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Martin commissioners want state to lift herring ban
County prepared to sue if necessary
By NIKIE MAYO, News Editor
Martin County commissioners voted Wednesday night to ask the state to lift a moratorium on fishing for river herring, a move that could become the precursor to a lawsuit.
“This is a matter of protecting our heritage. We may have to, and probably will, consider legal action,” Commissioner Mort Hurst said after the resolution received unanimous support.
The Martin County move comes just days before the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture meets to consider the state’s latest rules on herring harvesting. That meeting is set for Jan. 18.
“There hasn’t been any herring fishing in inland or coastal waters in North Carolina lately,” said Commissioner Al Perry in introducing the resolution. “Unless something is done, there won’t be any fishing in the Roanoke River.”
Terry Pratt, a member of the Albemarle Fishermen’s Association, said a moratorium on herring in the area does not take into account cyclical herring-population patterns. He suggested modifying the resolution’s language to reflect that opinion.
“What we’re at right now ... is a natural low point,” he said. “During the Civil War, you could pick up herring with your hands. In the 1930s, you couldn’t buy a herring. In the ’70s, we were run over with them. ... This is a course.”
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission approved a moratorium on river-herring fishing last March, modifying it slightly after an outcry.
“Public input led to the modification of some rules changes, such as the river-herring moratorium,” states a 2006 press release from the commission. “As approved by the commission, the revised rule allows anglers to possess alewife and blueback herring — collectively known as river herring — up to 6 inches long in the inland fishing waters of coastal rivers and their tributaries.”
Robert Curry, chief of inland fisheries for the commission, said the exception allows anglers to continue fishing for striped bass, using herring as bait without affecting migrating stocks of river herring. Adult herring on their spring spawning migrations are typically longer than 6 inches, Curry said, adding that most herring shorter than 6 inches that are caught for bait are taken with cast nets above dams.
“We’re still protecting the river herring in their spawning grounds,” Curry said in the release.
Pratt said keeping such a move in place doesn’t do much good for Martin County.
“Basically that means no adult fish,” he said. “We need the state to allow at least limited harvest. ... If anything, that delays herring recovery two to five years, but it doesn’t stop it.”
Pratt suggested the state should allow at least 100,000 pounds of herring for commercial harvests and 25 fish per person per day for recreational anglers.
“We shouldn’t just sit here and watch and allow this to happen,” Hurst said. “We’re a Tier One (economic-status) county. We need this for our restaurants and our tourists.”
Martin County has been hosting a herring festival for nearly 60 years, he said, a reference to Jamesville’s annual fish festival.
“Having a herring festival and not fishing for herring is like Ayden having a collard festival without collards,” he said. “It doesn’t happen. A lot of people have said we’re swimming upstream with this thing, but we’re gonna keep swimming until something happens.”
By NIKIE MAYO, News Editor
Martin County commissioners voted Wednesday night to ask the state to lift a moratorium on fishing for river herring, a move that could become the precursor to a lawsuit.
“This is a matter of protecting our heritage. We may have to, and probably will, consider legal action,” Commissioner Mort Hurst said after the resolution received unanimous support.
The Martin County move comes just days before the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture meets to consider the state’s latest rules on herring harvesting. That meeting is set for Jan. 18.
“There hasn’t been any herring fishing in inland or coastal waters in North Carolina lately,” said Commissioner Al Perry in introducing the resolution. “Unless something is done, there won’t be any fishing in the Roanoke River.”
Terry Pratt, a member of the Albemarle Fishermen’s Association, said a moratorium on herring in the area does not take into account cyclical herring-population patterns. He suggested modifying the resolution’s language to reflect that opinion.
“What we’re at right now ... is a natural low point,” he said. “During the Civil War, you could pick up herring with your hands. In the 1930s, you couldn’t buy a herring. In the ’70s, we were run over with them. ... This is a course.”
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission approved a moratorium on river-herring fishing last March, modifying it slightly after an outcry.
“Public input led to the modification of some rules changes, such as the river-herring moratorium,” states a 2006 press release from the commission. “As approved by the commission, the revised rule allows anglers to possess alewife and blueback herring — collectively known as river herring — up to 6 inches long in the inland fishing waters of coastal rivers and their tributaries.”
Robert Curry, chief of inland fisheries for the commission, said the exception allows anglers to continue fishing for striped bass, using herring as bait without affecting migrating stocks of river herring. Adult herring on their spring spawning migrations are typically longer than 6 inches, Curry said, adding that most herring shorter than 6 inches that are caught for bait are taken with cast nets above dams.
“We’re still protecting the river herring in their spawning grounds,” Curry said in the release.
Pratt said keeping such a move in place doesn’t do much good for Martin County.
“Basically that means no adult fish,” he said. “We need the state to allow at least limited harvest. ... If anything, that delays herring recovery two to five years, but it doesn’t stop it.”
Pratt suggested the state should allow at least 100,000 pounds of herring for commercial harvests and 25 fish per person per day for recreational anglers.
“We shouldn’t just sit here and watch and allow this to happen,” Hurst said. “We’re a Tier One (economic-status) county. We need this for our restaurants and our tourists.”
Martin County has been hosting a herring festival for nearly 60 years, he said, a reference to Jamesville’s annual fish festival.
“Having a herring festival and not fishing for herring is like Ayden having a collard festival without collards,” he said. “It doesn’t happen. A lot of people have said we’re swimming upstream with this thing, but we’re gonna keep swimming until something happens.”
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tunne rat wrote on Jul 6, 2009 8:55 PM:
that is the biggest propganda word that every came out of butterfields and rino jones mouth in the past hundred years .
just 2 water boys for the obama socalist party , and a hand full of red necks that dont have a clue about whast they are talking about . "