January 24, 2014 — ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. — Local watermen want to be able to put their black sea bass pots back in the water during the winter.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, one of the interstate fishery management bodies with jurisdiction in the federal waters off North Carolina, held a hearing and scoping meeting for the public Wednesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. It was about several proposed amendments to fishery management plans. One of these is Amendment 16 to the Snapper-Grouper FMP for the South Atlantic region, which includes North Carolina.
This amendment, which was up for public scoping, includes options to reduce or eliminate the current Nov. 1 – April 30 black sea bass pot prohibition, which was adopted Oct. 23, 2013.
The prohibition was adopted to remove the pots from the waters to avoid entanglements during the calving season for endangered right whales, which are frequently seen off the coast of North Carolina.
Dr. Michelle Duval, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries representative on the SAFMC, and Jack Cox, another representative and owner of Blue Ocean Market in Morehead City, took the public’s comments at the hearing.
Dr. Duval said during a presentation on the proposed amendments that there has been no recorded interaction between right whales and black sea bass pots.
“There’s no evidence this kind of closure is warranted,” she said.
Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times