Tag Archives: North Carolina Fisheries Association
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for November 20, 2023
The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) met last week in Emerald Isle, NC. I am happy to report there was good turnout from fishermen giving comments and talking with commissioners and staff during and after the meeting. As most of you know the striped mullet was the hot item on the agenda. Specifically, looking at reducing striped mullet harvest by setting seasons and trip limits. If you read the Weekly Update last week you know that the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has recommended the maximum harvest reduction percentage of 35.4%. DMF recommends:>>click to read<< 13:45
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update: October 23, 2023: The ASMFC
Last week I had a reader who was interested in understanding more about what the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is and how they fit in with North Carolina fisheries management. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) held their 81st Annual Meeting in Beaufort, NC last week. Although no hot button issues were on the agenda last week, a lot of other necessary fisheries management issues were discussed and voted on. In fact, many of the rules and regulations on how North Carolina manages our inshore species comes directly from ASMFC decisions. The ASMFC began in 1942 when the Atlantic Coast States realized that their shared migratory fish stocks would be more sustainable and better managed as coast-wide stocks rather than being managed solely at the state level. This is expressed in the ASMFC vision statement, “Sustainable and Cooperative Management of Atlantic Coastal Fisheries”. >>click to read<<,10: 50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 02, 2023
Southern Flounder, Uncertain Baseline Data. This week I wanted to look at the data used for management of southern flounder in North Carolina, specifically recreational catch data. Catch data is supposed to be baseline information in the fisheries management process. It is supposed to tell us how many fish were caught each year and allow managers to set quotas based on the health of the fish stock. Accurate catch data is especially important when you are trying to rebuild a stock such as southern flounder. When trying to reduce the number of fish removed annually it is important to know how many fish were caught each year to compare that number with the fish caught the following year to see if you achieved your needed reduction. Simple math, right? >>click to read<< 14:56
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for August 14, 2023
Upcoming Fisheries Meetings are listed with details in the update. COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF NC SHRIMPERS AND COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN “SOME COMFORT”. In a major decision handed down by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a group of North Carolina shrimpers won a huge victory! In a unanimous decision on August 7, 2023, the Court affirmed a previous decision made by U.S. District Court Judge Louise Flanagan on September 17, 2021. The plaintiffs then appealed, with the oral arguments made before the court in the fall of 2022. >click to read the update< 13:14
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for July 24, 2023
How Well Is the CCA Mindset Working? Last week I showed you just one of the many tricks the Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina (CCA) uses to sway public perception of our fisheries in North Carolina. Another trick CCA has mastered is simply not answering questions. If you watched the interview last week maybe you noticed this trick as well. I will link the interview again if you care to rewatch: >click to read, with reference links, videos< 19:22
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update, July10, 2023 – Red Snapper, Plain and Simple
My last couple articles seemed to connect with many readers, some good connections and some maybe not so good. I personally received some really good feedback and I was also forwarded several emails and websites who quoted my articles. I always love seeing our newsletters getting out there for more people to read and hopefully get people more engaged in the issues. I know most of the people reading this already know, but for some of the new readers who maybe were misled by some of the people sharing our message, I feel like I needed to clarify a couple things. >click to read< 12:50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for June 26, 2023
A little over one week ago (June 16, 2023), a group of fishermen and fish buyers from North Carolina and Florida filed a lawsuit (South Atlantic Red Snapper Dead Discards Lawsuit) against the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the lack of accountability for dead discards of red snapper in the South Atlantic. The case outlines three claims where the Secretary and NMFS have violated the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by refusing to manage and address recreational dead discards and rebuild the South Atlantic stock of red snapper. >click to read< 16:54
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 08, 2023
Final DMF Observer Call-In Program Meetings and ASMFC Recap, This is a great opportunity to provide input on the new anchored gill net observer call-in program beginning this fall. If you fish anchored gill nets you WILL BE REQUIRED under the conditions of our state sea turtle and sturgeon ITPs to call in BEFORE you fish once this program begins. Much more included in this weeks update. >click to read< 14:49
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for May 1st, 2023
DMF Call-in Observer Program Meetings and ASMFC Spring Meeting – We at NCFA want to emphasize the importance of attending one of the five public outreach meetings about the new automated call-in system that will be used to schedule observer trips in our state anchored gill net fisheries. Once this new call-in system for the anchored gill net fisheries is in place, the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) will NO longer be calling individual fishermen to try to set up observer trips. If you want to set anchored gill nets YOU will have to call-in and declare your intent and if chosen to carry an observer, YOU will be responsible for setting up the observer trip. >click to read< 14:50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for April 17/2023
Northeast Commercial Fishing Cost Survey – Last month NOAA Fisheries sent out letters and emails to federally permitted commercial fishing vessel owners in the Northeast Greater Atlantic region requesting them to participate in the Commercial Fishing Business Cost Survey for 2022. This survey is only done every few years and the information gathered plays an important role in all aspects of fisheries management. >click to read the update< 12:47
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 3/27/2023
Latent Commercial Fishing Licenses – Something that we keep hearing is only 40% of North Carolina commercial harvesters report landings while 60% never report landings. I heard it at the speckled trout scoping meetings, I hear it at Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) meetings, and I see it written in articles. While technically this is true, it does not address why these licenses do not report any landings. More, >click to read< 10:01
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 3/20/2023
Last Two Speckled Trout Scoping Meetings This Week, Legislative Update, 3/20/2023, Memorial for Susan West. On Sunday a memorial was held for Susan West in Hatteras who passed away last fall. NCFA Board member Dewey Hemilright, Thomas Newman and I attended. I will write more about the memorial and about Susan’s advocacy for commercial fishing families later. As is always the case for something like this, you get to see many folks that you haven’t seen for quite a while. It was good to see so many familiar faces at a very fitting tribute for Susan. Jerry. >click to read< 08:30
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for March 06, 2023
Southern Flounder Update Leads to More Questions Than Answers – During the February 2023 quarterly business meeting of the NC Marine Fisheries commission(MFC), the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) provided the Commission a with very informative update on their efforts to manage the Southern Flounder fishery. While informative, there were portions of the presentation, which sparked concern for the NCFA, causing us to seek clarification from the DMF, which is why these issues were not included in last week’s newsletter. >click to read< 16:45
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 28, 2023
The NC Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) met last week in New Bern. During this meeting, a lot of interesting conversations were had and plenty of motions were voted on. I am going to recap some of the bigger takeaways. If anyone wants to review the meeting (or any particular sections), here are the links for each day: in the video description, the agenda is broken up which allows you to advance to a specific section. More, >click to read< 08:01
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 20, 2023
The following public comments were sent to several members of the NC Marine Fisheries Commission by Glenn Skinner, Executive Director of the NCFA, also, The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) is meeting this week to vote on a supplement to the current Striped Mullet Fisheries Management Plan,,, >click to read the weekly update< 17:55
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for February 13, 2023
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19 I definitely still have a lot to learn about fisheries management and I certainly do not always listen to what I preach. But one thing I do know is that fisheries management is a slow process and I think James 1:19 is a good way to approach it, especially when it comes down to the people involved. >click to read< 08:50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for January 31, 2023
Snapper Grouper Discard Mortality Reduction & Private Rec. Permitting (Amendments 35 & 46)/REMINDER: Southern Shrimp Alliance Needs Your Help/Legislative Update. The last year or so the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) has been working on multiple Snapper Grouper Amendments. Amendments 35 and 46 were voted on and approved for scoping and public comment at the December SAFMC meeting. Informational webinars with opportunities to provide public comment for both amendments are scheduled soon (Amendment 46 webinar is scheduled for January 30th and February 6th at 6pm and Amendment 35 webinar is scheduled for January 31st at 6pm). Links >click to read< 12:04
North Carolina Fisheries Association Membership, Southern Shrimp Alliance Needs Your Help!
As indicated below, the U.S. International Trade Commission has now issued questionnaires in its sunset review proceeding to the U.S. shrimp industry, U.S. shrimp importers, U.S. shrimp purchasers, and exporters and processors in the Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese shrimp industries. The responses to these questionnaires, which are due on or before February 6, 2023, will provide the basis for the Commission’s analysis as to whether to keep the antidumping duty orders on Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese shrimp in place for another five years. Thank you, in advance, for your assistance in meeting the U.S. International Trade Commission’s request for information. >Click to read, and access links< 13:11
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update 01/09/2023 – Fisheries Monitoring and Data Collection/Legislative Update
The number of commercial fishermen in North Carolina has definitely been on a downward trend for some time. We have gone from 4,588 active commercial licenses in 2001 down to 2,170 active licenses in 2021 according to DMF’s most recent statistics. Although numbers of participants in our state have decreased by almost half in the last 20 years commercial fishing monitoring and data collection has not and NC commercial fishermen continue to provide a wealth of useful data that has created a permanent record showing where we came from and how we got there. The first commercial fishing data collection system I will talk about is the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) fish house trip ticket program. This program started in 1994 and since then it has grown into one of the leading fisheries data collection programs in the country. >click to read the update< 12:20
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for November 14, 2022
November 2022 NC Marine Fisheries Commision Meeting – The MFC meeting is being held in Emerald Isle, NC November 16th-18th at the Islander Hotel (102 Islander Dr, Emerald Isle, NC 28594). The 2022 election is now history and it’s time to begin updating the contact information for the US Senate & House and the North Carolina General Assembly. >click to read the meeting agenda, and the update< 14:44
North Carolina Fisheries Association: Weekly Update for October 10, 2022
Last Tuesday evening (October 4,2022) I attended a striped mullet scoping meeting where staff from the NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) were seeking stakeholder input for the future management of the mullet fishery. DMF staff certainly got an ear full of “input”, mostly in the form of questions and comments about the most recent Striped Mullet Stock assessment. The 2022 Striped Mullet assessment, which used data through 2019 indicated that overfishing is occurring, and that North Carolinas Striped Mullet stock is overfished, and apparently has been for two decades or more. This came as a shock for the fishermen in attendance for a couple of reasons. ->Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 12:32
North Carolina Fisheries Association: Weekly Update for September 12, 2022
Last week the US House Committee on Natural Resources marked up a bill on the Magnuson Act reauthorization. The late Congressman from Alaska, Don Young, was pushing for a different version that most of the commercial industry supported, but after he died a different version has been pushed. Named “Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act or HR 4690, the bill is up for final committee approval on September 29th. Previous reauthorizations were more of a bi-partisan effort, but this is more partisan with Democrats supporting the bill and Republicans opposing. >click to read<. To read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 15:50
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update September 12, 2022
For decades now, the CCA has done their best to turn “bycatch” into a four-letter word, especially commercial bycatch. They’ve used the term “bycatch” to justify their failed attempts to enact net bans and gamefish bills! They’ve used the term “bycatch” to justify banning shrimp trawling in North Carolina! They’ve used the term “bycatch” to justify almost every current restriction on commercial fishermen and commercial fishing gear! >click to read<. To read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 09:18
Appeals court says lawsuit over trawling can move forward
A lawsuit challenging how North Carolina manages coastal fisheries can go to court, the state Court of Appeals ruled earlier this week. The three-judge appellate court unanimously affirmed Tuesday a Wake County trial judge’s 2021 ruling that denied the state’s request to dismiss the suit brought by the Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina, or CCA NC, and 86 individuals in 2020. Commercial fishermen by and large hope state Department of Justice lawyers choose to appeal to the higher court. North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner told Coastal Review in a telephone interview that the lawsuit could set a dangerous precedent for overregulation of industry in the state. >click to read< 09:29
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update August 29, 2022
At the August Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) meeting, Amendment 2 to the Striped Bass FMP and the unjustified net ban in the upper Neuse and Pamlico Rivers was on the agenda once again. Amendment 2 was up for final approval by the MFC, which we strongly opposed as long as the continuation of the net ban in the upper Neuse and Pamlico Rivers is incorporated into the Amendment. The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) of NC, on the other hand, seemed to support the final approval of Amendment 2, only if the net ban remains part of the FMP. Surprised? Probably not, after all for decades the CCA has pushed for a net ban and, for decades, the NCFA has opposed this extreme agenda, making the gill net debate a constant source of friction at virtually every fisheries meeting. Another constant through the years has been the CCAs willingness to misinform and misuse data to support their agenda and the August MFC meeting was no exception. >click to continue reading< 18:49
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for August 15, 2022
In our last update I asked our readers to evaluate the factuality of the CCA’s messaging and let us know how many misleading statements, half-truths, and outright lies they could find. Not surprisingly, we didn’t get many of our readers to take us up on our request. The truth is, I was surprised that one, Raynor James, did write up a response and a very good one at that! (Attached below) I was surprised because the point I was trying to make is, that most people know very little about our commercial fisheries and have neither the time nor desire to do their own research and attempt to separate fact from fiction. A fact the Coastal Conservation Association is certainly aware of, which is why they are so comfortable misleading North Carolinians. >click to read< 12:27
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for 08/01/2022
If you’re a regular reader of the NCFA’s weekly newsletter, you’ve seen many articles lately pointing out the dis-information being distributed by the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) of North Carolina. Unfortunately, they make it very easy to find a new subject to write about each week, so in fact, I bet almost anyone can do it. Even you! So, that said, let’s see if our readers have learned anything over the last couple of months. I challenge everyone who reads this to go to the CCA NC website, click on “Advocacy” and read the following position papers. >click to read<, To read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 12:56
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for July 18, 2022
Does CPR Work on Fish? The Coastal Conservation Association Seems to Think SO! – After reading this title you’re probably envisioning a forty-pound Red Drum lying on the deck of a boat, straddled by an angler, receiving mouth to mouth followed by a round of rapid chest compressions, but that’s not the CPR I’m referring to. The CPR I’m talking about is the Coastal Conservation Association’s (CCA) Catch, Photo, and Release (CPR) Initiative. In Coastal States across the Country, including North Carolina, the CCA is holding CPR fishing tournaments where anglers can win big prizes for catching, photographing, and releasing numerous species of coastal finfish. The rules are simple, pay your entry fee, receive your wristband, catch a qualifying species of fish, photograph the fish lying on a ruler with your wristband visible, release the fish, and the longest fish or combination of fish wins. And of course, you have to be a CCA member to win! >click to read, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 11:15
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for July 11, 2022
We cannot emphasize enough how important it is for commercial fishermen and others associated with the seafood industry to take an active interest in the November general election. Find out who the candidates are and where they stand on the issues that are important to you. If you need to know who is on the ballot this November for the NC Senate and House in your district, let us know and we’ll get that information to you. Candidates need your support by your vote and financially. >Click here to read the Weekly Update<, to read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 09:26
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for June 6, 2022
The MFC voted on May 26th to continue with the gill net closure in the Neuse and Pamlico rivers and directed DMF to study the impacts of removing the gill nets as their preferred management option. But this time the reason for continuing the gill net closure was different. At the meeting, Commissioner Tom Roller said; “In saying that this is an allocation fight, you are right. So, when NCFA comes here and says there is no scientific evidence for removing gill nets, what they are saying is I want my allocation. Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. So, it’s an allocation by the retention of gill nets. Cause a dead fish is a dead fish, right? A dead fish is a dead fish and you have to ask what is the greater value to the economy? And in most cases, and many cases, not all cases, it’s recreational.” I’m confused. . >click to read<. To read all the updates >click here<, for older updates listed as NCFA >click here< 16:16
