Though the North Carolina General Assembly has been plenty busy, there was apparently no ?gamefish? bill introduced this week.
The bill would declare ?gamefish? status for three species of fish ? striped bass, red drum, and speckled trout. It was the subject of my blog last week.
The bill would stipulate that the three fish can be caught only by hook-and-line and only by recreational fishermen. The fish would be off limits to commercial fishermen and could not be bought, sold, or traded. They would, therefore, no longer be available to consumers ? in markets or in restaurants.
The Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina, a group that promotes sport fishing interests, pushed to have bills introduced in the General Assembly in 2009 and 2011. Both attempts died in committee.
Stephen Ammons, executive director of CCA of North Carolina, said last week that the group will try again and that he expected a bill to be introduced in the General Assembly this week.
The deadline has now passed for the introduction of most new legislation in the House and Senate.
However, the word on the street is that the move for gamefish status will come as an amendment to a bill already introduced ? perhaps in the Senate and perhaps as an amendment to SB 58.
SB 58 is titled ?An act to provide additional funding for dredging of the state?s shallow-draft inlets.?
The bill would establish a fund for dredging by imposing a fee on the state?s boats that would range from $15 a year for boats under 14 feet in length up to $150 for boats more than 40 feet long.
While fees are never popular, the idea of additional funding for dredging troublesome inlets, such as Hatteras Inlet that saw heavy shoaling after hurricanes Irene and Sandy, is wildly popular. And it comes at a time when federal funds for dredging are shrinking each year.
Maybe you can see where this is going.
Could be that some good old-fashioned political horse-trading is underway.
The gamefish bill is unpopular in most coastal counties. So the thinking goes that if it hasn?t passed as a free-standing bill in the past two legislative sessions, let?s add it as an amendment to a bill that would benefit coastal counties.
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, it?s not too late to cast your vote in an Island Free Press survey of readers on the issue of gamefish status for red drum, striped bass, and speckled trout.
In the past week, 159 readers have weighed in. So far, 85.5 percent of the readers ? 136 of them ? oppose gamefish status while 14.5 percent ? 23 readers ? support it.
And you can contact your legislators to make your views known on gamefish status through the website, www.ncleg.org.
BONNER BRIDGE LAWSUIT
Federal Judge Louise Flanagan of the Eastern District of North Carolina has still not issued a decision in a lawsuit that would stop the plan to replace the Bonner Bridge.
The last filings in the case were made before Thanksgiving, and some observers expected a decision in late January ? then February, then March. And now it?s April
Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Refuge Association, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed suit in July 2011 to stop a plan by the North Carolina Department of Transportation to replace the aging bridge with a parallel span and to bridge several hotspots on Highway 12 through Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge in a phased approach.
Defendants in the lawsuit are NCDOT and the Federal Highway Administration. Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative has been allowed to join the suit as defendant-intervenors who claim that a longer bridge or access to the island only by ferry would be extremely costly to the cooperative and its members.
Most expect Flanagan to issue a summary judgment for one side or the other based on the administrative history of the project, which has been ongoing for 20 years. But she could take other action, such as scheduling a hearing.
And then there is the issue of whether she will allow work to proceed on the bridge during an appeal. Both sides are expected to appeal if they lose in federal district court.
NCDOT has awarded the contract for the bridge and has most permits in hand, but has said it will not start construction until the judge issues a ruling.
The judge has a daunting task trying to wade through 20 years of studies, studies, and more studies on the Bonner Bridge Replacement.
However, most of us are ready to move forward on the project and are anxiously awaiting word from Flanagan.
DUELING FERRY TOLL BILLS
Ocracokers were pleased on March 28 when legislators ? mostly from coastal areas — introduced companion bills in the North Carolina House and Senate calling for eliminating tolls on all of the state ferries.
Instead, the bill directs the Department of Transportation Ferry Division to raise additional revenues by other means, such as naming rights on ferries and other advertising.
However, less than a week later, Senate transportation leaders filed their own bill to establish tolls on all routes, including the only two that are still toll-free ? the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry and the Knotts Island ferry.
The two are Sens. Kathy Harrington of Gastonia and Bill Rabon of Southport, and they have powerful leadership positions. Harrington co-chairs the Senate Transportation committee, to which SB 660 was assigned, and Rabon is co-chair of the House-Senate Transportation Oversight Committee.
Rabon was quoted in the News & Observer of Raleigh saying ?ferries are an alternative.?
?We can use them or we can drive around?.? he said.
Try telling that to residents of Ocracoke who have no road to ?drive around.?
The only access to the island is by ferry.
The point here is that if there is no highway access to a North Carolina community, residents and visitors should have a toll-free ferry. Think of it as an extension of the highway.
And while the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry is toll free, the ferries between Ocracoke and the mainland have tolls on them that are about to increase significantly.
It seems like a rather clear issue of fairness, and on Hatteras and Ocracoke we hope the folks in Raleigh can get a grip on the reality of the situation before it?s too late.
