With the General Assembly expected to wrap up the 2017 session by the end of the week, supporters of a bill they say would be a major step toward protecting North Carolina’s coastal fisheries aren’t giving up their efforts.
House Bill 867 has sat in committee since being introduced in April, but there was an effort to move it forward last week.
Members of the Coastal Conservation Association and their lobbyists were talking to key House members Wednesday morning asking to have the bill debated by the House Wildlife Resources Committee.
But several members of the House, led by Rep. Beverly Boswell, R-Kill Devil Hills, were able to prevent it from being placed on the panel’s calendar at the last minute.
While the legislature will adjourn by Saturday, according to the leadership, Boswell was confident two weeks ago the current bill is dead, that doesn’t mean it can’t resurface in some other form before the sine die resolution is passed by both chambers.
Then it would be set aside and could be reintroduced when the General Assembly returns to Raleigh next spring for their election-year budget adjustment session.
Meanwhile, the CCA has plans to keep putting the pressure on lawmakers to move the proposal forward, and is holding a raffle to pay for their lobbyist in Raleigh.
HB 867 would fix significant problems with the now 20-year-old Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, which has led directly to a continued shrinking of fish populations, reads a June 15 letter co-signed by CCA of North Carolina Chairman Bud Abbott, President Chris Elkins, and Executive Director David A. Sneed.
The letter encourages the sale of raffle tickets, costing $100 each, with the winner getting a $40,000 cash prize, and the remainder to be donated to the N.C. Sound Economy coalition to support passage of House Bill 867.
The coalition is primarily made up of the CCA, N.C. Wildlife Federation and its affiliated chapters.
It has gained the endorsement of other advocacy groups and small and large businesses, as well as the N.C. Chamber of Commerce, despite stated opposition by The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce.
None of the endorsing groups are in northeastern North Carolina or on the Outer Banks.
The N.C Wildlife Federation, with the backing of the CCA, successfully petitioned the state Marine Fisheries Commission this winter to start a rule-making process that could end shrimp trawling in the state’s coastal waters.
Provisions added to bills this session that are expected to pass are designed to slow or even block the petition.
The CCA’s goal is to raise $100,000 by August 10, well after the current session ends. With $60,000 in hand, that would help the coalition pay for lobbying efforts both this year and into 2018.
Among the proposals in the bill are changing management goals from sustainable harvest levels to conservation goals and to eliminate by-catch.
Opponents say that could open the door to declaring any species as having gamefish status and to shut down commercial fisheries on a gear-by-gear basis or a species basis, allowing only a catch-and-release recreational fishery.
The bill would also abolish advisory committees, composed of members from recreational, commercial and science communities, that make recommendations to the Marine Fisheries Commission on pending issues.
Instead, a council of up to 20 members would be created to provide input on fisheries management plans, but none of the seats would be designated to ensure inclusion of all three groups, and the commission would make the appointments to include appropriate representation.
And the bill asks for $750,000 for studies on the impacts of rule changes to commercial license holders, to design and implement a commercial fishing license buyback program, to expand efforts to remove crab pots and derelict gear from state waters and to expand aquaculture and shellfish leasing programs.
Holders of licenses that the state buys back would get preference in participating in both the gear removal and leasing programs under the bill.
Under current law, only five out of 22 state-managed coastal finfish and shellfish stocks are considered viable, according to the June 14 CCA letter.
They say H867 is a conservation-based approach that will return the state to both a sustainable seafood producer and recreational fishing destination.
This not about user group conflict or allocation, the CCA said. Restoring our fish stocks to historic levels would allow our state’s fishing economy to grow to a $4.2 billion annual economic impact.
©2017 The Outer Banks Voice