Tag Archives: Commissioner Chuck Laughridge

Letter to the Editor: Redefining a commercial fisherman

January 14, 2018   Mid Atlantic

According to a N.C. 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.”,, 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 fisherman. The real question is why? >click here to read< 09:45

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Op-ed: E-mails continue a troubling practice on fisheries panel

February 15, 2017   Mid Atlantic

With a critical vote pending on a petition to limit shrimp trawling in state waters, a member of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission made no secret of his position in an e-mail to a concerned chef from Charlotte. The e-mail was among several by Commissioner Chuck Laughridge to people who had submitted written comments on the petition, which supporters say is aimed at protecting fish species that are discarded as by-catch after they are hauled in by shrimp nets. Laughridge wrote the e-mails despite warnings from the commission’s lawyer about conducting business outside of public meetings and expressing opinions on pending issues before the fisheries panel has fully debated and voted on them. We at Outer Banks Catch are troubled by these continuing private communications. The commission is already under the cloud of a 2016 audit that cited several potential violations of open meetings laws in e-mail communications among its members. With the potentially devastating impact of limits to shrimp trawling on commercial watermen and consumers up and down the East Coast, the commission more than ever must be above-board. Continue reading the Op-ed here 22:38

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