N.C. fishing industry feels strain from reduced harvests

By Connie Sage

For the fifth year, North Carolina's harvest of fin fish and shellfish fell, a decline that commercial fishermen blame on tightened regulations, higher fuel prices and an increase in imported seafood.

Commercial fishing landings dropped by nearly 6 million pounds, from 68.8 million pounds in 2006 to 63 million pounds in 2007, according to the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

The value of the landings grew by 17 percent, from $70 million to $82 million.

"It's a combination of things, most importantly the regulatory burden and the cost of doing business," said Sean McKeon, president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association.

"Species aren't declining - the fishermen are declining," he said. "In the last six to seven years we've lost about one-third of our fish houses," and the declining number of commercial fishermen are "hanging on by a thread."

There were 8,683 licensed commercial fishermen in North Carolina last year - 1,029 fewer than in 2002, according to state records.

Fishermen made nearly 156,000 fishing trips last year, compared with nearly 193,000 trips five years earlier, about a 20 percent drop.

"I don't see things loosening up," said David Taylor, chief of the fisheries management section for the Division of Marine Fisheries. The agency collects data on commercial fishery landings, as well as "effort" statistics - the frequency fishermen go out and how much fish they catch.

Imports, especially foreign shrimp and crab, and fuel prices that began climbing last year are driving down effort, Taylor said.

"People can't make enough money, so they're getting out" of the business, he said.

The state is responsible for fish management up to three miles offshore and is then bound by federal restrictions.

"The National Marine Fisheries Service is clamping down on a whole lot of fisheries and regulations," Taylor said, including certain species of snapper and grouper.

There is more summer flounder in North Carolina this year, for example, yet quotas are at an all-time low, said McKeon, whose organization has represented the state's commercial fishing industry for more than a half century.

"It makes no sense," he said.

Mikey Daniels, who owns Wanchese Fish Co. with his 14 brothers and sisters, blamed the federal government for continually cutting flounder quotas.

"Every year it's less and less and less," he said.

North Carolina is the only state that requires commercial fishermen to use a "turtle shooter," a 4-inch hole in the net that allows turtles that are netted with flounder to escape, he said.

"If a 6 -to-8 -pound flounder turns sideways, he opens the shooter and goes out the net" and the catch is even lower, Daniels said.

And with fuel prices shooting up, McKeon said, "a lot of people are tied to the dock." Those who do fish go to a specific area and come back in without searching for other possible schools of fish, he said.

"Nobody can afford to look for fish," he said.

Alan Bianchi, with the state fisheries division, said, "Overall, the trend is decreasing" in the amount of fish harvested.

The top five seafood species landed by commercial fishermen in North Carolina last year were blue crabs, shrimp, croaker, summer flounder and bluefish. Croaker, bluefish, spot and gray trout hauls dropped for the third straight year.

There were hot spots, however, Bianchi said.

Commercial fishermen caught more shrimp, scallops, dolphin, red grouper and vermilion snapper or "beeliners" last year, and in some cases doubled the amount of money they received from seafood dealers or processors.

However, it isn't enough for long time fishermen such as Daniels, who said business is down.

"We don't want money. We don't want fuel. We just want to catch fish," Daniels said. "They're shoving everybody to imported fish. Once you lose your market, what's going to happen?"