MOREHEAD CITY – Officials with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) will be holding a meeting to discuss conflicts between crab potters and recreational boaters in the Blounts Creek area of the Pamlico River on April 6, 2000.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Regional Office, 942 Washington Square Mall, Washington, N.C. Crab fishermen and recreational boaters are encouraged to attend.

For more information, please call Sean McKenna at 252-946-6481.

MOREHEAD CITY - Residents will get their first look at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' (DENR) plans to protect and restore coastal habitat in North Carolina, beginning Tuesday, March 21 in Wilmington.

“Healthy habitats play a vital role in the well being of our fisheries,” said Division of Marine Fisheries Director Preston Pate. “Coastal habitats such as hardwood swamps, salt marshes, underwater grassbeds, and even the ocean floor, are important because they provide food and shelter for fish, shrimp, crabs and shellfish.”

Over the years, habitat loss and degradation, and poor water quality have jeopardized our fisheries. Coastal Habitat Protection Plans (CHHPs) are being developed for the long term enhancement of these coastal fisheries through protection and heightened consideration of fish habitat in resource management decisions.

Eleven coastal geographic regions have been identified for plan development, including the state's major river basins and sounds and other areas that contain similar fisheries and habitat concerns. Plan development is part of a cooperative effort between scientists from state agencies with jurisdiction over marine fisheries, water quality and coastal area management.

The first two draft CHHPs, Coastal Ocean and the Chowan River, are ready for review. The public is invited to participate in the planning process by attending the following meetings, which will run from 7 -9 pm:

Coastal Ocean:

March 21  Wilmington   UNC-Wilmington    Dobo Hall, Room 202

March 22   Morehead City    UNC-Institute of Marine Science   2nd Floor Conference Room

March 29   Manteo   Roanoke Festival Park Auditorium

Chowan:

March 28   Edenton   College of the Albemarle,   Edenton Campus, Room 125

CHPPs will include habitat mapping, status and trends, threats, and a cumulative impact analysis. Beach nourishment and channel dredging are two issues that impact coastal ocean habitat, while water quality and habitat loss for river herring are issues addressed in the Chowan River plan.

Plans will also recommend research needs and management actions that need to be taken by state regulatory agencies to protect and restore habitat. The regulatory agencies, which include the Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management and Coastal Resources commissions, are required to incorporate CHPP recommendations into their rulemaking processes. All CHHPs will be finalized by July 2003, and then reviewed and updated every five years.

For more information on the Coastal Ocean CHHP, call Anne Deaton at 1-800-248-4536. For information on the Chowan CHHP, call Liz Noble at 1-800-338-7805.

MOREHEAD CITY - It's no fluke, the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) is looking for people to serve on the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee.

This committee will assist the MFC in the development of a fishery management plan (FMP) for southern flounder, the species of flounder found primarily in North Carolina sounds and estuaries.

The goal of a FMP is to develop options to deal with management issues. The FMP will also include information on the nature and concerns of the fishery, habitat and water quality issues and information on the status of the stock.

Individuals interested in serving as advisors should be willing to attend meetings at least once every two months and actively participate in the committee process. Advisors will be reimbursed for travel and other expenses incurred in relation to their official duties. The deadline for applications has been extended to March 20, 2000.

Applications are available at Division of Marine Fisheries offices or by calling the MFC staff at 252-726-7021 or 800-682-2632. Applications should be returned to the Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, North Carolina 28557, Attention: Jess Hawkins.

MOREHEAD CITY - Officials with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries have announced the commercial season for summer flounder in the Atlantic Ocean will close at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 3, 2000 - when it is projected that the winter harvest quota of 2.1 million pounds will be reached.

Once the season closes, fishermen will still be allowed to land a bycatch of up to 100 pounds of flounder per trip.

For more information about the flounder season closure, please call Rick Monaghan at 252-726-7021 or 1-800-682-2632.

MOREHEAD CITY - The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) has voted to ask the General Assembly to repeal the interim crab license set to expire October 1, 2000 and expand the crab fishery to anyone holding a Standard Commercial Fishing License.

As part of the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan the MFC had been considering controlling the number of crab pots a fisherman could use or continue limiting the number of fishermen who pot for crabs. During the last decade, crabbing has been the state's fastest growing and most lucrative fishery, bringing in $40.5 million in 1998.

After two years of intense public debate the MFC decided the fishery could sustain new entrants and limits were not needed on the number of crab pots individual fishermen could use. The panel did decide to ask the General Assembly to restrict fishermen from assigning their crabbing privileges to individuals who do not have a fishing license, eliminating the potential for fleet operations, which compete with individual fishermen. The MFC also decided to continue examining ways to avoid conflict issues in the crab pot fishery, such as crab pots set in navigation channels.

“The MFC has taken extraordinary efforts to get public input on how to manage effort in N.C.'s most important commercial fishery, the blue crab fishery,” explained MFC Chairman Jimmy Johnson. “Considering the current biological data and the tremendous public input received, we felt the current measures contained in the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan are the most responsible actions to take. However, if biological problems do arise with blue crabs, the MFC will respond quickly with appropriate measures,” stressed Johnson.

The MFC received input from over 1,000 people at public meetings regarding managing the state's blue crab fishery. Additionally, five area stakeholder advisory committees were formed to assist the MFC in developing regional management options. The overwhelming opinion of the advisory groups was to open up the crab pot fishery to all fishermen and not to assign pot limits.

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