Mac Currin: Let MFC do its job

The June 27 Point of View “The dark side to N.C. fishing heritage” on fisheries management was accurate and informative. It is a shame that Sen. Bill Cook and the entire legislature can be pushed by the commercial fishing industry and its lobby (the North Carolina Fisheries Association) to interfere with the Marine Fisheries Commission’s attempt to finally address long-term overfishing in the Southern flounder fishery.

It is a blatantly obvious action to stymie the MFC efforts to implement the much-needed measures and to allow the commercial industry to continue its over-harvest of a public trust resource.

After years of collaborative development, the Fisheries Reform Act (1997) established a process and procedure to manage our state’s marine resources based on sound science, using extensive public input, to develop Fisheries Management Plans – and supplements when quick action is needed – that are supposed to establish and maintain fish populations at sustainable harvest levels.

I might add that in the past (when it suited its self-centered needs), the NCFA stridently argued that the MFC should adhere to the process! Action by the legislature to delay or prohibit much-needed action by the MFC, the body appointed to properly manage our marine fisheries, is equivalent to stealing the state’s resources from its rightful owners, the residents of the state. And I am greatly offended by such action.

This story was originally published July 5, 2015 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Mac Currin: Let MFC do its job."