Source: NCDEQ, 5/21/21 The
N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted on Thursday to take Draft Shrimp Fishery Management Plan Amendment 2 out for public comment
and advisory committee review. The draft amendment focuses on reducing bycatch of non-target
species and minimizing habitat impacts. It includes a suite of options ranging
broadly from status quo to a complete closure of all inside waters, including
Pamlico Sound, to shrimp trawling.
The Division of Marine Fisheries will announce the public comment period and
advisory committee meetings by news release in the next couple of weeks.
Also, the Marine Fisheries Commission received an update on southern flounder.
Division Director Kathy Rawls reviewed the updated timeline for Amendment 3 to
the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan. Following the amended allocation
decision by the commission at their March special meeting the revised draft
Amendment 3 is scheduled to be reviewed and potentially approved for public and
advisory committee review in November. As a result, the seasonal management
adopted under Amendment 2 will continue through 2021.
Rawls told the commission the division plans to shorten the
commercial and recreational flounder seasons for 2021 because flounder harvest
in both sectors in 2019 and 2020 did not meet the reductions approved in the
Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 2. The division will announce the shortened seasons by news release
soon so that flounder fishermen can make plans. In other business, the commission voted to: =
Send
a letter to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council expressing its
support for maintaining the dolphin for-hire bag limit at 60 fish per vessel
and 10 fish per person, using regional bag limits if needed for North Carolina
for-hire vessels. =
Approve
notice of text to begin the rulemaking process for readopting a slate of
rules under a state-mandated periodic
review schedule. =
Approve
notice of text to begin the rulemaking process for rules to prohibit repacking
of foreign crab meat in North Carolina. =
Develop rules to require that any repacked crab
meat container used for sale in the State of North Carolina that does not
contain 100% domestic crab meat must have a country of origin statement in
bolded 18-point type or larger permanently printed on the lid and on two sides
of the cup, and that a checkoff panel or stamped country of origin not be
allowed.
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