North Carolina Sports target commercial fisheries – example #3 in 2022 – 2
MIKE SHUTAK Mar 7, 2022 Updated 1 hr ago 0
https://www.
MOREHEAD CITY —A group of more than 30 protestors Monday morning gathered outside the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries in Morehead City to voice their disapproval of recent southern flounder and shrimp management activity.
The Coastal Conservation Association’s North Carolina chapter organized the protest Monday. About 33 participants stood out front of the division building on Arendell Street, holding up signs with messages expressing their displeasure with recent actions the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission took in regards to the management of the southern flounder and shrimp fisheries. Some passing motorists honked their horns in response to the protest.
The association is a recreational fishing nonprofit dedicated to coastal environment conservation. CCA-NC Carteret County chapter president Van Parrish was leading the protest Monday.
Mr. Parrish said he was protesting for “my grandkids and future generations,” and that he and the other protestors sought to get the attention of Gov. Roy Cooper and the DMF so recreational fishermen “will be treated fairly.”
“The DMF and MFC are simply not being fair to the recreational fishermen,” Mr. Parrish said. “The (fisheries) management decisions are almost always skewed towards the commercial fishing industry. Specifically, the gill nets and shrimp trawling are devastating our inland waters where baby fish grow up.”
For-hire and commercial fisherman Allen Jernigan of Holly Ridge was among the protestors Monday. He said he came out because he thinks state fishery managers are ignoring the economic effects of recreational fishing.
“They’re using Band-Aid management and enabling the destructive over-harvest,” Mr. Jernigan said.
Recreational fisherman and former president of the Got Em On live bait club of Carolina Beach Chris Davis was also among the protestors. He said gill nets “kill everything that swims into it.”
Recreational fisherman Susan Beck of Morehead City and Lexington was also at Monday’s protest.
“Recreational fishing brings a lot of revenue to Carteret County,” she said. “I’d rather keep the status quo we had last year (with flounder management).”
The division didn’t oppose Monday’s protest. DMF public information officer Patricia Smith said the division thinks that public input is important to good governance.