary sponsor.
But Jerry Schill, director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, said that he favored immediate withdrawal from the compact and that he was disappointed with the bill.
``I've already studied it (withdrawal) and I'd be glad to let them know anything they don't know,'' said Schill from the House gallery.
Earlier this year, the Virginia legislature approved a measure calling for Virginia's withdrawal from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 1996.
Since then, commercial fishermen throughout eastern North Carolina have advocated a similar move for their state. Recently one group of commercial anglers spent the day in Raleigh seeking legislative support for the move.
Commercial fishermen say the commission has not lived up to its legal obligations to hold public hearings and to involve commercial fishermen in developing fisheries management plans.
But withdrawal from the commission is opposed by many sports fishing interests, most coastal legislators and most fisheries regulators.
Meanwhile, Robert V. Lucas, the state's top fisheries official, said that while he would oppose a bill that supports withdrawal from the commission, a study of the compact could provide the forum for healthy debate on the issue.
``The more discussion and debate about the Atlantic States, the more educated everyone becomes about it,'' said Lucas, chairman of the state Marine Fisheries Commission. ``And the more educated everyone becomes, the more intelligent their decisions will be.
``I hope the study will focus not just on the Atlantic States in the sense of leaving it, but on how can North Carolina's participation become more effective,'' he said.
In North Carolina, fishing in the state's coastal waters is governed by the General Assembly and by the 17-member Marine Fisheries Commission But fish that migrate along the Atlantic Coast - such as striped bass, Spanish mackerel, flounder and weakfish - are also under the purview of the Atlantic States fishing commission, established in 1942 to recommend fisheries management strategies for its member states from Maine to Florida.
The commission's fisheries management program, begun in 1980, develops cooperative management plans for marine, estuarine and migratory species of fish along the Atlantic Coast.
Before 1993, compliance with most of these plans was voluntary. But in 1993, Congress adopted the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, which required states to comply with the commission's plans or face sanctions - such as a moratorium on fishing for the species in question.
KEYWORDS: FISHING INDUSTRY NORTH CAROLINA PROPOSED BILL by CNB