County protests fishing limitations

A campaign to promote local seafood and help the troubled commercial fishing industry has been given the go-ahead to start spending a $150,000 grant and develop a logo and Web site.

At the same time, the Dare County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Monday protesting new federal management measures that it said would undermine the effort.

Outer Banks Catch has been under development by several volunteer committees and is set to launch on Memorial Day. With Monday’s action, the Board of Commissioners formally accepted a grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation.

One idea behind Outer Banks Catch is to encourage restaurants to serve locally caught seafood. The hope is that visitors will carry the experience out of the area and spread the word about its quality, and by extension, raise questions about regulations that might limit its availability.

Outer Banks Catch is seen as a tool to boost the ailing local seafood industry, which faces strict government regulations and stiff competition from foreign sources.

The marketing effort includes Dare, Currituck, Hyde and Tyrrell counties.

Commissioner Mike Johnson said that promoting local seafood was in everyone’s interest and contended that the safety of imported seafood was unreliable. He cited a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimate that only 1 percent of imported seafood is inspected at port.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “There’s some nasty stuff out there in the food chain.”

He also took the opportunity to level criticism at the regulatory system in general.

“Science and fisheries management has been hijacked by the environmental community and politics,” said Johnson, who is the board’s representative on the Dare County Commission for Working Watermen.

Besides a logo and Web site, other ideas under discussion include distributing information in vacation rental packets.

The board authorized the county manager to contract with Corder Philips of Charlotte to develop the logo and Web site. One Boat of Manteo was selected as an alternate contractor.

Meanwhile, the Outer Banks catch Executive Committee is finalizing a business plan and will present a detailed budget to the Board of Commissioners at the board’s meeting April 19 or May 3.

The board accepted the grant after passing a resolution protesting new federal regulations on several species of fish caught by commercial fishermen and head boats.

“This would devastate them and put them out of business,” Johnson said.

Species in the measures include speckled hind and warsaw grouper, snowy grouper, blue tilefish, yellowedge grouper, misty grouper, queen snapper and silk snapper. The new management measures under the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan would close federal waters in the South Atlantic from 240 feet deep seaward.

The resolution called for the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to postpone or deny the measures to allow for more study in light of what it called valid objections raised in public hearings.

Measures have been developed to meet a deadline of this year under the reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which requires limits on species considered to be overfished.

The resolution said the new rule would undermine the plan to promote local seafood and “serve only to bolster the market for the imported seafood industry.”

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