MOREHEAD CITY – The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission's (MFC) Blue Crab Regional Stakeholder committees will hold a joint meeting on Thursday, February 3, 2000 at 6 p.m. at the Learning Resources Center at Beaufort Community College in Washington.

The five stakeholder committees have been meeting during the past several months to develop management options for the blue crab fishery that would reflect regional characteristics, the needs of fishermen in the various regions, and the best ways to control effort in these areas. At this meeting, the committees will make presentations about their progress in developing regional management options for the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan.

The stakeholder committees are scheduled to have their initial recommendations ready to present to the MFC at its next business session, scheduled for February 17-18. The MFC will discuss and review the recommendations and then schedule public meetings on the issue. The MFC is scheduled to finalize the regional management options in April. Any management measures the MFC adopts need to be in effect prior to October 1, 2000 – when the current crab license expires.

Blue crabs are North Carolina's most lucrative fishery; in 1998 Tar Heel fishermen harvested $40.5 million of crabs. To effectively manage this valuable public trust resource, the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan recommends that effort in the crab pot fishery needs to be controlled or reduced. Five regional committees were created to address geographical differences in the crab pot fishery.

For more information, please contact Jess Hawkins at 252-726-7021 or 1-800-682-2632.

MOREHEAD CITY – Officials with the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) have announced bay scallop season will open Monday, January 10, 2000, at 7:30 a.m. for all coastal North Carolina waters.

Scallops can be hand harvested from 7:30 to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday of each week during the season. Fishing operations can harvest up to 15 bushels of scallops per day.

Dredges may not be used to harvest scallops. Scallops are in short supply this year due to a poor recruitment last spring. Additionally, warm water conditions this fall, and freshwater runoff associated with Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd, killed many scallops and delayed spawning for remaining scallops. Prohibiting dredging will ensure juvenile scallops spawned late last fall will have a chance to establish themselves in sea grass beds. Scallops must attached themselves to sea grass during the early stages of their lifecycle in order to survive. Dredges may be allowed later in the season when the mature scallops have been harvested from grass bed areas.

For more information, contact Trish Murphey, DMF- Morehead City, at 252-726-7021 or 1-800-682-2632.