May 30, 2014 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission turned down the opportunity to open commercial netting of red drum at its meeting last week in Pine Knoll Shores, but it will allow netters to put large-mesh gill nets back in the water on June 1 in areas that haven’t traditionally been home to either reds or endangered sea turtles.
The Commission voted to allow anchored large-mesh gill nets back in the waters of the western Albemarle Sound, Currituck Sound, sections of the Pamlico, Pungo and Neuse Rivers that are exempt from regulations governing incidental take of sea turtles, and the area of the New River upstream from the line where it is closed to shrimp trawling. The nets are primarily set for flounder, and no commercial possession of red drum will be allowed.
Commercial netters caught more than their entire year’s quota in 84 days last fall, and the fishery was closed then until at least Sept. 1. The Commission was bound by regulations at the state and federal level to keep the fishery closed.
“The purpose of this is to let as many fishermen as possible go back to work,” said Joe Shute, who holds a recreational-industry seat on the Commission. “We looked at histories of these areas and examined fish-house reports and tried to open areas that didn’t have a history of catching many red drum.
Read the full story at the North Carolina Sportsman