Releases – June 5, 2014
North Carolina will allow commercial fishermen to use gill nets to harvest flounder and other fish in some coastal waters this summer, but they will have to throw back any red drum they catch.
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission recently voted last to reopen some coastal waters to large-mesh gill nets June 1, but prohibited the harvest of red drum from these nets.
Anchored large-mesh gill nets will be allowed in areas of western Albemarle Sound, Currituck Sound, and the Pamlico, Pungo, and Neuse rivers that are exempt from regulations under the sea turtle incidental take permit. The New River will reopen to anchored large-mesh gill nets above the closed shrimp trawl line.
Large-mesh run-around gill nets and strike nets will be allowed statewide in coastal waters where they were allowed prior to the May 5 large-mesh gill net closure.
The waters will still be subject to gill net closures due to interactions with sea turtles.
The state closed internal coastal waters to large-mesh gill nets to avoid incidental catches of red drum after the red drum commercial harvest limit was exceeded in the fall. The commercial red drum season will not reopen until Sept. 1.
Recreational red drum season is still open.
In other business, the commission voted to:
(1) Ask the division director to implement a new federal regulation in state waters that prohibits the sale of king mackerel without a federal commercial king mackerel permit. In North Carolina, the regulation will apply only to king mackerel harvested by hook-and-line gear or by a for-hire vessel fishing under a recreational charter. The new federal regulation also includes an exemption for state-permitted fishing tournaments that sell fish for charitable causes. The new regulations will not be effective until late summer;
(2) Accept the petitioner’s request to withdraw a petition for rulemaking, approved by the commission in August, which sought to prohibit the use of commercial fishing gear and certain types of recreational fishing gear on and around the Oriental Artificial Reef in the Neuse River;
(3) Agree that the issue of allowing commercial fishermen to retain two harvest limits of spotted seatrout, when two or more license holders are on board a vessel together, should be considered as part of the Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan review next year;
(4) Move forward with rulemaking for management measures in draft amendments to the Bay Scallop, River Herring and Shrimp fishery management plans. Proposed text and fiscal analyses for the rules will come before the commission in August.
(5) Ask the division’s staff to prepare information on adopting a general fisheries rule that allows the director to establish limited entry for different fisheries through proclamation, so that regulations can easily change, if needed.
(6) Send a letter to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission asking it to apply all resources towards completing a red drum stock assessment to be used in review of the N.C. Red Drum Fishery Management Plan in 2015.
(7) Send a letter to the director of the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding East Coast bluefin tuna allocations;
(8) Send a letter to the governor, speaker of the House and Senate president pro-tem in support of allowing the N.C. Marine Patrol to enter into a joint law enforcement agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
With boating and fishing season underway, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is asking the public to help keep boating access areas clean and free of debris by “adopting” a boat ramp.
The “Adopt-a-Boat-Ramp” program, based on the popular anti-littering “Adopt-a-Highway” campaign, encourages groups, organizations, individuals, and businesses to adopt one of the more than 200 boat ramps that are open to the public across the state, visit it once a month and pick up litter or debris.
In exchange for the work, the Commission recognizes volunteers with a sign erected at the boat ramp after the first cleanup has been completed.
The program, which is free, is a partnership between the Commission and the North Carolina Public Access Foundation. The program has been beneficial for the agency, in particular division staff, who can spend large amounts of time picking up litter at boating access areas, according to Erik Christofferson, chief of the Commission’s Division of Engineering Services and Lands Management.
“Having volunteers who are willing to donate their time and energy to pick up trash at public boat ramps frees up our technicians to create more access for boaters and anglers,” Christofferson said. “This is a terrific program and we encourage anyone who might be interested in signing up to do so.”
Since the program’s inception in 2011, 16 groups have adopted boat ramps and have held litter cleanups. While the majority of ramps that have been adopted so far are concentrated in the coastal region, all of the Commission’s boating access areas are up for adoption.
The NCPAF website, www.ncpaf.com, has a list of public boating access areas that the Commission would most like to see adopted, including some that are in the most need of litter cleanup. The website also has a list of ramps that have been adopted already. Some boat ramps are adopted almost immediately, such as the newly constructed Brick Landing Boating Access Area in Shallotte.
It’s a simple and quick process to adopt a boat ramp.
“We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for folks to adopt a boat ramp,” Marsh said. “All you have to do is visit our website, look through the list of the ramps that are most in need of adoption, read the safety rules and guidelines, and print out and mail the ‘Adopt a Boat Ramp’ contract. We will contact you to make sure everything is in order and answer any questions. Then we will have the Commission send you a supply of trash bags so you can get started. Volunteers are responsible for disposing trash bags.”
For more information about the Adopt-A-Boat-Ramp program, visit the NCPAF website, www.ncpaf.com. For more information on boating in North Carolina, including the locations of more than 200 free, publicly accessible boating access areas, visit the Commission’s online locater map.
The Atlantic coast states of Maryland through Georgia have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on the Draft Addendum to both the Spot and Atlantic Croaker Fishery Management Plans for public comment. The dates, times, and location of the North Carolina meeting scheduled hearing is as follows:
June 17, 2014 at 6 PM, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead City, North Carolina 28557, Contact: Michelle Duvall at 252.808.8011
The Board initiated the development of new management options in response to concerns over trends in the spot and Atlantic croaker fisheries and the extent of bycatch and discards of both species in the shrimp trawl fishery. The Draft Addendum proposes a new method (Traffic Light Approach, TLA) to evaluate the status of the fisheries and potential coastwide or state-specified management actions (e.g. bag limits, size restrictions, time & area closures, and gear restrictions) based on the annual fisheries evaluation.
The TLA has been used as a precautionary framework for fisheries with limited data to allow for a reasonable level of resource management. The name comes from assigning a color (red, yellow, or green) to categorize relative levels of indicators on the condition of the fish population or fishery, which can help clearly illustrate trends in the fishery. The current management of Atlantic croaker and spot compares annual changes in various indices (e.g. recent landings and survey information) to review trends in the fisheries. The most recent review found declines in the commercial and recreational landings for both Atlantic croaker and spot fisheries. However, there is concern that this annual review does not illustrate long-term trends in the stock nor does it include specific management measures to implement in response to declines in the stock or fishery.
The 2010 Atlantic croaker stock assessment indicated that overfishing is not occurring, while the stock status of spot is currently unknown. As both spot and Atlantic croaker are scheduled for benchmark stock assessments in 2016, the management options proposed in the Draft Addendum are intended to provide an interim approach until the benchmark assessments for both species are completed.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Spot and Atlantic Croaker Draft Addendum, either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum is available on the Commission website on the Public Input page.
Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on July 2, 2014, and should be forwarded to Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax) or via email at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org (Subject line: Croaker/Spot Draft Addendum).
