Flounder matter smells fishy | Eastern North Carolina Now

    When I was a boy we could walk out on the shore of our Neuse River summer home, cast out a line on a rod and reel and catch enough good-sized Croakers for supper in about an hour. Many an afternoon was spent "crabbing." We would tie a fish head on a string, weighting it down with several nails or a lead sinker, throw it in the river and before long a Blue crab would be tugging on your line. Using a pole net we could usually catch enough for momma to make a delicious crab stew.

    Those "good old days" are long gone for reasons including topsoil runoff, sewerage spills and pollution, but chief among them is the overfishing of our waters by commercial fishermen. On some occasions we have counted as many as six commercial trawlers within our vista hauling up most anything that lives. Crab pots are so thick along our shoreline it is difficult for boaters to dodge the floaters marking them. Commercial crabbers show little respect for those who want to swim or operate sailboats, kayaks or motorboats, as they place their pots within yards of docks or the shoreline and threaten to report anyone who moves them. There's a hefty fine assessed if caught.

    Commercial fishermen are important. They employ many, provide food for us and make a significant contribution to our economy. Gas, insurance, labor and shipping costs have risen more dramatically than prices for their catch; their solution has often been larger boats, bigger nets and more time spent dragging those nets. You don't have to be a scientist to know supplies have dwindled. Commercial fishermen have lobbyists and make hefty political contributions, so they have pretty much gotten their way in the establishment and enforcement of rules that might slow down the depletion and allow supplies to be replenished.

    Look at what's happening right now with Flounder. The Marine Fisheries Commission within the Department of Environment and Natural Resources proposed a new "supplement," a move to allow changes to the Flounder Management Plan to be made more quickly, until the next review and plan amendment could be undertaken. Commercial fishermen believed this supplement would result in restrictions and wanted to stop the action. Representative Bob Steinburg from Edenton interrupted the MFC meeting on the matter and issued a thinly veiled threat that the legislature would override the action if the commission passed it. He and 12 other coastal legislators wrote a forceful letter to DENR Secretary Donald van der Vaart suggesting no action be taken. The appointed commission complied.

    After successfully disrupting the meeting, Steinburg was caught on tape in the hallway saying the public's opinion on fisheries issues doesn't matter. What matters, he asserted, is fairness to the commercial fishing industry. This screams of pay-to-play politics.

    Recreational anglers don't have the powerful lobbyists or make large contributions to politicians so their voices are not heard, even though it has been demonstrated they provide more economic impact to our economy than commercial fishermen.

    Can we agree there should be room for both the commercial and sport fishing enthusiasts to co-exist? But the playing field needs to be leveled to be fair to both. What's going on now smells fishy.

    Publisher's note: Tom Campbell is former assistant North Carolina State Treasurer and is creator/host of NC SPIN, a weekly statewide television discussion of NC issues airing Sundays at 11:00 am on WITN-TV. Contact Tom at NC Spin.