Fight over Flounder far from over

by Cammie Bellamy, Wilmington Star-News, December 10, 2015.

In early December, the meeting hall of the Carolina Beach American Legion was crowded with sport fishermen from throughout Southeastern North Carolina.

Members of the N.C. Recreational Fishing Alliance lined the walls to hear about the new flounder fishing restrictions they'll have to abide by. Chuck Laughridge of the state Marine Fisheries Commission -- the group that had approved the restrictions just two weeks prior -- explained that 2016's flounder season would close for the fishermen in mid-autumn. Most in the audience seemed to feel that the state had taken a step forward in protecting flounder, which they fear has been dangerously overfished.

But the waters are far from calm for commercial flounder fishermen.

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has an active inquiry into threats made against one commission member. And as Louis Daniel, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, prepares to institute the commission's rules before the new year, some are weighing legal action -- or hoping the legislature will intervene.

"It's put the industry into a tailspin," said Jerry Schill, president of the N.C. Fisheries Association, a commercial fishermen's group. "This is, in my opinion, the biggest economic issue facing commercial fishermen. It's the largest fin-fish fishery in the state and it's pretty much shut it down."

Impacts and an inquiry

Among the restrictions is a rule that will require fishermen to take anchored, large-mesh gill nets -- used by the commercial industry -- out of the water between Oct. 16 and Dec. 31. But state rules to protect sea turtles often close the gill net season during parts of the summer; flounder are generally too small to be caught by the nets in the spring.

"It's not a net ban, but it's a de facto net ban," Schill said.

The rules were drafted as a supplement to the state's flounder fishery management plan -- a measure meant to quickly help declining species without the division having to use a lengthy amendment process. Fred Scharf, a professor and fisheries expert at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said he thinks it would have been more logical for the commission to mandate summer net closures, then let the division look at more comprehensive fixes in an amendment.

Schill said his group is researching how the rules will specifically impact fishermen before members decide on whether to file a lawsuit.

At the same time, the SBI is looking into threats of violence made against a commission member on social media. The threats were reportedly made on the same Facebook page on which a different poster directed a racially charged comment at former commissioner Keith Rhodes weeks ago. Rhodes, a Wilmington chef, resigned his seat on the commission following the vote.

SBI spokesman Shannon O'Toole said the bureau had spoken with family members of the man who made the threatening posts; the poster was reportedly fishing at sea at the time.

"The threats are very veiled; there's nothing specific," O'Toole said. "At this point there is no active investigation, but there is an inquiry and we're looking into it."

A new year for flounder

Fisheries director Daniel said his focus now is putting the rules into place. By the commission's February meeting, his division also has to determine what the 2016 quota will be for flounder caught by pound nets. He said the rules will likely stand through 2016 and 2017, after which the division may start the amendment process.

The flounder fight caught the attention of several state legislators this summer, some of whom said publicly at commission meetings they were worried how restrictions might hurt the commercial industry. Daniel said he has not been contacted by any legislators or Gov. Pat McCrory's office since the vote

Schill said he spoke with some legislators about flounder at a recent reception, but that he has not been contacted directly about the issue by anyone in state government since the vote. Still, he said it's possible that legislators could get involved with flounder during the 2016 session.

"I think you can plan on that," Schill said.

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