March 29, 2017 โ In the wake of the N.C. Fisheries Commissionโs approval of a petition putting greater limits on shrimp trawling, the Dare County GOP has written a letter requesting that N.C. GOP Chairman Robin Hayes appear before its executive committee and โprovide relevant information regarding his personal involvement and influence in the 2016 appointment process of members of the North Carolina Fisheries Commission.โ
In its letter to Hayes, dated March 16, the Dare GOP said the commissionโs approval of the petition represented a decision to โignore science and destroy our stateโs shrimping industry,โ and accused Hayes of intervening improperly in the process of selecting commission members.
The letter goes on to say that, if Hayes does not comply with that request to appear before the local party, he should resign his post as state party head.
The Dare County Board of Commissioners has also expressed anger at the Fisheries Commissionโs Feb. 16 decision to adopt the petition from the N.C. Wildlife Federation calling for new regulations on shrimp trawling after five advisory committees had voted to deny the petition.
The petition calls for all inshore waters and the ocean out to three miles to be designated as special secondary nursery areas. It also proposes limiting tow times to 45 minutes and trawling to three days per week in the estuarine waters and four in the ocean during daylight hours.