MOREHEAD CITY -- The Moratorium Steering Committee (MSC) has scheduled a series of 19 statewide meetings during August and September to receive public comments regarding a slate of preliminary recommendations to restructure North Carolina’s fishery management system.

The MSC was created by the 1994 General Assembly as part of a package that placed a two-year ban on the sale of new commercial fishing licenses. That ban was eventually extended until June 30, 1997. The goal of the MSC was to develop a comprehensive, long-term management program for North Carolina’s coastal fisheries that provides for maintenance of healthy stocks, restoration of depleted stocks, sustainable yield and equitable use of resources available for harvest.

The public has played an active role in the formation of these draft recommendations and the MSC hopes that people will continue offering suggestions and sharing their ideas about the future of our fisheries.

All meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m., except Fayetteville, which will begin at 8:00 p.m. The public meeting dates and locations are:

For a summary of the recommendations or for information about these meetings, please call Nancy Fish, Public Information Officer, at (919)726-7021.

The MFC is a 17-member panel made up of fishing industry representatives and scientists that are responsible for managing North Carolina’s coastal fisheries resources.

In July the MFC voted to take 14 proposed rules to public hearing. Issues of primary interest include definition of a pound net, definition of a peeler crab and harvest restrictions on white line peelers, time restrictions for fishing pots, prohibition on shrimp trawls from Baldhead Island to SC line on weekends and /or at night, change the weekend closure of shrimp trawls to an alternate time, decrease the tolerance of undersized crabs from 15 percent to 10 percent and require peelers to be separated where taken and allow the use of two peeler crab trawls in areas of Core Sound, delete the minimum size limit for yellowfin tuna, grant proclamation authority to the DMF Director to establish creel limits on spotted seatrout taken by hook-and-line, grant proclamation authority to DMF director to establish creel and size limits for weakfish, striped bass and bluefish taken by hook-and-line, and define Core Sound for shellfish lease purposes.

The MFC public hearings will be held at the following dates and locations: