Tradewinds February/March 2018 by NCCOAST

Tradewinds

COMPLIMENTARY

February/March 2018

WWW. NCFISH.ORG

A Publication of North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc.

A New Process to Assess the Population Status of Southern Flounder TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: STATE AND FEDERAL

Marketplace Local Seafood & Business

Membership Matters: Introducing Nikki Raynor

Board of Directors The North Carolina Board of Directors is comprised of members representing all of the State’s coastal regions as well as the many facets of the industry gear type, targeted species, and commodity groups. The association elects its board members and officers annually.

Tradewinds A publication of the North Carolina Fisheries Association Tradewinds have been used by captains of sailing ships to cross the world’s oceans for centuries. The captain of a sailing ship would seek a course along which the winds could be expected to blow in the direction of travel. Tradewinds were important in the development of trade and provided a means of transportation and communications to isolated coast communities We are still isolated in a sense even with our modern ships, aircraft, telecommunications and the internet. We need a connection from island.to island, person to person…and to the rest of the world. We hope that this Tradewinds will become as important to you.as the Tradewinds were to our ancestors, not only to in-landers wanting to know more about the coast, but coastal people learning about other coastal people.

NCFA Staff: Glenn Skinner Executive Director Jerry Schill Director of Government Relations Aundrea O’Neal Administration & Accounting/Tradewinds Editor David Bush Fisheries Biologist Nikki Raynor Membership/Receptionist 101 N. 5th Street Morehead City, NC 28557 Office: 252-726-(NCFA)6232 | Fax:252-726-6200 www.ncfish.org

Brent Fulcher-252-514-7003 Chairman Glenn Skinner-252-646-7742 Executive Director Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Treasurer Area 1Mike Blanton-252-619-2694 Area 2Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Area 3Mark Vrablic-252-305-2718 Area 4Richard Newman-252-945-8584 Area 5Wesley Potter-252-229-1881 Area 6Brent Fulcher- 252-514-7003 Area 7- Doug Todd-910-279-2959 At LargeSonny Davis-252-725-0784 At Large- Chrissy Fulcher Cahoon-252-670-7223 At LargeRoss Butler-757-435-5317 At LargeJeff Styron-252-675-8354 Charter BoatRalphie Craddock-252-473-0953 Albemarle Fisherman’s Association Terry Pratt-252-339-7431 Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Bradley Styron-252-342-8821 Ocracoke Working Waterman’s Association Hardy Plyler-252-928-5601 Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association Wayne Dunbar-252-670-7467 Brunswick County Fishermen’s Association Randy Robinson-910-209-3463 NC CatchKaren Amspacher-252-732-0982 The Tradewinds is a free publication published bi-monthly by the NC Fisheries Association. All parties advertised herein and the claims represented are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. Though every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all advertising and copy contained herein, the publisher may not be held responsible for typographical errors. The NC Fisheries Association reserves the right to refuse any advertising or editorial deemed inappropriate. The agency, its employees, agents or representatives may not be held responsible for any actions or consequences derived as a result of following advice or instructions contained herein. ©2018

Februay/March 2018

From the Chairman.................. 4

contents

From Glenn Skinner................. 4 A Word From Jerry................... 5 From David Bush..................... 6 Nikki Raynor............................. 8 A Commercial Fishermen’s Daughter.............................. 10

Letter to the Editor............ 12-13 Brown’s Island................... 16-17

new! Marketplace............................ 18 Core Sound Waterfowl Museum................ 20 Maritime Angels..................... 22 FEATURE STORY

A New Process to Assess the Population Status of Southern Flounder -Jess Hawkins... 24-25 Captain’s Spotlight................. 26 Luke Midgette Fish House..... 28 AMSEA.............................. 30-31 The Graying of the Fleet........ 32

Red...Right............................................ 34 Council & Commission Meetings.......... 35 Affiliate News........................................ 37 Bluewater Fisherman Assoc................. 38 SeaGrant.......................................... 42-43 Talk on the Docks...................................44 Tred Barta..............................................47

On the Cover: Elbert Gaskill mending net on the dock at Beaufort Inlet Seafood Photo by Aundrea O’Neal (2017)

Photo by Billy Merkley

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Fulcher’s Seafood..................................... 9 Gordon’s Net Works.................................. 9 Grudens ................................................. 14 Hardison Tire .......................................... 15 Henry Daniels F/V Joyce D................... 15 Homer Smith Seafood............................ 11 Hurricane Boatyard................................. 29 Davis Fuels ............................................ 11 Locals Seafood....................................... 19 Mayo Commercial Fishing Supply.......... 29 Murray L. Nixon Fishery, Inc. ................. 27 NC Catch................................................. 41 N.C. Dept. of Agriculture.......... Back Cover Offshore Marine........................................ 7 O’Neal’s Sea Harvest.............................. 19 Outerbanks Catch.............................. 21,39

Outer Banks Seafood............................... 6 Pamlico Insurance.................................. 46 Potter Net and Twine.............................. 15 Powell Brothers Maintenance................. 45 Quality Seafood........................................ 7 R.E. Mayo Seafood................................. 15 Rocky Mount Cord Co............................ 13 Ted & Todd’s Marine Services................ 15 The Clement Companies........................ 45 Tred Barta............................................... 46 Walker Marine........................................... 7 Wanchese Fish....................................... 19 Wanchese Trawl..................................... 19 Wells Fargo Bank.................................... 46 Wheatly Boys.......................................... 13 Wheatley, Wheatley, Weeks, Lupton & Massie............................................... 8 Wilheit Packaging................................... 11

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A word from the chairman ...

A thought from Glenn ... A RISING TIDE FLOATS ALL BOATS

A POSITIVE BEGINNING

Happy New Year!

hat will 2018 bring for commercial fishermen in our state and nation? We are an optimistic bunch so we remain hopeful that some recent appointments will be an indication of positive change in the way we make our living. Chris Oliver was appointed as the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries at NOAA, which means he is the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service. He comes from much experience in fisheries on the west coast so the learning curve with other fisheries will be significant. A few of us from NCFA met with Chris, Sam Rauch and other NMFS staff in January to discuss federal fisheries issues that are important to North Carolina, and we came away from that meeting optimistic that with us working with our state regulators, we can address some of the problems facing our fishermen in a productive yet sustainable manner that can be a win-win for the resource, commercial fishermen and our consumers. At the state level, Steve Murphey was selected by Governor Roy Cooper and Secretary Michael Regan as the Director of Marine Fisheries. Many of us have known Steve over the years at DMF and are confident that he will lead the Division for the benefit of all fisheries stakeholders, including seafood consumers. He is extremely knowledgeable and willing to discuss issues as he was quick to make time to meet with us in January. Our job here at the Association will be made easier with improving morale at DMF. While Braxton Davis did a great job in the interim, the many excellent employees at the Division can concentrate on their duties knowing they have a steady and permanent hand at the wheel. We offer our congratulations to U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, on his appointment of Chris Oliver at NMFS and to Governor Cooper and Secretary Regan on selecting Steve Murphey as Director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. We look at these appointments with hope for the future. NCFA has already met with both of them and be assured that we will continue that dialogue on behalf of North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commercial fishermen. Brent Fulcher, Chairman

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or far too long, North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commercial fishermen have been plagued by the never-ending ebbing tide of overregulation. For years, the tide has been blown out from under us by the hot air that spews from the mouths of groups like the Coastal Conservation Association and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. The receding waters have run many fishermen aground, forcing them to abandon ship and go ashore in search of more stable land-based jobs, while others like myself are still navigating the shallows knowing all too well the next gusty half-truth may leave us high and dry. The wind of change is starting to blow, and in recent years, the anti-commercial rhetoric has been met with an ever-increasing number of citizens opposing unfair regulation and demanding continued access to local wild-caught seafood. The fishermen themselves are finding their voice and have just begun to tell the true story of commercial fishing in North Carolina. Unfortunately, that voice is often heard as no more than an annoying murmur, muffled by differing opinions, petty quarrels, and self-serving agendas. We are especially silenced when our appointed representatives choose to represent only themselves on key issues that affect our entire industry. They need to be reminded that they are here to represent a diverse and constantly-evolving group that cannot be defined by a few greedy individuals seeking to carve out a bigger piece of the pie for themselves. In 2018, our industry, along with the communities & businesses it supports, need to unite as never before and speak with one voice. Only then will we be able to turn that annoying murmur into a deafening roar that cannot be ignored. As a group, we can restore stability and growth to the fishing industry and exchange the tide that has been dragging us down for so long. We must all remember that a rising tide floats all boats, not just our own! Thank you, Glenn Skinner.

NCFA Legislative Affairs, Jerry Schill

A word from Jerry ... TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: STATE AND FEDERAL

n the mid-90s, NCFA (or me in particular), was criticized by a few state legislators that we were not taking care of business in Raleigh. They told some of our board that it was difficult for them to fight bad legislation on their own without having an “in person” presence at the General Assembly. There was a lot of activity going on at the federal level and we were investing quite a bit on those issues, including a few lawsuits against the federal government. (Won 2 and lost 1 in case anyone’s interested, and the feds had to pay a good portion of our legal fees.) As a result, we hired a lobbyist from one of the many lobbying firms to cover the goings on at the state level. Rather than getting into the gory details, let’s just say it didn’t work out. So, I started going to Raleigh and paying a lot more attention to business at that level. At the present time, it’s safe to say that if the General Assembly is in session, I’m there. Even if there’s not any fish stuff on the agenda, it’s still important to watch what’s going on in Raleigh. However, a few months ago, it was pointed out by one of our Board members that NCFA is just not taking care of business at the federal level. And he was correct! Even though we can justify the reasoning, it just doesn’t change the fact that those NCFA members who are primarily affected by regulations at the federal level were being short-changed. One of the reasons I stepped down as President of NCFA last April is my age. I’ll be 70 when I hit my next birthday, meaning I’ll be a senior citizen soon, so I thought it’s about time I slow down a tad. The biggest reason though, is that by concentrating on governmental affairs at the legislative and regulatory levels, it frees up time and effort from the administrative end so both state and federal issues can be given ample attention. Even then, sometimes it’s just unavoidable to avoid some time conflicts. This month was a perfect example as we had scheduled some visits in the Washington area at the same time the General Assembly convened in Raleigh. While no fish stuff was on the horizon at the state level, there are still some bills that are “alive” and could be considered, which is why it’s best to be in Raleigh when the Honorables are meeting. NCFA Executive Director Glenn Skinner, and Board member and Mid Atlantic Council member Dewey Hemilright and I met with Congressman Walter Jones and staffers from Senators Burr, Tillis and several other congressional offices over two days on Capitol Hill. We were joined by NCFA Board Chairman Brent Fulcher for a meeting with Chris Oliver, the Assistant Administrator

for Fisheries at NOAA/NMFS in Silver Spring. The meetings were very productive as we discussed existing legislation and our concerns on other issues such as the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Highly Migratory Species issues, Magnuson-Stevens Act. When meeting with Jim McCleskey of the North Carolina Washington office, we also discussed some state issues since he works for Governor Roy Cooper. We also had the opportunity to meet with friends Glenn Delaney on Wednesday evening and Bob Vanasse on Thursday evening who represent a number of clients from across the country so we were fortunate to discuss issues of mutual concern with them as well. When we were in DC, no fisheries issues were formally discussed in Raleigh, although I did communicate with the Senators and Representatives about the Marine Fisheries Commission naming a committee to work on the definition of a commercial fisherman. I forwarded to them, along with my comments, the excellent letter to the editor by Bill Hitchcock concerning that subject. (Bill’s letter appears in this edition of Tradewinds.) As is so typical, those who do not care for commercial fishermen then attempted to denigrate the messengers rather than the message by implying that NCFA does not reflect the thoughts of most commercial fishermen on the issue of getting rid of part-timers. Make no mistake: the purpose of changing the definition is to shrink the ranks of those who commercially fish, thereby shrinking our influence! The next Marine Fisheries Commission meeting is February 14 & 15 at the Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach, so they will have made their decision by the time you read this. If approved, the battleground changes to the North Carolina General Assembly. To stay on top of these kinds of issues in a timely way, make sure you are receiving our Weekly Updates that are sent via email, snail mail or fax each Friday. Call the office if you’re not receiving the updates and would like to be added to the list.

L-R Glenn Skinner, Brent Fulcher, Chris Oliver (NMFS), Dewey Hemilright, Sam Rauch (NMFS)- Photo curtesy of Jerry Schill

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NCFA Fisheries Biologist, David Bush

OVERFISHING, BYCATCH, AND THE TOOTH FAIRY

ot to make light of two very serious topics, but these issues are more often twisted and manipulated than just about any other fisheries topic in news and social media. As we move forward into 2018, the NC commercial fishing industry takes these issues very seriously, and is wrapping up a pretty successful threeyear bycatch reduction study with hopes that it will continue in one form or another. Unfortunately, these words are still misused to cast a negative light on fishermen already subject to more regulations than most industries in the U.S. So, what do they mean? According to the 1996 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the term bycatch “means fish which are harvested in a fishery, but which are not sold or kept for personal use, and includes economic discards and regulatory discards...” So, the idea is that if you can’t or won’t keep it, its bycatch. So why don’t you keep it? Already caught your limit? Minimum size limit is too high? Either way, it is either recorded or estimated as bycatch. An example of where this can really get confusing is the red snapper fishery. Everyone agrees that the population of red snapper is greatly increasing, but due to regulations required to ensure all aspects of the population is healthy, no harvest had been allowed until late this fall. Until then, that meant that every time a recreational fisherman found a nice reef to fish on and caught one red snapper after the other, they were counted (estimated) as bycatch. This type of bycatch is called regulatory bycatch. So, how does this relate to overfishing? The definition of overfishing according to NOAA is a little more technical than would be appropriate here, but, simply put, it means the number of fish removed from the fishery, either by harvest or by discard mortality, exceeds what the population can replace in a given timeframe. Though many of these fish are released alive, the portion of this bycatch that dies or is eaten by another fish because of this interaction, is called discard mortality. In the South Atlantic, the estimated bycatch and discard mortality of red snapper has continually exceeded the estimated number of fish that could sustainably be removed from the population. The idea that a fishery was closed because there were too many fish; however, still seems very counterintuitive. In this example, it is not necessarily the number of fish, but the age or size of the fish targeted that is key. While the total number of fish is up, the age structure of the population is still inadequate. A strong age structure provides resiliency to the stock. There may be substantial numbers of juvenile fish that are otherwise big enough to keep, but the numbers of older fish who have the most impact on spawning are still much lower than desired. Unfortunately, fishermen have a hard time avoiding them and wonder why they can’t keep at least a few. Sharks seem to get most of what they throw back anyway. Either way, you can’t avoid them because there are so many, and you can’t keep them due to regulations. This creates bycatch leading to discard mortality and ultimately, overfishing. This can be a difficult concept to wrap your mind around. Now for the Tooth Fairy. The term “overfishing” is a relative term and a moving target. As mentioned earlier, it refers to the capacity of a population of fish to replace fish lost to harvest or bycatch mortality. In fisheries management, there is only control

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of the fishermen, so target fishing levels must change frequently to account all other issues. Other factors that affect the capacity of a population to compensate for harvest by fishermen could be: weather and temperature which impacts spawning and causes cold stun events, large storms, environmental disasters, as well as anthropogenic or human caused reasons such as runoff toxins or nutrients, small and large-scale sewer or chemical leaks, water temperature changes related to industrial activities, and habitat impacted by construction. As mentioned earlier, there are also well intentioned regulatory impacts with unintended consequences. For example, big fish also eat little fish. That’s not a scientific breakthrough, but think about it. If the natural predators of your favorite sportfish or table fare receive disproportionate regulatory protection, what will happen to the population of your favorite fish? Predation will increase, so fishing pressure on your favorite fish must be further reduced. If it is not, overfishing will occur even though you did nothing different. Like the Tooth Fairy, overfishing is often used to explain something occurring for a very different reason. So, what can fisheries managers do? Only reduce Fishing pressure. In short, bycatch is frequently caused by regulations, and overfishing is not always related directly to fishing pressure. Fishermen are the only ones who must compensate, but these issues are much larger. Fisheries managers are put in a tough position when they know that there are issues beyond their control, but they can only regulate the fishermen. It will take substantial effort to educate individuals upstream, that their activities can negatively impact marine resources. Fortunately, only minor changes are necessary to reduce this impact. As for larger entities, the public must demand that every effort is made to discourage harmful practices, and ensure that issues are dealt with swiftly and effectively, especially those arising from negligence or malicious intent. Sounds like a good New Year’s Resolution for 2018.

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JOIN JOIN JOIN JOIN

TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN

Membership Matters:

Hi all. My name is Nikki Raynor and I’ve been working with the North Carolina Fisheries Association for a few months now. I’m currently working as a receptionist and handling memberships. Slowly, I will start to take on more responsibilities at the office as I learn and gain experience. As some of you may know, Aundrea O’Neal (Office Manager at the NCFA and editor of Tradewinds) is my mother. Though she’s only physically been here in the office for a few months as well, she has been producing the Tradewinds publication for a year and a half, and she works as though she’s been here forever. She honestly doesn’t miss a beat! For years now, my mother has been very involved with the commercial fishing industry. Her tireless work, dedication, and support to the industry are truthfully what inspired me to fill my position here. My hard-working husband and partner of ten years, Hunter

From your Editor, I hope that you are satisfied with the story qualities that are provided in this publication. My main focus and purpose for taking on this task is to keep our fishermen informed, educate the public and to show that you (whether you are a fisherman or a consumer) are an ESSENTIAL part of our industry! If there is a question, subject or interest that you may have and would like to see in this magazine, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I will try my best to get the question answered, story written or interest directed to the proper people that will supply that information for you. With your continued support, we can show that we are using conservative, sustainable practices to keep our industry going for the years to come.

Thank you Again!!! ational fishermen helped spur the legislation. Aundrea O’Neal Photo by Roger Winstead/NC State Communications. 252-726-NCFA (6232) 252-503-8302 Aundrea@ncfish.org Tradewinds@ncfish.org

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Barta, is a full time year-round commercial fisherman. Together, we have a beautiful six year old son, and the commercial fishing industry has primarily supported our family since we began. I can say from personal experience that I understand the joys and the struggles of the commercial fishing life, and I have the utmost respect for the commercial fishermen and women who work hard every day to provide for their families. I consider it a genuine honor to work at the NCFA. I take pleasure in knowing that my place of work helps educate people about what the industry really is, and I look forward to seeing and partaking in the future here. If you’re not already a member, please feel free to fill out the application on page 40, send it in with your payment, and join our NCFA family! With your membership, you will receive an update on what’s going on with the commercial fishing industry every week via post, email, or fax. You will be notified about news, events, meetings, and you will receive your own issue of Tradewinds every other month. Without our members, we wouldn’t be able to continue doing what we do. We are immensely grateful to each and every member for your support. Thanks so much and I hope to hear from you soon! - Nikki

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Thoughts of a Commercial Fisherman’s Daughter

“Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. A study taken on some small family-owned commercial fishing companies showed that they adapted to continue to earn a living but not necessarily make a large profit.” Defined by Wikipedia. What is a commercial fisherman you might ask? A fisherman is a man of many talents. One who knows the trade, the tides, and his way. He has to be swift on his feet with good judgement at all times for his life, and his crews depend on it. He works hard with his bare hands, sometimes right down to the bone. He has blood shot eyes from fish scales getting in them. He works rough hours for little pay. He smells like rotten shrimp, but no one complains because we know that’s the “smell of money.” He braves all weather conditions, to provide for his family. He sets out nets, to drag upon drag for those shrimp. He sets out nets in the evening, to go back in the early hours of the morning to hopefully find fish to be able to pick. He works hours on end in the bottom engine room of his most prized possession, his boat. He misses ball games, school functions, because the tide is right, and he has to put food on the table for his children. He stays gone for a week or more at a time, sometimes traveling to a different state to find shrimp. He gets zero sleep most trips. He works himself like a dog for 10 cents a clam, in freezing cold water. Not to mention how much money he pays to keep his licenses each year. He sits on a bucket outside and teaches his kids how to fill net needles, and teaches them how to mend the nets the sharks got ahold of. He teaches his kids how to reel the net on a net reel and how each net lead is properly spaced. He draws maps at the kitchen table for his son of where the hot spots are that he wouldn’t dare tell 10

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anybody else. He teaches his granddaughter how to head shrimp when she’s just a toddler. A commercial fisherman is more than just someone who catches seafood and sells it for a profit. That list doesn’t put a dent in what a commercial fisherman does. For some, it’s been in our families for years, for others, they have just begun to learn the tricks of this wonderful trade. I have countless childhood memories with my favorite commercial fisherman on a shrimp boat sitting in a culling tray, learning how to pick shrimp. Days of being in the yard riding bikes, trying not to get clotheslined by a net hanging in the yard that he was working so hard on to get finished. He taught my brother and I how to mend a net, how to fill the needles the right way, how each lead was supposed to be placed and what kind of knots you are supposed to tie. I will forever be grateful for the heritage I come from. My question is what right does someone have to mess with your lively hood, to “define” a profession that has been around forever? Would you sit in silence or fight back? You big boys “fish” for fun, these men fish for their career. To support their family. It is so disheartening to see how much fight is going on between the two sides. How they are literally trying to put them out of a job, for the sake of a hook and line. I could go on with what a fisherman is and does, and the sweet memories I have. I’m afraid my sweet girl will not know commercial fishing like I do, she will not understand that smell of money, or understand how important that vessel named after her truly is. Just the thoughts of a commercial fisherman’s daughter. Jennifer M. Willis, Daughter of John Calvin Willis, Sr. (Otway, NC)

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letters

to the

editor Redefining What A Commercial Fishermen Is “Whoever wants to persuade the multitude that they are not as well governed as they should be will never lack a sympathetic audience…….Thus, those who bewail the current state of affairs are esteemed to be champions of the people…” (Richard Hooker, “Divine Law and Human Nature”). Once again, we hear the battle cry from the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) that there is a problem and that we need to define what a commercial fisherman is. Although clearly defined in North Carolina statute and hashed out repeatedly over the past several years and always arriving at the same pre-existing definition, the current MFC wants to once again, address what has already been established since the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997. According to a NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) release, at the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) meeting last November in Kitty Hawk, there was a motion by Commissioner Chuck Laughridge to, “ask the chairman to appoint a committee of commission members to develop a definition of a commercial fisherman, with staff support from the Division of Marine Fisheries, to bring an update back to the commission at its February 2018 meeting.” The MFC wants to define what a commercial fisherman is. This brings up many interesting points. The least of which is how has the state of North Carolina for decades been able to license, charge, fine and restrict what it evidently can’t even define? The real answer to that question is that the state already has de12

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fined what a commercial fisherman in General Statutes - Chapter 113 Article 14A. § 113-168.2. Standard Commercial Fishing License. So why is MFC Commissioner Chuck Laughridge wanting to define what has already been defined? Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time the MFC has attempted to define, or rather redefine a commercial fishermen. The real question is why? According to Black’s Law Dictionary a license is, “A permission, accorded by a competent authority, conferring the right to do some act which without such authorization would be illegal, or would be a trespass or a tort”. A license, in this case a commercial fishing license is a permission which allows a person the right of access and opportunity. That’s it. A license does not require the license holder to catch and sell, it only grants him or her the opportunity to do so. The state does not demand sales quotas or income goals of the license holder. The license is nothing more than a legally protected and enforceable opportunity. Whether or not the license holder takes advantage of the opportunity, or to what level is strictly a determination of the fisherman. The only requirement of a license holder is that they must abide by the laws of that license when engaged in that specific activity. The license has no other authority over the individual. It’s the same with a recreational fishing license. The only requirement and authority a recreational fishing license has over the holder is when they are recreational fishing, and that they abide by the laws of that license when engaged in that activity. The recreational fishing license does not restrict the license holder to recreational fishing only, nor does it impose economic requirements, require the holder to catch fish or be made to prove any specific need for that license. But here is a major sticking point. The issue of defining a commercial fisherman was of great concern, of extensive debate and research by the Commission over 7 years ago. In October of 2010, the Commercial Fishing License Review Taskforce submitted a final report to the MFC on this matter (and I stress the words, “Final Report”, so why is Laughridge and the MFC bringing the issue back up?). Part of the purpose of this detailed 83 page report was to define what a commercial fisherman was. The report was done at the request NC

of the Chairman of the Marine Fisheries Commission. Some of the issues discussed by the 2010 taskforce, which are being rehashed by the current MFC include minimum requirements for selling seafood, making 50 percent of income from commercial fishing and why some license holders continue to hold a license although never use it to sell seafood. The following is quoted from that final 2010 report. “Defining a Commercial Fisherman” “The taskforce was notified that G.S.113-168.2 states “The receipt of a current and valid SCFL or shellfish license issued by the Division shall serve as proper identification of the licensee as a commercial fisherman.” “The general consensus among the group was that the statute is adequate and there was no real need to modify the definition.” “Final recommendation: “No changes are needed to the existing definition of a commercial fisherman” Much time, public monies and resources were expended by the Marine Fisheries Commission to define what a commercial fisherman was 7 years ago. Their conclusion was that it has already been adequately defined and that “No changes are needed to the existing definition”. So why is the 2018 Marine Fisheries Commission bringing the same issue back up again? It is something that has been clearly defined since 1997 and thoroughly investigated, debated ad nauseam and determined to be properly defined by the Commission back in 2010. Clearly what is happening here is not a matter of wanting to define what a commercial fisherman is, but rather an ongoing attempt to redefine what a commercial fishermen is. But why? And to redefine them as what? For simple clarity it’s best to look at who wants a redefinition and what it would accomplish. The commercial fishing families of North Carolina have not advocated for the redefinition of a commercial fishermen nor have our state legislators requested it. It has only come from those who pledge allegiance to organizations like the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and their causes such as banning and/or restricting our local fishermen. The same crowd that wants to ban gillnets and remove our shrimp trawlers from inside waters and push them offshore. Commissioner Chuck Laughridge, who holds recreational seat on the MFC is a fund

raiser and unregistered lobbyist for the CCA. (For those who may challenge Laughridge’s lobbyist status may want to speak with the countless legislators, fisheries managers and industry heads that he has so lobbied). And it’s fair to say that all attempts to redefine what a commercial fisherman is, have been championed by a CCA member or at least by folks of similar desires. And what exactly are those desires? End commercial fishing. In the process of achieving their end goal they will ban, restrict, prohibit and deny our commercial fishing families whenever and where ever possible. This is not a matter of defining what a commercial fisherman is. This is nothing more than a desire to redefine what a commercial fisherman is, with the purpose to reduce and restrict the licenses that are issued our NC commercial fishing families. This, in turn, will reduce and restrict the public’s access to fresh, locally caught North Carolina seafood. So there you have it. What effects our local NC commercial fishermen affects you and me, the consumer. Reducing the number of fishermen and restricting their opportunity to fish, reduces the general public’s access to fresh, locally caught seafood. So what do folks like Laughridge and adherents to the CCA get out of redefining what a commercial fisherman is? In their mind it increases their opportunity to catch more fish recreationally for themselves. Simply put, they are trying to eliminate what they perceive to be their competition. I know, I know. They’ll respond with how the

recreational fishermen are so much more valuable than commercial fisherman from an economic standpoint, and they’ll misrepresent findings to prove their point. But that’s a topic for another time. Let’s just stay focused on the matter at hand. This is an overt attempt, an attack if you will, on the commercial fishing families of North Carolina and the citizens of this state who buy and consume fresh, locally caught NC seafood. Bill Hitchcock Lifetime Member of the CCA

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Browns Island 1- Daybreak OCTOBER 12, 2017 / DAVID CECELSKI

Photo Courtesy, State Archives of North Carolina

n the autumn of 1938 a photographer named Charles A. Farrell visited a seasonal mullet fishing camp at Brown’s Island, in Onslow County, N.C. What he discovered there captured his imagination: a remote hamlet of fishermen’s shanties far from civilization and two legendary clans of fishermen in pursuit of one of the Atlantic’s great schooling fishes, striped mullet. “Jumpin’ mullets,” people here call them. Neither of the two clans, the Gillikins or Lawrences, came from the mainland nearest the island. Instead, they traveled by boat there in the fall of the year from Otway, a small farming and fishing community in Carteret County, 40 miles to the east. Year after year for generations, the men left their homes in Otway 16

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and returned to Brown’s Island and the sea. Farrell’s photographs provide a unique portrait of mullet camp life and an invaluable historical record of one of the largest commercial fisheries in the American South. For the next 2 weeks, I’ll be featuring Charles Farrell’s photographs from Brown’s Island, in Onslow County, in 1938. An earlier version of this story appeared in Southern Cultures, a quarterly journal published by the UNC Center for the Study of the American South. For much of the 19th century, the mullet trade on the North Carolina coast comprised the largest saltwater fishery in the South. Even as late as the 1930s, large numbers of fishermen

still moved to the barrier islands every autumn to work out of camps like the one at Brown’s Island. From Ocracoke Inlet to Cape Fear, their camps lined the shores. Centered at Morehead City, N.C., fish dealers loaded so many barrels of salt mullet on outbound freight cars that local people referred to the railroad as “the Old Mullet Line.” During the late 1930s, Farrell documented fishermen’s lives in a large swath of the North Carolina coast, as well as at Brown’s Island. The son of an itinerant daguerreotypist, he was the proprietor (along with his wife) of an art supply store and photography studio in Greensboro, N.C. But Farrell had long had a special interest in the lives of commercial fishermen. He frequently visited the coast, and he had a gift for recording scenes of village life and daily work that other photographers (outsiders and locals) deemed unworthy of their attention because they were too ordinary or too unromantic. As a result, Farrell’s photographs often provide a rare record of some of the most typical scenes of coastal life in the 1930s. Farrell had hoped to publish his photographs in a book, but he had serious health problems in the 1940s and never made much headway. However, his photographs can now be found at the State Archives of North Carolina, and you can even download copies of them from the State Archives’ wonderful flickr site, too. You can also learn more about Farrell’s life in his personal papers that are preserved at the Greensboro History Museum’s archives and at the Southern Historical Collection at UNCChapel Hill. I’ll be posting his photographs from several coastal villages in the coming months, but today I’m starting with his photographs of the mullet fishing camp at Brown’s Island in 1938. I’ll be posting one new photograph and the story behind it every day for the next two weeks! Today’s photograph is an early morning view of the Brown’s Island mullet camp. You’re seeing the camp at low tide from a dock on the sound side of the island. One of the oldest

Striped mullet, a.k.a. jumping mullet or, around Wilmington, pop-eyed mullet

mullet fishermen, Bedford Lawrence, walks down the dock in a farmer’s coat and sou’wester. A clinker-built boat is tied by its anchor line to a post on the left side of the dock, a flat-bottomed skiff on the other side. A sizable portion of the camp can be seen behind Lawrence: wooden tables for cleaning the fish; salting trays; empty barrels and kegs for packing salt fish; and a few of the fishermen’s cabins. An open shed for storing gear and barrelsful of salt mullet and spots stands on the far right. Two of the camp’s hogs, a pair of cats, and a goat are finishing off leftovers from the fish cleaning tables. Another hog has found something interesting next to the shed. Roughly four miles long, with an ocean beach facing southeast, the island was only a few hundred yards wide next to the inlet, where the camp was built: the ocean beach lay just beyond the high dunes in the distance.

https://davidcecelski.com/2017/10/12/an-eye-for-mullet-1/ Reprinted with Permissions by David Celelski-2018

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aising two adolescent boys, my father had a habit of grabbing the flat-cart at Sam’s Club when he shopped. He knew he’d have to stack it high to satiate the appetites of the two bottomless pits that seemingly consumed everything in the pantry and fridge. Bulk frozen hamburger meat and boneless chicken breasts were the staple protein, but he’d supplement the offerings with frozen salmon and swordfish steaks. We’d typically season and marinate the salmon and swordfish, until it tasted like seasoning and marinade...to make sure it was well seasoned and marinated. Then carefully cook it on the gas grill, until it was good and dry, and tasted distinctly like seasoning and marinade. And that, is a summation of my seafood experience growing up as an inland adolescent ding-batter from off, until… At age 24, I ventured out and yearned for a new lease on life. Armed with a college degree, a job, and a small chip on my shoulder, I moved to God’s Country...Tyrrell County (that’s certainly refutable by Adam Tyler, or any resident of eastern Carteret, Hyde, Dare, Beaufort, Washington, Pamlico and the other side of Albemarle Sound). The experience truly humbled me, and I had a complete baptism in culture...likely very similar to moving to a foreign country, especially for an inland boy that grew up in piedmont Charlotte suburbia. I lived amongst the three Fs... Farming, Forestry and Fishing, and all my friends, neighbors and acquaintances were affiliated with at least one of these three industries. I had the ability to fish and Pictured above: Left: Ryan Speckman – Right: Lin Peterson hunt, and enjoy God’s creations, seemingly without limit...and it was there, on the cypress shores of the Albemarle Sound, that I witnessed why people find seafood so special. I fried whole white perch with Eric Brown, ate fresh gray trout with James Spencer Jr., fried soft-shell 18

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crabs with Brandan Brickhouse, and watched Ronnie Jarvis Sr. pick a hard-crab with a butter knife more efficiently than any Marylander with a mallet. I learned the true value of fresh seafood and why it was coveted by so many. Yet, after eight-plus glorious seafood-enjoying years, I unwillingly moved back to Raleigh where… I quickly realized that the fish my commercial fishing buddies were catching, weren’t showing up regularly in the seafood markets in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham and Chapel-Hill). There were plenty of imported or non-local domestic options, but the fresh-caught seafood I had become so accustomed to eating...I couldn’t find it, or it was strangely hard to get, and was usually of low quality. Why? In North Carolina’s state capitol, we’re only 2.5-3 hrs. away from where most of the seafood in NC is landed on our coast. It’s entirely realistic to expect that fish caught on Wednesday, could be sold fresh in Raleigh on Thursday. Therein lies the impetus of Locals Seafood...let’s just go get the darn stuff, and bring it back here for all to enjoy...so they can experience what I witnessed when I ate fresh, local-caught seafood from North Carolina’s hard-working watermen. And then I did the craziest thing of my life with my college buddy Lin Peterson… We started a seafood business. It’s been a labor of love, requiring long, crazy hours, and often every bit of energy I possess. But I learned the value of a hard day’s work at an early age, working summers on the family farm in the sandhills of South Carolina, priming tobacco, bailing pine straw and bagging bushels of feed corn. And it was the experiences there, working amongst the indigenous of the rural Palmetto State, that I believe translated for me so well, living and working amongst the fine folks in eastern coastal North Carolina. I may have had a college degree, but these folks had a PhD on the water. They could look at the waterline on a piling, the color of the water, and feel the angle of the wind...then point in the direction of which shoal would hold the most flounder. They were artists, building nets and boats, and tying knots in ropes, practically with their eyes closed. They could detect small nuances in the environment, based on attentiveness and experience, not needing fancy scientific equipment to tell them it was time to hang their pound net, or if they were about to get mommicked by the weather. Locals Seafood was designed to tell their story, to folks who had never seen the head of a shrimp, or the teeth of a sheepshead. To tell them about all the aching backs, calloused hands and anxious wives, behind that piece of flounder on their plate. Why is that piece of flounder so valuable? Because its special. It has a story. It’s the last wild protein, a public-trust resource, harvested by the men and women of our state. The gatekeepers that provide access to the citizens of the state, the original stewards of the resource, the commercial fishermen of North Carolina. Check out a video about our business at www.vittles.us/ugly and visit www.localsseafood.com

to get the freshest seafood we go to the source everyday.

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cswm & hc

Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center

Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center Encourages You … Keep commercial fishermen working ~ bringing YOU the best seafood from our waters!

Supper at the Hunting Camp

Taste of Core Sound ~ Friday Evening, Feb 23, 6-9 pm Hosted by: Core Sound’s Redhead Society Sponsored by: Neuse Sports, Knott’s Warehouse, Trader Construction Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center ~ “At the End of the Road” – Harkers Island Tickets: $50/members; $65/non-members Call 252.728.1500 for reservations; seating limited, call today. Core Sound’s Winter Taste celebrates “Supper at the Hunting Camp” by remembering and honoring the good food and good times from the old hunting clubs and camps of Core Banks. The menu, program, decorations and conversation will be focused on cooking traditions and the men and women who prepared these fresh seafood and wild game stews. “Everything tastes better on the Banks,” remembers Pam Morris whose dad, uncles and brother spent “many a-night cooking and eating at Jul’s Camp at the Evergreens.” Interviews with cooks and their descendants from the old hunting clubs will determine the menu and the storytelling. Memories and recipes (many still used) will be a true Core Sound experience. Davis Island, the Pilentary, Hog Island and smaller hunting camps from Portsmouth and Ocracoke to Salter Path will be the background for a night of fried oysters, stewed redheads, cornbread, light rolls and molasses gunger. The night’s program will feature waterfowl historian Doily Earl Fulcher who has spent a lifetime in these camps, hunting over decoys passed down for generations and now remembers, records and writes the stories of these traditions. His topic for the night will focus on “Clubhouse Decoys,” a term he’s brought to life with the history of these decoys.

As always, the winter Taste of Core Sound will feature a silent auction of decoys donated by members of the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild and a live auction featuring this year’s “Heritage Decoy” - an Eldon Willis – Elmer Salter decoy donated by Dr. Stan Rule, and a “Next Generation Working Decoy” made and donated by Jack Gardner, 2018 CSW<&HC Carver of the Year. Neuse Sports will also provide items for silent auction. The Taste begins with a wine and cheese at 6 pm, dinner at 7 and the program beginning just before 8. Ike Southerland, founder of the Museum’s Redhead Society Fund for education announced for the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center, “2018 will be ‘the year to look forward to the next generation of Coresounders as we kickoff the Redhead Society Campaign at this year’s Winter Taste. This special group of contributors recognize the importance of education at the Museum and have joined the Society to help expand our programming for the next generation of Coresounders with a one-time gift of $250.” 20

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The Story of CLUBHOUSE DECOYS

“Clubhouse decoys” are what the Stacy and Davis Shore duck hunters call a clubhouse decoy. The Yankees came to the Carteret Gun and Rod Club about 1917 from a club on the upper Chesapeake Bay. These men brought their decoys which were made by the Havre de Grace decoy carvers. Most of the decoys were made by James Holly. The club lost all of these decoys in the 1933 hurricane. All of the men at Stacy and Davis Shore found these decoys after the storm while looking for their gear, including their decoys which they had lost in the storm. After the 1933 hurricane a lot of the decoy hunting stands of the Stacy and Davis Shore duck hunters had these decoys. Irving Fulcher found a skiff load of these decoys and had his skiff tied up at Mariah Creek. Leroy Davis, the caretaker of the Carteret Gun and Rod Club saw this skiff and contacted the sheriff. Irving did not have to return these decoys because of the salvage laws. However, he decided to knock the original heads off the decoys and place his carved decoy head on the decoy, put his initials “IF” in the bottom and repainted the decoy. Other duck hunters at Stacy and Davis Shore did the same thing creating what they called the Clubhouse decoys. Doily Earl Fulcher Sr. purchased this decoy along with other decoys from Irving Fulcher in Oct 1966. These decoys had been part of his hunting rig stored in his net house since 1933. Doily remembered he details of the purchase, “When I bought the decoys from Irving in 1966 I was after old decoys. Irving was selling me decoys from his hunting rig but he had old decoys and decoys he had just made. I would pick out an old decoy and then he would pick out one of his new decoys that he had just made I ended up with half and half. His new decoys became as valuable - or more valuable - than the old decoys”. Doily Earl Fulcher, Jr.

Mark your calendar to attend the

7th Annual NC Catch Summit

Hosted By Brunswick Catch in Southport March 12-13

Fish Food is

March is going to be a

happening kind of month

Monday, March 12

begins with a pre-summit tour and the day will end with an old fashioned oyster roast at 6 p.m. at the Southport Community Center.

Tuesday, March 13 begins at 9 a.m. and will focus on Fish is Food! Cooking demonstrations,

tastings and a cooking competition will make this a fun event that will let attendees take home ways to change up their sales and menus to include recipes and species that have been overlooked and under loved. When available, more information will be posted on

www.nccatch.com & www.brunswickcatch.com

It’s ‘Bout Government, Brother! Outer Banks Catch will join media and nonprofit organizations in

Celebrating National Sunshine Week March 11-17 Thursday, March 15 Outer Banks Catch will host a workshop at

7 p.m. to discuss Open Government laws and how to use them to become an effective part of the process. Although the event is to help commercial fishermen learn their rights to attend meetings, view government documents, etc, the same laws are open to everyone and all are invited. The presentation will cover how to make a request for a public document; what is public, what’s off limits, what is a reasonable amount of time for a response, and, if ignored or denied, how to challenge.

Location to be determined and announced in late February.

north carolina fisheries association 21

Maritime Angels ~2017~

By: Aundrea O’Neal

December 2017 was the start of the North Carolina Fisheries Association’s First Annual Christmas drive, “Maritime Angels”. We got off to a late start, but within a two-week period we were able to raise over $7,500.00 to benefit the children of our N.C. commercial fishermen for Christmas. We were able to buy pants, shirts, socks, underwear, pajamas, shoes and coats for 25 children. Maritime Angels also purchased at least one item that was requested by each child from Santa. We received a huge number of toys that were divided equally for each child by age. Maritime Angels was blessed with food box donations (Foodlion Feeds boxes) from a local Foodlion grocery store, that we were able to provide to each of

THANK YOU

TO EVERYONE THAT HELPED MAKE THIS POSSIBLE! 22

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the families. With a portion of the monetary donations, Maritime Angels was able to help three commercial fishing families that were dealing with medical issues. Over all, Maritime Angels was able to assist commercial fishing families from Wanchese, NC to Brunswick County, NC. Though there wasn’t much time to get this operation started, we feel that it was very successful and plan to make this an annual event. We plan to kick off the Second Annual Maritime Angels Christmas drive on October 1, 2018.

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-Jess Hawkins-

A New Process to Assess the Population Status of Southern Flounder By Jess Hawkins

The status of fish populations is usually determined through stock assessments, especially in the USA. A stock assessment is a mathematical compilation of what is known about a particular fish stock that attempts to explain historic trends and predict future characteristics of the fishâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population. The stock assessment is heavily dependent on the quality of the data that reflects population characteristics such as age, reproductive rates, sizes, sex, growth, etc. The assumptions that are used in the models which characterize the population also strongly influence the accuracy of the population estimates. Southern flounder was first assessed by North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) scientists in 2004 for the 2005 Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Southern flounder support North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important estuarine fishery and a valuable rec24

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reational fishery. Most fisheries experts believe North Carolina has excellent data collected from fisheries and from their own sampling to put into a flounder stock assessment. North Carolina is one of the few states along the Atlantic coast that has consistently sampled southern flounder commercial fisheries (since 1991). The 2004 stock assessment was not officially reviewed by experts outside our state or outside the NCDMF. Both the NCDMF and the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) accepted the assessment. The assessment indicated that overfishing had been occurring from 1991 through 2002 (last year of data input) and that the fishing rate (mortality) was higher than the rate needed to protect the flounder spawning stock. Management measures were then enacted by the MFC which were estimated to stop overfishing and provide for a sustainable fishery. In 2008 a new stock assessment on southern flounder was completed by NCDMF scientists as part of an Amendment to the Southern Flounder FMP. Data from 1991 through 2007 were incorporated into the new population analyses. No independent review of the stock assessment was conducted by outside experts or by experts outside the NCDMF. The new population assessment showed that conservation measures implemented from the first Flounder FMP were apparently helping the flounder population, with fishing mortality decreasing and the spawning stock biomass of flounder increasing. However, overfishing was still occurring and the fishery remained overfished. The NCDMF and the MFC both accepted the population analyses. Additional management measures were put in place by DMF and MFC at that time that were projected to stop overfishing. A new population assessment was performed by NCDMF scientists in 2015 that included data through 2013. The stock assessment was reviewed by three inde-

pendent experts, who rejected the population analyses. The NCDMF recommended to the MFC that the stock assessment not be used to determine population levels of southern flounder. Without a valid population assessment, the MFC decided to pursue management measures that would reduce the catch of southern flounder by 25-60%. The proposed measures were both significant and controversial; they were included as part of Supplement A to Amendment 1 of the Southern Flounder FMP. In 2016 the North Carolina Fisheries Association (NCFA) successfully challenged the management measures contained in the MFC’s and NCDMF’s new Supplement A to Amendment 1 of the Southern Flounder FMP. The NCFA did so through a lawsuit with the support of many fishermen, seafood dealers and interested stakeholders. Judicial review found the measures in the Supplement to be arbitrary and capricious. The NCFA and the state agreed to keep the 15 inch minimum size limit and gear modifications in the pound net and gill net fisheries after negotiations regarding the Superior court’s findings. In December 2017 NCDMF staff and other population ecologists presented two preliminary stock assessments of southern flounder at a Southern Flounder Stock Assessment Peer Review Workshop held in New Bern, NC and which was open to the public. Experts in population ecology and fisheries biologists with expertise in southern flounder from the Gulf and Atlantic coasts discussed the data used in the population models and the model outputs. Data from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida were incorporated to try to produce a regional stock assessment for southern flounder. The NCFA had representatives present the two days the public was allowed to attend. The last day of the Workshop was conducted in private where the models were deemed acceptable or unacceptable for management, and what final modifications should be made. The Workshop was a significant improvement on the way the state reviews population assessments for fish species. It was similar to regional reviews that have been conducted for some time by the South and Gulf Fishery Management Councils. Such a format allows stakeholders to hear how the population assessments are built, how scientifically accurate the assessment is, what questions scientific experts have on the assessment and is much more transparent and productive for state staff/public. Such a process allows stakeholders to hear about what data are used in the population analyses, the

potential impacts of assumptions in the model outputs, and listen to concerns about uncertainty within the models. It allows the public to follow-up with NCDMF staff and other national experts after the Workshop regarding any key questions that stakeholders might have. Before determinations by the experts as to whether the models were acceptable for management, both models showed spawning stock biomass for southern flounder was still relatively low. Despite measures implemented after two prior stock assessments and additional measures placed on the flounder gill net fishery to protect sea turtles, the flounder spawning stock biomass was still low when compared to the 2004 (1991-2002) and 2008 (1991-2007) stock assessments in both of the new models. Some positive signs were that fishing mortality had decreased in recent years and spawning potential ratio (SPR) had increased the last three years. I have been informed that the Workshop’s experts deemed one of the models adequate for management, after requested modifications are made. The accepted model will likely indicate that overfishing is still occurring (through 2015 and not reflecting the new 15 inch size limit and gear modifications) if the same population reference points that were chosen for southern flounder in the 2008 are used this time. While it is disheartening that the models did not reflect more positive news, the new format in which the NCDMF presented the preliminary stock assessments and allowing stakeholders to hear discussion about southern flounder population estimations was a very positive step for North Carolina and should be utilized for all species that stock assessments are produced for our state’s species. The NCDMF is commended for using such a process to help determine the population status of commercially and recreationally important fish species in North Carolina.

-Jess Hawkins has a Master of Science in Biology. He was the former Chief of Fisheries Management with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. He is currently an instructor with the Duke University Marine Laboratory and North Carolina State University CMAST Laboratory teaching Marine Fisheries Ecology.

north carolina fisheries association 25

CAPT’S

SPOTLIGHT F/V H.E

WESLEY POTTER HOBUCKEN, NC

y parents settled in the Florida Keys in the mid 50’s, during the Pink Gold Rush. This is what they called the “Birth of the Shrimping Industry” down there. That’s where I was born and raised. I started shrimping with my dad during the summer at the age of 8 years old. I LOVED IT! I was able to save money and was able to buy my school clothes. It was then that I knew that this is all I wanted to do. I began running boats when I was 18 and made a good living, but we were always forced to fight overregulation. We moved to NC after our prime shrimping grounds were closed in the Keys. It was there that I started crabbing and oyster dredging in 1990. I currently live in New Bern, NC and today I am not oystering because the oyster season has been closed.

I’ve been on the water for 50 years and have seen a lot of changes in the industry. I hope that it will continue forever, but I know we need more participation from fishermen to fight for our way of life. What I would recommend for anyone wanting to enter this industry do is to try it for one year before investing in it. I would like to thank the good people of NCFA for fighting for us. Name of Boat: H. E. Homeport: Hobucken, NC Owner: Wesley Potter Captain: Wesley Potter Builder: Hubert Potter & Wesley Potter Year: 1995 Length: 25 Hull Material: Fiberglass Beam: 9.5 Draft: 2’ Engine: 4BT Cummins Gear: 2:1 Top Speed: 10 knots Propeller Size: 20 x 20 Ice/Fish Capacity: 600 pounds Electronics: GPS -Hummingbird Fish finder- Standard VHF

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M U R R AY

N O X I N ERY FISH

INC.

1141 Nixon Fishery Road Edenton, North Carolina 27932 HACCP CERTIFIED www.nixonfishery.com 1-800-672-4756 â&#x20AC;¢ Fax: 252-221-4118 Phone: 252-221-4115 north carolina fisheries association 27

Village of Stumpy Point

s e m o c l e w

NEW FISH HOUSE

he commercial fishing village of Stumpy Point begins coming alive about 4:30 each morning when captains and crew members head from their homes to the harbor to start another day of fishing. Within an hour, a parade of boats head from the docks out into the Pamlico Sound or even offshore. Stumpy Point, first settled in the late 1700s, is slow to change and has long been a fishing village but since the closure of Roger Best’s Trinity Seafood in 1997, has been without a fish house. This has forced fishermen to either land in Wanchese or Engelhard – both 25 miles away – in order to sell their catches. The alternative has been to land in their own harbor, offload and then drive their catches to one of the fish houses in one of those other villages. That changed recently when Luke Midgett razed the old Trinity building and built a new facility that has 2,400 square feet on first floor and about 1,200 on second. Named N-Seine Seafood, it is furnished with up-to-date equipment as well as new dockage. His ancestors were among the first to inhabit the village and Best, the former owner of Trinity, is his uncle. In turn, Best’s uncle, Alton Best was one of the original incorporators of the North Carolina Fisheries Association. Commercial fishing has long been the family’s life blood. Luke grew up in the village nestled along the shore of Stumpy Point Bay and surrounded by Alligator National Wildlife Refuge and he now lives there with his wife Trudy, and his children, Lexie, 14 and Noah, 6. In addition, Employee Steve Beall helps process shrimp to the new fish house Luke owns three boats – “N-Seine”, 45-footer, “Lexie Elaine”, 40-footer, and “Noah’s Ark”, 35 feet long. But they are not his first boats. Luke, 38, fished with his father, 28

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Luke Midgett, owner N-Seine Seafood

N-SEINE SEAFOOD John Calvin Midgett, before buying his own boat at the age of 13. The expanded venture includes 10 full time employees including himself and his jack-of-all-trades Curtis Price. Most of the employees work on his boats and at least six of them hold commercial fishing licenses. He also hires part-timers for processing - primarily to head shrimp and to pack catches. The addition of any jobs is welcomed in the village which has less than 200 in population. Luke sells to the public, local purveyors and ships some out of state. “We try to finish up the week’s work on Saturday so that we can take at least one day off,” said Midgett. But fishing doesn’t occur on a whim; migration patterns, temperatures and regulations all help dictate when fishing boats ply the waters. While he buys an assortment of seafood from other fishermen, his boats primarily depend on catching crabs and shrimps. Recent efforts to substantially curtain shrimping, if successful, could have hard impacts on his family, business and employees. “If they shutdown shrimping or curb it back drastically, it would devastate me,” said Luke. “Crabs were not good last year, but we had shrimp to work on. If we didn’t have that [shrimping], I would have to sell off everything.” But unless that happens, Luke and his merry band of fishermen will continue to harvest wild seafood so that more of the public has access to it. To contact him, call 252-475-8818.

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Emergency Drills Ensure Crew Readiness With increasing frequency, we hear about rescues at sea where fishing crews took effective actions to ensure that everyone made it home safely. Not only did they have the required safety gear, they knew when and how to deploy it. However, the knowledge and skill needed to respond to an emergency at sea is hardly automatic. The prudent skipper develops emergency procedures and practices them with the crew. While every fishing operation should regularly conduct emergency drills, federal regulations require crews on documented commercial fishing vessels operating beyond the federal boundary line to conduct drills. 46 CFR 28.270 requires that drills be conducted and that instruction be given to each individual at least monthly, when the vessel is operating. Instructions and drills must ensure that they are familiar with their duties and responses to the following contingencies: Abandoning the vessel; Firefighting; Man overboard recovery; Unintentional flooding; Launching and recovery of survival craft and rescue craft; Donning immersion suits and PFDs; Donning a firemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outfit and a self-contained breathing apparatus, if the vessel is so equipped; Making a mayday call and using visual distress signals; Activating the general alarm; Reporting inoperative alarm systems and fire detection systems.

There are three parts to an effective drill: safety orientations, safety instructions, and the actual drill. When orienting new crew, be sure to include the locations and use of lifesaving and survival gear. Be sure to also include locations of vessel components like fuel shut-off valves, breaker panels, and seacocks that may need to be actuated in an emergency. Your instructions should include which duties must be performed in an emergency and how they must be performed. A station bill is a written list of duties to be performed and who is responsible for each duty in an emergency situation. Writing a station bill will clarify the role of each crewmember before an actual emergency occurs. Drills must be performed aboard the vessel and include the lifesaving gear required for an emergency. Drill scenarios can be devised to combine the ten requirements of 46 CFR 28.270. For example, a scenario might include an engine room fire, where the crew practices extinguishing the fire, turning off appropriate 30

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breaker switches, making a simulated mayday call, donning immersion suits, bringing the EPIRB and other survival gear to a muster station, practicing launching the life raft etc. Drills should be as realistic as possible without putting the crew or vessel at risk. When the drill is complete, ensure that all equipment is stowed in its proper location. Some captains perform all of their drills in one monthly session. Others drill different scenarios throughout the month. Some create scenarios where the crew will not be expecting a drill and must respond without advance preparation. Just make sure that your crew understands that they are responding to a drill and not an actual emergency. Once you complete a drill, be sure to log it, with the date, time, location of the drill, skills practiced, and the names of the participating crew members. The trained Drill Conductor should sign the drill log. Many vessel owners hire professional drill conductors to lead drills while the boat is in port. However, the captain or a crew member can conduct drills and instruction with the proper training. The law currently states that the Drill Conductor will have to be a member of the crew and this will be a part of future regulations. AMSEA Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor workshops are accepted by the U.S. Coast Guard as meeting the requirements of 46 CFR 28.270. If you want to conduct your own drills, you can find a list of workshops scheduled across the country at https://www.amsea. org. AMSEA can also provide you with instructional materials that can make crew instruction, drills, and documentation easier. Check out AMSEAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s twenty-page booklet, Commercial Fishing Vessel Emergency Instructions & Drill Manual. Designed to help commercial fishermen meet the emergency instructions and onboard drill requirements as per 46 CFR 28.265, it includes

templates for required documents, like station bills and logs. The book, Beating the Odds: A Guide to Commercial Fishing Safety, devotes a chapter to conducting effective drills, as well as providing scenarios and debriefing points. The instructional video, Beating The Odds: Onboard Emergency Drills, demonstrates a variety of drills. The video takes the viewer through drills in responding to fire, man overboard, flooding, abandon ship and more. AMSEA publications and videos may be ordered online at https://www.amsea.org/store. In addition, free iPhone app, FVDrills, is available from the App Store, if you want to run your drills from your iPhone. Whether you hire a professional drill conductor or conduct your own drills, drilling emergency procedures develops “muscle memory” of proper emergency procedures. Drills also demonstrate that your crew has the skills required to perform their duties and that they know how to work together when it most counts.

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The Graying of the Fleet – Fish Handler’s Disease

East Carolina University Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) Debra A. Kosko DNP, MN, FNP-BC Fish Handler’s Disease is an infection that is caused by two different bacteria, Mycobacterium and Erysipelothrix, which are commonly found on fish, oysters, clams, and other crustaceans. This syndrome is also known as Fish-handlers’ Nodules, Fish Tuberculosis and Waterman’s Disease. During the process of handling and cleaning the catch of the day, small cuts and scratches occur on the hands, allowing bacteria to enter the skin, causing a cellulitis. This can happen in fresh, brackish and salt water. Symptoms include redness and swelling on the hand, nodules, joint stiffness and fever. Symptoms can occur within a few days but may not appear for several months. Why is this important for our aging fishers? Because our immunity, our body’s defense system, weakens with age. Therefore, our aging fishers are more vulnerable to infection and infections are more challenging to clear.

Prevention is our first defense: wear gloves, inspect your hands regularly, have fresh water on the boat to immediately rinse any break in the skin and have an up to date tetanus vaccine. If you develop symptoms, quickly seek medical care. Once an accurate diagnosis is made, the treatment is antibiotics. GWEP is a collaboration of the ECU College of Nursing, Brody School of Medicine, and the Physician Assistant Program to provide health screening for mature fishers and their families in eastern North Carolina. We would be happy to provide health screening in your community or at your next event. Call me or send an email: koskod@ecu.edu; 252-744-6421. References: Burke, W.A., Griffith, D.C., Scott, C.M., and Howell, E.R. (2006). Skin problems related to the occupation of commercial fishing in North Carolina. North Carolina Medical Journal, 67(4). McArdle, A., Nolan, M., Fleming, C., Tuite, H., Markham, T., and Kelly, J. L. (2016). Mycobacterium marinum hand infection. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 86. doi:10.1111/ans.1366

Did you Know? In its life cycle, an adult flounder has two eyes situated on one side of its head, while at hatching one eye is located on each side of its head. One eye migrates to the other side of the body through a process of metamorphosis as it grows from larval to juvenile stage. As an adult, a flounder changes its habits and camouflages itself by lying on the bottom of the ocean floor as protection against predators.[1] As a result, the eyes are then on the side which faces up. The side to which the eyes migrate is dependent on the species type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flounder

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“ Red Right ….… ” Please DON’T IGNORE the Kidde Fire extinguisher RECALL. That’s the message I want to leave you with, just in case the rest of this article puts you to sleep. “Recall-itis” is a fairly common illness. I have it. When I hear the word “recall”, my brain tunes out. That’s because over the last 30 years or so we have been hammered with recall after recall. However, this particular recall really needs our attention. 37.8 million of these fire extinguishers are affected. Kidde extinguishers are very common in the wheelhouses, galleys, and berths of our Commercial fishing fleet. The problem is: when used, the plastic nozzle can clog, pressure builds, the extinguisher stops working and/or the plastic handle explodes. Hundreds of failures have been reported, including one death attributed to the issue. Look for your model number (see picture below) and call Kidde or go to their website… the actual list of defective model numbers is too large to print here…. (that should tell you something). The list of defective model numbers is here: www. inmarmarketaction.com/kidde/ -Or call Kidde at 855-271-0773, they will assist to identify a defective model and if so, send you, at no cost, a new fire extinguisher. No receipt required, it’s that simple. P.S. I have one of these defective models, in my kitchen… dang, just bought it 3 months ago. I went on-line, filled out the form, and hopefully by the time this prints I’ll have my new replacement.

Stay safe and Return…. - Phil Amanna, Coast Guard Auxiliary - Barry Everhardt, Coast Guard CIV, CFVS

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Council & Commission Meetings

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s December 2017 meeting Highlights Squid Buffer Zone Framework - Voted to discontinue development of a framework action that would have considered establishing a squid fishery buffer zone in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Summer Flounder – 2018 Recreational Management Measures - Recommended continued use of conservation equivalency to achieve, but not exceed, the 2018 summer flounder recreational harvest limit (RHL) of 4.42 million pounds. Approved a set of non-preferred coastwide measures that are written into the federal regulations but waived in favor of state regulations once conservation equivalency is approved by NMFS. Measures for 2018 would include a 4-fish possession limit, a 19-inch total length minimum size, and an open season of May 15 – September 15. Precautionary default measures (i.e., a 2-fish possession limit, a 20-inch total length minimum size, and an open season of July 1 – August 31) Would be implemented in any state or region that does not adopt measures consistent with the conservation equivalency guidelines. Voted to extend the provisions of Addendum XXVIII to the Commission’s FMP, re-establishing regional conservation equivalency in 2018, and specifying that any modifications to state measures in 2018 should result in no more than a 17% liberalization in coastwide harvest relative to the projected 2017 harvest of 3.23 million pounds. In extending the provisions of Addendum XXVIII, the regional delineation for 2018 will be the same as 2016-2017: 1) Massachusetts 2) Rhode Island 3) Connecticut‐New York 4) New Jersey 5) Delaware‐Virginia and 6) North Carolina. Black Sea Bass – 2018 Recreational Management Measures - The Council and Board are considering the removal of the current September 22 – October 21 federal water closure while retaining the 15-fish possession limit and 12.5-inch minimum size, but they agreed to table any decision on federal water measures until their February 2018 meetings. Discussed the implementation of the February 1-28, 2018 recreational black sea bass fishery. In October 2017, the Council and Board agreed to open this fishery with a 15fish possession limit and 12.5-inch minimum size limit in order to provide additional recreational black sea bass opportunities to those states interested in participating in the fishery. This fishery was allocated 100,000 pounds of the 3.66 million pound 2018 RHL, and the Council and Board agreed to distribute this allocation to the states based on each state’s historical black sea bass catch during the Wave 1 (January-February) fishery. States that decide to participate in the 2018 fishery will need to submit a memo to the Council and Board by January 15, 2018 that outlines adjustments to their 2018 management measures in the rest of the year to account for their Wave 1 allocation and provide details on any sampling and monitoring programs states may implement. Black Sea Bass Wave 1 Letter of Authorization Framework - The Council and Board reviewed and provided feedback on initial draft alternatives for a recreational black sea bass Wave 1 Letter of Authorization (LOA) program for potential implementation in 2019. The LOA program would allow any vessel that applies for and obtains a LOA from NMFS to participate in a Wave 1 recreational black sea bass fishery. Black Sea Bass Amendment - Given the positive results of the 2016 benchmark stock assessment, revised commercial and recreational specifications, and the development of other black sea bass management actions, the Council and Board decided to delay moving forward with an amendment. Instead, they agreed to initiate a framework/addendum to address a number of recreational management issues. The framework/addendum will (1) consider implementing a conservation equivalency management program for black sea bass similar to that used with summer flounder by allowing state or regional measures to be implemented in both state and federal waters; (2) allow for a summer flounder, scup and black sea bass transit provision in federal waters around Block Island similar to the provision allowed for striped bass; and (3) consider possible implementation of slot limits in federal waters for summer flounder and black sea bass. This framework/addendum will be developed in 2018 for potential implementation for the 2019 recreational fishing seasons. Bluefish Amendment - Discussed initiating an amendment to review and possibly revise the allocation between the commercial and recreational fisheries and the commercial allocations to the states. Council staff provided a presentation on the current sector-based allocations and recent transfer history from the recreational to the commercial fishery. There was some discussion about when scoping would occur after this amendment is initiated, with some individuals advocating for postponing scoping until after the new MRIP numbers are released. After some debate, the Council and Board approved a motion to initiate the amendment without any specific requirements regarding the timing of scoping.

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Next Meeting: Feb 6-8; Arlington, VA

NC Marine Fisheries Commission Next meeting: TBA

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s December 2017 meeting Highlights (continued) Summer Flounder Amendment - There are four categories of issues in the amendment: 1. Federal permit requalification: Approved the Committee recommendation to narrow the previously approved range of alternatives for federal permit requalification from 20 options down to seven options for a public hearing document, as described in the briefing materials. 2. Commercial allocation: Approved the Committee recommendations to move forward with four alternatives for commercial allocation for a public hearing document. These options include: 2A) no action/status quo, 2B) revised state-by-state quotas using an analysis of a regional shift in exploitable biomass over time, 2C) modified distribution of additional quota above a certain commercial quota trigger (with two trigger sub-options), and 2D) commercial quota management similar to the scup commercial fishery, with two coastwide “Winter” seasonal periods and a state-by-state “Summer” period (with sub-options for exempting or not exempting the state of Maryland). The group requested some additional analysis for configuration of Alternative 2B prior to approval for public hearings. 3. Landings flexibility framework provisions: The Council and Board made no changes to their August 2017 recommendation for commercial landings flexibility, which was to include an alternative in the amendment to add landings flexibility as a frameworkable item within the Council’s FMP. 4. FMP goals and objectives: The Committee approved draft language for revised FMP goals and objectives for summer flounder, for inclusion in a public hearing document. Next Meeting: February 13-15, 2018 Raleigh, NC

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council December Meeting Highlights Red Snapper: The Council held a workshop on recreational reporting and received an update on the pilot electronic recreational reporting project MyFishCount underway for red snapper. Members of the public thanked the Council for taking measures to open the fishery in 2017 but also acknowledged that weather conditions are keeping fishermen off the water during the mini-season. Recreational anglers, including charter and headboat fishermen, unable to make their trips are encouraged to report cancelled trips using the pilot reporting program at MyFishCount.com. - If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, an interim catch level for red snapper proposed by the Council in September may allow for a red snapper mini-season beginning in July 2018. Efforts are underway to establish an acceptable biological catch for red snapper and scheduled for review by the Council during its June 2018 meeting. The Council moved forward with proposed measures to improve data collection and reduce bycatch of red snapper and other species in the snapper grouper management complex through actions in Amendment 46. Public hearings on the measures will be held in 2018. Cobia – The Atlantic cobia fishery primarily occurs in state waters. In an effort to provide more flexibility in management, the Council requested that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) develop an Interstate Management Plan for Atlantic Cobia. The Council, through measures proposed in Amendment 31, is considering options for transferring management of Atlantic Cobia to the ASMFC as well as complementary management with the Commission. Public hearings on Amendment 31 will be scheduled for January 22-24, 2018. The public will also have the opportunity to provide comment on timing for the measures, with consideration given for an upcoming Cobia Stock Identification Workshop scheduled for 2018 and a benchmark stock assessment scheduled for 2019. Red Grouper - A recent stock assessment for red grouper showed the red grouper stock is still overfished and undergoing overfishing. Under requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Council is required to take measures to end overfishing. During this week’s meeting, the Council approved measures to significantly reduce both commercial and recreational annual catch limits for red grouper. The total catch limit would be reduced from 780,000 pounds to 139,000 pounds beginning in 2018. There are concerns that recruitment for red grouper, or the number of young produced each year, has been poor for several years. Landings in the commercial fishery have been lower than the current catch limits. Based on average landings from 2014-16, it is predicted that the recreational fishery for red grouper will close in late July 2018 with the reduced catch limit of 77,840 pounds. Golden Tilefish: A 2016 update to the golden tilefish stock assessment indicated the stock in the South Atlantic is undergoing overfishing. The Council proposed an interim rule in June 2017 to reduce the annual catch limit from 558,036 pounds (gutted weight) to 323,000 pounds (gw). NOAA Fisheries has reviewed the measures and it is expected they will be implemented January 1, 2018. The interim rule would be in effect for 180 days and may be extended for 186 days. During the meeting, the Council decided to move forward to develop a framework amendment to revise catch levels of golden tilefish and consider modifications to management measures with approval of the amendment in June 2018. Public hearings will be held prior to the Council’s June meeting. Next Meeting: March 5-9, 2018; Jekyll Island, Georgia.

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Get involved Become a member in your community CONTACT : Albemarle Fisherman’s Association Terry Pratt 252-339-7431 Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association Wayne Dunbar Hwd0123@gmail.com 252-670-7467 Oz Hudgins Home: 252-745-7424 Mobile: 252-571-2002 Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Bradley Styron qualityseafood@clis.com Office: 252-225-0073 Mobile: 252-342-8821 Brunswick County Fishermen’s Association Randy Robinson fishmancsx@gmail.com 910-209-3463 Ocracoke Working Waterman’s Association Hardy Plyler hplyler@gmail.com 252-588-0512 36

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Around the Coast Affiliate News Albemarle Fisherman’s Association

Mike Blanton~ “The guys are primarily focused on the Chowan River Blue Cat fishery.”

Brunswick County Fisherman’s Association Randy Robinson~ /Doug Todd~ “They are still

working on dredging the inlet. The trout closure has put 10 or so guide services out of business for the winter, along with the commercial fishermen that rely on the trout.”

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Proud Affiliate of the North Carolina Fisheries Association

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association

Bradley Styron~ Very little going on. There’s a little bit of oystering going on, but that’s about it.”

Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association

Wayne Dunbar~Oz Hudgins~ “Got a few guys that have tried oyster tonging, but the water is so dark that there hasn’t been much of that.”

Ocracoke Working Waterman’s Association Ocracoke Fish House~ Hardy Plyler

“We would like to thank everyone that came out to support our Annual Oyster Roast, other than that, we are just living on Island time.”

From the deck of my trawler, I can hear the sun sizzle as it sets in the west. It touches the calm blue water, and disappears over the horizon one more time. Another night at sea, spotting the dippers and the north star, and there is Venus too, along with the milky way. Men of the sea’s best friends for centuries. Hundreds of falling stars brighten even the darkest of nights, porpoises playing at the bow, the stern wake glowing from the phosphorous critters of the sea. I once again realize how great it is...to be me... Bill Allen2017 north carolina fisheries association 37

A WORD FROM: BLUE WATER FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION PO Box 51828, Boston, MA. 02210

Dear Blue Water Members, It has been some time (Sept 25th) since I sent out an update to the general membership and so I hope you all take time to read this and to carefully consider its contents, implications and requests for action. The last few months have been very busy and your staff and Board have been quite active and generally very effective in furtherance of BWFA’s interests and objectives. I can honestly say that I am more encouraged about the PLL future and BWFA’s than I have been in a long time. In the last several months we have seen: • The appointment of Dr. Chris Oliver as Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (head of NMFS). Dr. Oliver we believe to be an honest broker in the balance of science, conservation and full utilization of fish stocks. We supported his candidacy after we had initial personal conversations with him and have subsequently met with him and other senior NMFS management in a meeting set up by Glenn back in September; • The identification of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts as a specific Marine Monument under serious review by the Administration to amend and allow fishing activity to resume. We hope action to reopen the monument to happen in the fairly near future; • BWFA Filed a Petition to establish a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) for Leatherback Turtles which NMFS has just this week issued a 90-day finding that the action may be warranted and a status review will go forward; • Our efforts at ICCAT Advisory Committee and the subsequent full ICCAT Meeting resulted in measures adopted which are consistent with BWFA objectives. The conduct of the US delegation and our Commissioner, John Henderschedt (he was at our 2017 BWFA Annual Meeting) was more transparent and one with which we had far greater input. Henderschedt vigorously defended US commercial and recreational fisheries in his negotiations and remained steadfast when it counted. The meeting ended: ■ with a 500-ton reduction in the overall Swordfish TAC but without any change to our allocation; ■ the Bluefin tuna TAC went up 350 tons and it is now considered to be managed in an interim management plan versus a rebuilding plan; ■ and a management measure on Mako sharks, which are now considered heavily overfished, did not result in a TAC or actions which likely would have created a new choke species. Rather, in recognition of the potential adverse impact on the US 38

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fisherman and the fact the we are not responsible for the adverse mortality on the stock, the adopted measure is focused to reduce mortality in a manner consistent with the way we already fish. Both Japan and the EU introduced proposals that would have, among other things, required a hard TAC, country allocations and/or monthly reporting and immediate actions if TAC’s were exceeded. All these aspects were negotiated out by the US under huge pressure from PEW in particular. • BWFA representatives and members have also recently attended the HMS Advisory Panel and the Pelagic Take Reduction Team meetings and had a more honest consideration of industry perspective. We are seeing progress everywhere. • BWFA has sent in comments on the relaxation of Bluefin IBQ reporting and letters of support for administration appointments. All this has happened as a result of a volunteer time commitment on your behalf by a lot of Blue Water members and from the expert guidance, knowledge, expertise, research, writing of our Legislative Consultant, Glenn Delaney. Just as important is Glenn’s experience and relationship built over a career of decades. We are now at a time and place where we have an opportunity to have our issues more honestly heard and can more effectively shape our future. What we need from each and every one of you is to: A. Continue to financially support BWFA through Highliners, your dues, your time and effort; B. Promote and grow BWFA in your business relationships and with colleagues who may no longer be members; C. Attend the Annual Meeting in Myrtle Beach, SC. April 12,13 and 14th. A portion of the Meeting will be open to the Public. Time and date to be determined. As always, please use this forum to put out questions and comments and also engage your region’s Board members. Kind regards, Jack Devnew President of BWFA, Compass Insurance Solutions, LLC 101 W. Main St. Suite 410 Norfolk, VA 23510 757-457-8399 Direct 757-641-7830 Cell jdevnew@compassnorfolk.com Marty Scanlon- Board Member F/V Provider II (631)-903-2322 Proii2@yahoo.com

Outer Banks Catch has rung out the old year is busy working on plans

In 2017, Outer Banks Catch stayed busy throughout the year and included the following accomplishments: - Developed new website that includes maps to show where member restaurants are located - www.outerbankscatch.com - Began sending out newsletters to members and subscribers - Hosted the 2017 NC Catch Summit - Distributed brochures that list all the restaurants, seafood markets, seafood dealers and supporters - Was a sponsor of Day At the Docks and Talk of the Villages commercial fishing photographs by Daniel Pullen

- Developed and hosted the 20th Anniversary Fisheries Reform Act Summit - Developed and held a fishing tournament

for the New Year! New N ew ffor or 2 2018 018

In add addition additi dditi t on to dis distri distributing tribut tri buting bu but ing ng general gener ge neral ner a mem al member membership be shi ber ship hpb broc brochures, roc occhur hures, es sp es, speak speaking eaking eak in ing a pa and p rticip rti cip pati a n ng g in pub public lic ev event ent ent ntss, s, pro omot moting ing ng ou ourr m memb embers emb er th throu rough rou gh participating events, promoting members through soc o ial iaa media me edia d an di aand nd d prin p rint rin i t adve aadvertising, dv rti dve t sin sing, g Out g, Outer er Banks B ks Catch Ban Ca ch Cat Ca h will will add add d new w social print promotions to the ongoing efforts.

Here is just a sampling of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to come:

- Placed ads in both regional and local publications

- Outer Banks Seafood Trail publication that will tie tourism and a new additional category for seafood restaurants into a travel guide

- Spoke to groups wanting to know more about seafood and commercial fishing

- Open Government workshop to educate fishermen about open meetings and public documents

- And more...

- Provide fishing news and events on the opening page of the Outer Banks Voice - Promote member restaurants, chefs and recipes in the Outer Banks Voice food section

north carolina fisheries association 39

NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES ASSOCIATION, INC. P.O. Box 86 101 N. 5th Street, Morehead City, NC 28557 www.ncfish.org 252.726.NCFA (6232)

NCFA MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

If you enjoy fresh North Carolina seafood and you support the hardworking fishing families that put it on the plate, become a member today!

MEMBER INFORMATION Name: Mailing Address: City, State, Zip: Email: Primary Phone: Other Phone: Website:

COMMERCIAL MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES Commercial Fisherman Dealers, Packers & Processors

Receive Tradewinds and Weekly Updates with your membership.

$25

a. $1,0000,000 or more

$1250

b. $500,000 - $999,999

$750

c. Up to $499,999

$500

Half Percent Contributor - ½ % of Gross Stock of Catch

☐

Half-percent contributors pay dues based on gross stock of their catch allowing fishermen to pay dues based on a small percentage of their profit. For example, for $1,000 in stock you would pay $5. Participating fish houses deduct the ½%, match it and send it to NCFA. Fishermen and boat owners may contribute a ½% dues without a matching contribution and fish houses may contribute with only a few fishermen.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES Individual

Receive Tradewinds with your membership and Weekly Updates via email.

$25

Business Sponsor

Receive Tradewinds with your membership and Weekly Updates via email.

$250

Thank you for joining the North Carolina Fisheries Association! 40

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Tradewinds is a bi-monthly publication owned and published by North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc. (NCFA). North Carolinapublication Fisheries Association is a non-profit organization is The a bi-monthly owned published by North Carolina Fisheries isand a bi-monthly owned and Carolina published by North Carolina Fisheries Tradewinds is a bi-monthly publication owned publication and published by North Fisheries based on Families, Heritage, and Seafood. Association, Inc. (NCFA). TheFisheries North Carolina Fisheries Association is a non-profit organization Association, Inc. (NCFA). The North Carolina Fisheries Association is a non-profit organization is a bi-monthly publication owned and published byAssociation North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc. (NCFA). The North Carolina is a non-profit organization based onCarolina Families,based Heritage, and Seafood. onAssociation, Families, Heritage, and to Seafood. Commercial fishermen established the North Fisheries Inc. in 1952 based on Families, Heritage, and Seafood. Association, Inc. (NCFA). North Carolina Fisheries is a non-profit organization serve fishing families by The protecting their heritage and promotingAssociation seafood. Commercial fishermen established theFisheries North Carolina Fisheries Association, Commercial fishermen established the North Carolina Association, Inc. in 1952 toInc. in 1952 to serve fishing based onOver Families, Heritage, Seafood. six decades later, NCFAand still established believes the commercial fishing industry begins andAssociation, ends with families by protecting their heritage promoting seafood. Commercial fishermen North Carolina Fisheries Inc. in 1952 to serve fishing serve fishingthe families by protecting their heritage andand promoting seafood. Over sixsupply decades later, NCFA still believes families – fromby those who harvest seafood to those who help the industries needs and the commercial fishing industry begins and ends with families heritage and promoting seafood. six decades later, NCFA believes commercial fishing industry and endsneeds withand to those who Commercialfamilies fishermenprotecting establishedtheir theOver North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc. in 1952 to serve fishing – from thosestill who harvestthe seafood to those who help supplybegins the industries to those who enjoy the harvest. We are committed to presenting an accurate portrait of the Over six decades later, NCFA still believes the commercial fishing industry begins and ends with families enjoy the harvest. We are committed to presenting an accurate portrait of the families – from those who harvest seafood to those who help supply the industries needs andindustry and the people families by protecting their heritage and promoting seafood. industry andthose the people who sustain seafood it. who who sustainhelp it. supply the industries needs and to those who – from who harvest to those to those enjoy the harvest. Weindustry are committed to presenting accurate portrait of the Over six decades later, NCFA still believes thewho commercial fishing begins and endsanwith families

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enjoy harvest. We are committed topeople presenting an accurate portrait ofto the industry and the who the sustain it. – from those whothe harvest seafood to industry those who help supply industries needs and those who and the people Tradewinds Ad Prices are as follows: Tradewinds Ad Prices are as follows: who sustain it. enjoy the harvest. We are committed to presenting an accurate portrait of the industry and the people Tradewinds Ad Prices are as follows: who sustain it. 8.62 X 11.25 Full Page: $400.00 Full Page: 8.62 X 11.25 $400.00

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7th Annual NC Catch Summit: Sustaining Local Fishing Communities

March 12-13, 2018 • Southport Commuity Building • Southport, NC

Taste of Southport Pre-Summit Opening Reception & Dinner

5 pm to 8 pm, March 12

Save the Date Tradewinds Ad.indd 1

March 13 Sessions: register online @ nccatch. org

• Fisheries Update • Go Big or Go Home • Stay Small & Stay Strong • Add Value to Extend the Season • Tell Your Story to Stay Afloat • Cooking Demonstrations

Hosted by:

north carolina fisheries association 41 1/18/2018 4:09:39 PM

Water Quality: Estuaries & Polluted Runoff

Fact Sheet 1

Development is often accompanied by new activities that add pollutants to landscapes and nearby waters. Polluted stormwater runoff — also referred to as nonpoint source pollution — is the number one cause of water pollution in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Division of Water Quality.

Poor water quality threatens estuarine ecosystems. (Photos from left: blue crab - NOAA Photo Library, oysters - Gary Allen, smooth cordgrass - Brad Marx)

Estuaries in North Carolina Situated between rivers and near-shore ocean waters, estuaries are coastal waters where tidal action and river flow mix fresh and salt water. In North Carolina, estuaries come in the form of bays, sounds, mouths of rivers and salt marshes. There are several distinct habitats within North Carolina’s estuaries. Four habitats threatened by poor water quality are highlighted here. Each habitat contributes a vital role to the overall health of coastal ecosystems.

Water Column: the basic habitat and circulation medium through which all other fish habitats are connected • provides basic physical and chemical requirements for aquatic life; • provides water circulation for transport of fish eggs and larvae, as well as food and oxygen to nursery, spawning and foraging grounds; and • is especially important for species that live near the surface, such as river herring, Atlantic menhaden and bluefish.

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV): underwater plants that produce oxygen and inorganic material used in other habitats • reduces cloudiness and turbulence;

• provides nursery habitat for blue crabs, red drum, pink shrimp, spotted seatrout and gag grouper; • provides surface for post-larval shellfish attachment; and • provides foraging grounds for large predators like flounder, rays and red drum.

Shell Bottom: beds where living shellfish filter algae and bacteria from the water column • protects shorelines from erosion; • clears water column so light can reach plants, encouraging growth of SAV; • provides nursery habitat for at least 12 economically important fishery species including blue crab and stone crab; • provides foraging grounds for larger bottom-feeding fish like drum, black sea bass and southern flounder; and • provides refuge and spawning sites for small resident species like toadfish, gobies and grass shrimp.

Soft Bottom: sand source and storage reservoir for nutrients, sediment and chemicals, which are cycled between the bottom and the water column, keeping the ecosystem in balance • bottom algae and tiny, bottom-dwelling animals provide food for young and adult fish like spot and croaker; • provides hiding places for burrowing marine animals; and

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NCSG | Water Quality: Estuaries & Polluted Runoff | • shallow soft bottoms near wetlands provide nursery areas for fish and invertebrates including flounder and shrimp.

Effects of Pollution Degraded water quality from polluted runoff threatens all of these habitats. Factors that affect pollution levels in runoff include: • intensity and duration of the storm; • type and amount of vegetation at the site, and where it is located on the site; • type of pollutants and amount of accumulation on the ground; and • stormwater control and treatment devices on the site.

Fact Sheet 2

Bacterial Contamination Potential Sources: stormwater runoff, failing septic systems, overloaded sewage systems • Water-borne bacteria may cause human illness. • Public health risks may lead to restrictions on swimming, shellfish harvest and consumption. Read North Carolina Sea Grant Water Quality Fact Sheet 4: Actions & Resources for potential solutions and more information. Preserving or restoring wetlands is one potential way to mitigate the effects of polluted runoff. Wetlands are estuarine habitats that include swamps, marshes and lowlands. They serve as vital nursery habitats and can filter pollutants from overland runoff.

The major concerns from stormwater are: Information for this document was drawn from: • N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. (2005). North Carolina’s Coastal Habitat. Retrieved Mar. 20, 2009, from http://www. ncfisheries.net/habitat/index.html • Street, M. W., Deaton, A. S., Chappell, W. S., & Mooreside, P. D. (2005). North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan. North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Marine Fisheries, Morehead City, NC. 656 pp. • Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program. (2009). Estuaries: Where rivers meet the sea. Retrieved Mar. 19, 2009, from http://www.apnep.org

D ATMOSPHER AN IC

NATIONAL OC EA

Toxic Chemical Contamination Potential Sources: herbicides, pesticides, golf courses, urban development, marinas, fuels, transportation, boating, industry • Heavy metals, petroleum products and other toxins may kill sensitive shellfish larvae or lower their reproductive success. • Toxin accumulation in soft bottom may kill invertebrates or lead to bioaccumulation in tissues of top predators. • SAV may be killed by spraying for aquatic nuisance species.

C NI

TRATION NIS MI AD

Nutrient Enrichment & Oxygen Depletion Potential Sources: wastewater discharges, agricultural runoff, urban areas, animal operations, air emissions • Excess nutrients may fuel toxic algal blooms in the water column. • Low oxygen in the water column and soft bottom may kill fish and invertebrates in the water column, soft bottom or shell bottom. • Reduced light caused by nutrient enrichment negatively affects SAV’s ability to survive and grow.

Turbidity & Sedimentation (Definitions on Fact Sheet 3) Potential Sources: construction sites, agricultural runoff, forestry, roads, mining, resuspension from dredging • Suspended sediment in the water column may clog fish gills, reduce feeding success of visual predators and transport bacteria and toxins. • High turbidity negatively affects SAV’s ability to survive and grow. • Excess sedimentation deters invertebrates from attaching to shell bottom.

TME

O NT OF C

North Carolina Sea Grant NC State University 1575 Varsity Drive, Flex Building Module 1 Campus Box 8605, Raleigh, NC 27695 Phone: 919/515-2454 UNC-SG-09-04C

Spring 2009

This document was developed with funding from the N.C. Fisheries Resource Grant Program and the N.C. Blue Crab and Shellfish Research Program. Printing was funded by the NOAA Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program under Grant NA06NOS4190149.

Sustainability Series

north carolina fisheries association 43

Talk on the Dock “YOU’VE GOT TO WORK TOGETHER” - ELBERT AND SANDY GASKILL OF HARKERS ISLAND

Photo by Billy Merkley

“Everything we have, everything we eat, our whole livelihood has come from the water,” Sandy Gaskill observed. She and Elbert grew up together on Harkers Island and have been making a life together for more than fifty years. “We borrowed 1,500 dollars to get started,” said Elbert. “Bought an 18-foot boat, motor, gillnet, and waist boots. Soon as we started making money we paid it off.” Elbert has built boats, made his own clam rakes, and done his own engine repair. “I know a little bit about carpentry, can fix my nets, rigging, wiring, welding - you got to know a little bit about everything,” he points out. “When all else fails, you can grab your tub and rake and go clamming. Eat Vienna sausage, crackers, keep clamming til your back gives out, but you can pay your light bill.” Elbert has a low-key, humble demeanor. You might not guess that his fellow fishermen count him as one of the hardest-working, innovative members of their community. For example, Elbert was the first in North Carolina to try the “fish eye” in his trawl net, a type of finfish excluder device. “We were working back of Cedar Island - me and Buddy Gaskill, who later drowned – we studied it.” The men sewed the excluder device, which Elbert had built based on one he had seen at a fishing show, into a tail bag, while a second tail bag served as a control. They made a tow and checked their results. “When I hauled back, the bag with the fish eye device was smaller, and right red looking. Dumped it out and it was shrimp. It worked.” He emphasized that fishermen do not want to catch small fish and other bycatch because “that’s our livelihood!” Elbert thinks that Turtle Excluder Devices, called “turtle shooters” by fishermen, were a good innovation as well. “Turtle shooters was the best thing (managers) ever done,” he emphasized. “I shoot the whifferees (rays) right on out, and skates, grass, bycatch, jellyballs, turtles, and other stuff you don’t want to be bothered with.” “Right now,” he added, “if they said ‘You ain’t got to use a TED’ I’d still want to use it!” Sandy and Elbert maintain that the key to their success was working together and being prepared to switch gears and fisheries to adapt to conditions. “We’d get set up for channel netting,” Sandy said, “And he’d go floundering while I fished the channel net. He’d go scalloping from Harkers Island to Sneads Ferry in the wintertime and I’d open scallops. Built a big boat for shrimping, but a hard freeze killed every spotted shrimp that season – had to leave the new boat to the dock and go hand clamming. During red tide we went offshore, sink netting.” In the early years Elbert apprenticed with Claude Brown of Marshallberg, setting pots in the wintertime for black sea bass in the ocean. Today Elbert is one of the few permit holders from this region who can participate in that fishery. “He’s been a hard worker and a good provider,” Sandy said, nodding her head.

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“He tends his own business and we don’t bother nobody.” “You have to act like it’s the last dollar to be made,” Elbert added. For all of the deck time Sandy has put in, she has worked just as hard on land sticking up for the fishing industry. “If it hadn’t been for the women,” Elbert declared, “fishing would be all be closed down.” Although always the backbone of fishing families, women became increasingly organized and vocal in North Carolina fish politics in the 1990s. “Ladies auxiliaries” formed to support the North Carolina Fisheries Association, and women sponsored fundraisers, protests, and trips to the state capital to appeal to lawmakers. “We’d go to Raleigh and sometimes we’d leave there laughing,” Sandy recalled. “Sometimes we’d leave a’crying. Most times we’d leave a’praying.” In the Gaskill’s living room hangs an award to Sandy from the North Carolina Coastal Federation for her efforts in stopping a large marina from being built on Harkers Island, which would have destroyed adjacent shellfish beds. Sandy also served on the county harbor authority and successfully fought to keep dock space affordable for commercial fishermen. She, along with Karen Amspacher, Pam Morris, and the late Janice Smith, was instrumental in making the North Carolina Seafood Festival’s Blessing of the Fleet what it is today. “It’s been 20 years we’ve been doing this Blessing,” Sandy said. The women elevated the event to a truly sacred experience, with a procession of boats big and small blessing lost loved ones with wreaths that are tossed into the water. Honoring ancestors is important, but so too is looking ahead to the next generation of commercial fishermen. Sandy and Elbert have hope in the future because they see young people entering the fisheries, and they hope more of them will participate in management. “I was on the state’s crustacean advisory committee for eight years,” said Sandy. “I said, no, I’m not going back on - I want the young ones to take a turn, take part, and take an interest in it.” Sandy shared a story about a young fisherman who asked her about the North Carolina Fisheries Association, the state’s largest trade organization for the seafood industry. He was wondering if the organization cared about small fishermen. “I said, let me tell you something. We can’t make it without them, and they can’t make it without us. We have got to work together or we’re going to lose it all.” Sandy is known for speaking passionately at fisheries and legislative meetings. “When everything you have comes from the water, you go to a meeting and speak from the heart. You go there to tell them the truth.” Her advice to the next generation of fishermen and fisheries warriors? “Don’t be afraid to speak up. You know what you’re talking about.” Elbert concedes that young people have new challenges to face. “More than anything, our fish are going north.” He notes that greentail shrimp are now filling the Chesapeake Bay, sea mullets are appearing off New York, and trout and croaker are frequenting northern waters. “And sharks are coming up from the south. I’ve worked 12 o’clock shoal my whole life never bothered by a shark, but now they eat the tail bag!” At 73, Elbert is not deterred, and he and Sandy continue to rise to the challenges on land and sea alike. “All the income we’ve ever had has come from the water,” Sandy reflected. “Nothing else, just the water. And we’ve made it.” -Barbara Garrity-Blake www.raisingthestory.com Living at the Water’s Edge (UNC Press) P.O. Box 91, Gloucester, NC 28528, (252)342-8028

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A MAN OR

A MINDSET?

TRED BARTA KNOWS NO LIMITS.

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TRED’n WATER BY TRED BARTA

“TOO SEXY FOR YOUR HAT” Reprinted with permissions from: Big Game Fishing Journal, January/February 2018 Issue. Written by: Tred Barta.

his maybe one of the most unpopular articles I’ve ever written but as most of you know, I always tell the truth as I see it. I have often said if you stand for everything, you stand for nothing. Today there is a huge push by many conservation sport fishing organizations such as the Coastal Conservation Association to seemingly want to destroy commercial fishing. In general, the war cry to its members is that commercial fishermen are destroying the ocean and decimating the fish stocks; that they are the devils of the ocean. This type of thinking, besides being wrong, is driving an irretrievable wedge between commercial fishing and sport fishing. It is also cutting the nose right off the sport fisherman’s face. What do I mean? Let me explain. First, for those who carry around with them a bag of unadulterated ignorance, commercial fishermen and commercial fishing have been present all around the world as long as mankind. The fish we eat and buy at fish markets and stores are caught by commercial fishermen. That’s what they do: they catch fish big and small for the world to eat. The soul of every American port, from New England to the Gulf of Mexico to the West Coast and Alaska, is commercial fishermen. They are the soul of American fishing. They work incredibly hard, almost slave hours, invest ungodly amounts of money in their boats and gear. They love the ocean. They should be looked upon as we do our American farmers, steel workers, coal miners and ranchers. Long hours, hard work, but all of them are being regulated to the point that they can hardly make a living. Sport fishing and commercial interests

are the same. Both groups want a renewable resource. The sport fisherman wants his fish so that they can do battle and release their catch or harvest their catch to eat. Commercial fishermen want a renewable resource so they can feed their families. What sport fishermen must understand is as they try to abolish commercial fishermen, they also are abolishing their own right to fish, as the same regulations that affect commercial fishermen are cutting sport to the point that in many fisheries it’s not even worth going. It is true that if commercial fishermen are not properly regulated they can hurt our resource to the point that is no longer renewable. Sport fishermen are capable of that as well. I am a man if the ocean. I know and see both sides clearly. I am on the inner circle of science and regulation. I am on the board of the RFA, I have raised $1 million for the IGFA junior angler program. My son is a commercial fisherman in Beaufort, North Carolina. He works 18 hours a day and often has a hard time feeding his family. If a commercial aspect of fishing is truly pushing a resource so it is not renewable, then I am for regulation. That said, it truly scares me that sport fishing is becoming a left-wing environmental activity, where they insinuate they are smarter and better than commercial fishermen. Left wing environmental groups are driving a wedge between sport fishing and commercial fishing so we fight against each other while they raise million upon millions of dollars lying about the facts and make laws that hurt both sport fishing and commercial fishing. How dare any sport fishermen speak ill of hard working American families who earn their livelihood in the sea, you can take your fly rod and shove it up your arse. I maintain the following: commercial fishing must be regulated because with

the technology available today, commercial fishermen are deadlier and more accurate at harvesting their quarry than ever before. But they deserve to be regulated based on science, not voodoo. I say loudly to all sport fishing groups: do not let the management of your organization point to commercial fishing as the enemy. Let me point out one other huge hypocrisy: hundreds of sport fishermen catch bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, giant tuna and other species to sell and make a profit. You are not killing these great fish for your table; are you a sport fisherman or are you a commercial fisherman? Interesting question isn’t it. The ocean represents 71 percent of the earth’s surface, and much of the world rapes the ocean with no regard to regulations or renewable resource. Japan, China, Africa, all around the world they slaughter the ocean’s assets. American fishermen are not part of this unscrupulous world. I love sport fishing and the people in my sport, but no one loves the ocean more than those who depend on it to feed their families, send their kids to college, buy their homes and live a life worth living. If we continue as sport fishermen to see the American commercial fishermen as the enemy, we will lose the fight on conservation. The real fight is to maintain a renewable resource for both groups. I support the CCA; I am a life member, I have made several donations to CCA and will continue to do so, but I warn them of taking the wrong path. You should remind them also. Another day, another adventure, Capt. Tred Barta

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