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Marine Fisheries suspends rule
to protect juvenile red drum

committee wants to develop an alternative to the gill-net attendance requirement that would protect juvenile drum.
The committee recommended and the Marine Fisheries Commission concurred that Pate take the uncommon step of suspending the attendance requirement rule while a new plan is devised. He did so on May 2.
It is highly irregular for the director of the Division of Marine Fisheries to suspend a commission rule, but the division said it was the only way the agency could respond to the fishermen's fears in a timely manner. Under a law passed by the N.C. General Assembly last year, the Marine Fisheries Commission must take any proposed rule change before all four of its regional advisory committees before taking any final action. This delay, the division said, would have eliminated the float gill net fishery for bluefish and Spanish mackerel, which occurs in spring and early summer, because the rule change could not have made it through all of the administrative hurdles until the July or September commission meeting.
Gill nets will have to be attended in the following areas that  have high concentrations of juvenile red drum: all primary and secondary nursery areas within 200 yards of any shoreline, all current and modified "No Trawl" areas and the upper portions of the Pamlico, Pungo, Neuse and Trent rivers.

The following red drum restrictions are still in effect:
Size Restrictions - Prohibit the possession or sale of red drum larger than 27 inches.   
Bag Limits - Reduce the recreational bag limit to one fish per day between the sizes of 18-27 inches. 

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Because of  complaints from commercial fishermen, Preston Pate, the director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries took the unusual step in May of suspending a Marine Fisheries Commission rule that attempted to protect juvenile red drum by requiring commercial fishermen to attend small-mesh gill nets in coastal waters.
Responding to the alarming decline in drum stock, the commission, which sets all state saltwater fishing regulations, passed preventative temporary measures last fall as part of a management plan. One of those measures was a requirement to attend gill nets less than five-inch stretched mesh from May 1-Oct. 31 of each year in coastal waters. That meant that fishermen must stay within 100 yards of the net at all times. This requirement was intended to improve the survival of undersized red drum by having fishermen release the captured fish immediately after they are caught in the net.
Commercial fisherman started complaining loudly, however. When they holler jump, our state fisheries folks usually ask how high. Commercial fishermen complained that the attendance requirement will effect fishing activities that don't threathen red drum, including the summer float gill net fishery for bluefish and Spanish mackerel and the fall set net fisheries for spot and striped mullet.
Those complaints sent the commission's Red Drum Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee back to the drawing board. Made up of commercial fishermen, recreational anglers and scientists, the

Complaints of commercial fishermen forced suspension of the rule that was passed last year.