Bill May Prohibit Tourists From Sea Shell Hunting
Posted: April 26, 2005 9:54 am
From the New Bern Sun Journal:
http://www.newbernsj.com/SiteProcessor. ... tion=Local
Patricia Smith
Freedom ENC
MOREHEAD CITY, NC - It's a summer ritual at Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Beach-goers come by ferry to a dock near the lighthouse at South Core Banks then take a shuttle service called The Mule Train to the tip of the island, the point.
There they fish, swim, sun and play in the sand.
And they collect seashells.
"They come back with bags and bags of shells," said Matt Butler, officer manager for Lookout Express, which runs the mule train.
Often among those treasures taken from the sea are those prized spiral shells commonly called conchs (even though the ones in North Carolina are technically whelks). They wash up one after the other in the inlet waves that move against the banks. Those with good eyes can catch them easily.
Many of the locals know these conchs are shellfish, Butler said.
While it is not a large fishery, they are commercial whelk harvests in this state.
"As far as the tourists go, they're not real familiar with that," Butler said.
They just think they're pretty seashells.
So, will these shell collectors need a saltwater recreational fishing license when it's required?
That's not the intent, said Rep. Pryor Gibson, D-Wadesboro, who was the primary sponsor of a House bill to amend the fishing license the General Assembly passed last year.
"I think that anybody that's worried about that can be sure that it's not going to be a problem," Gibson said.
He said he would check with legislative researchers about the clarity of the legislation when he gets back to Raleigh this week.
As Gibson's House bill stands now, recreational fishing is defined as "any activity preparatory to, during, or subsequent to the taking of any finfish or shellfish, the taking of which is subject to regulation by the Marine Fisheries Commission, by any means if the purpose of the taking is to obtain finfish or shellfish that are not to be sold."
Some other marine organisms tourists like to collect, such as sand dollars and starfish, would not meet this definition. But conchs and whelks are regulated shellfish, said Preston Pate, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.
Currently, state law allows people to take up to 10 conchs per day for personal use without purchasing a commercial shellfish license. And commercial fishermen are required to report their landings, though the conch is not listed as an important fisheries species in the division's annual stock status report.
An Oyster and Clam Fishery Management Plan, adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission in 2001, detailed the need for a state recreational shellfish license to provide catch statistics for those shellfish. Oyster populations, in particular, are in trouble all along the East Coast and fisheries managers think recreational harvests significantly impact this stock.
But conchs?
"I don't know that there's any great issue with conchs," Pate said.
So legislators might be able to solve the problem by exempting conch harvests from the recreational license requirement, Pate said.
Pate said he would prefer instead that the General Assembly give the Marine Fisheries Commission authority to make exemptions when such situations come up.
http://www.newbernsj.com/SiteProcessor. ... tion=Local
Patricia Smith
Freedom ENC
MOREHEAD CITY, NC - It's a summer ritual at Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Beach-goers come by ferry to a dock near the lighthouse at South Core Banks then take a shuttle service called The Mule Train to the tip of the island, the point.
There they fish, swim, sun and play in the sand.
And they collect seashells.
"They come back with bags and bags of shells," said Matt Butler, officer manager for Lookout Express, which runs the mule train.
Often among those treasures taken from the sea are those prized spiral shells commonly called conchs (even though the ones in North Carolina are technically whelks). They wash up one after the other in the inlet waves that move against the banks. Those with good eyes can catch them easily.
Many of the locals know these conchs are shellfish, Butler said.
While it is not a large fishery, they are commercial whelk harvests in this state.
"As far as the tourists go, they're not real familiar with that," Butler said.
They just think they're pretty seashells.
So, will these shell collectors need a saltwater recreational fishing license when it's required?
That's not the intent, said Rep. Pryor Gibson, D-Wadesboro, who was the primary sponsor of a House bill to amend the fishing license the General Assembly passed last year.
"I think that anybody that's worried about that can be sure that it's not going to be a problem," Gibson said.
He said he would check with legislative researchers about the clarity of the legislation when he gets back to Raleigh this week.
As Gibson's House bill stands now, recreational fishing is defined as "any activity preparatory to, during, or subsequent to the taking of any finfish or shellfish, the taking of which is subject to regulation by the Marine Fisheries Commission, by any means if the purpose of the taking is to obtain finfish or shellfish that are not to be sold."
Some other marine organisms tourists like to collect, such as sand dollars and starfish, would not meet this definition. But conchs and whelks are regulated shellfish, said Preston Pate, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.
Currently, state law allows people to take up to 10 conchs per day for personal use without purchasing a commercial shellfish license. And commercial fishermen are required to report their landings, though the conch is not listed as an important fisheries species in the division's annual stock status report.
An Oyster and Clam Fishery Management Plan, adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission in 2001, detailed the need for a state recreational shellfish license to provide catch statistics for those shellfish. Oyster populations, in particular, are in trouble all along the East Coast and fisheries managers think recreational harvests significantly impact this stock.
But conchs?
"I don't know that there's any great issue with conchs," Pate said.
So legislators might be able to solve the problem by exempting conch harvests from the recreational license requirement, Pate said.
Pate said he would prefer instead that the General Assembly give the Marine Fisheries Commission authority to make exemptions when such situations come up.
