THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510120357
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HOLLY RIDGE LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Taking the first steps to restore the state's oyster population will cost about $4.5 million over the next three years in construction and program costs, according to the chairman of a state oyster study panel.
But the most significant cost to reviving dwindling oyster stocks may be political, said Dirk Frankenberg, chairman of the state's Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Oysters.
Frankenberg said parts of the report may prove contentious for some legislators - particularly the proposed expansion of the state's oyster bed and water column leasing program, which have been controversial among northeastern North Carolina fishermen and Brunswick County fishermen.
Restoring the state's oysters will require an expanded lease program in which oystermen could lease sections of the water column in state waters to grow oysters. And that may conflict with traditional oystermen who rely on wild oyster stocks and with other uses of state waters, he said.
Implementing the recommendations of the oyster advisory council will require 16 statutory changes by the General Assembly and 19 regulatory changes by the state Marine Fisheries Commission, Frankenberg said Tuesday.
Frankenberg presented the oyster council's report, along with its price tag, to the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture in Holly Ridge.
``The most difficult task is deciding whether or not to restore the oyster resource,'' said Frankenberg, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor and a member of the state Marine Fisheries Commission. ``And do we have the political will to make the tough decisions that need to be made?''
The five general recommendations by the council and their price tags are:
Encourage private oyster production by revising state laws and procedures that generally inhibit these operations. Three-year cost: $700,000 in laboratories and experiment stations, $1.3 million for programs.
Restore and protect oyster reef habitat by changing the way the state seeds oyster beds, and adopt new regulations to protect oyster reefs from destructive fishing practices. Three-year cost: $1.7 million.
Expand waterways that are suitable for oyster production by protecting and restoring coastal water quality. Three-year cost: $590,000.
Establish and support an industry-based seafood council to promote demand for oysters and other seafood products. Three-year cost: $185,000.
Designate the Marine Fisheries Commission to monitor implementation of these recommendations and report its progress annually to the General Assembly. No budget.
Sen. Beverly M. Perdue, a Craven County Democrat, said the cost of restoring the state's oyster population is small considering the benefits the state will reap from a healthy stock of oysters.
``That's not a significant amount of money for the state to invest in anything,'' she said.
But some legislative commission members doubted that the oyster advisory council's recommendations will improve the oyster stocks. More drastic measures may be needed, they said.
Rep. W. Robert Grady, an Onslow County Republican, said that until fisheries managers decide to import stocks of disease-resistant Japanese oysters to replace the native North Carolina oyster, the advisory council's recommendations may not work.
The state Marine Fisheries Commission two weeks ago began debating whether to let the state's oystermen harvest small oysters in some state waterways as a hedge against diseases that have helped decimate North Carolina's oyster population.
The seafood and aquaculture commission is scheduled to continue its review of oyster council recommendations at its November meeting in Hyde County. by CNB