The commissioners of MFC said that limited access privilege programmes (LAPPs) are not used to manage North Carolina fisheries but it should be affected for the harvest limits, trip limits, seasons, size limits and gear restrictions which are presently in the management toolbox.
In limited access privilege programmes the total yearly harvest quota is divided into shares that are assigned to qualifying fishermen. In this sense the fishermen can either fish the shares, or sell or trade them to other fishermen. And the size of shares the fishermen receives is usually determined by past catches. But state fisheries officials informed there are other criteria that could be used.
Scott Crosson, socioeconomics programme manager with the North Carolina Divisions of Marine Fisheries (DMF), said that it is very difficult to decide the standards of initial quota shares. To explain this Crosson shows his presentation on how participation in the king mackerel, striped bass, and southern flounder fisheries might change under limited access programs.
Crosson also added that there are fish dealers in the southern coastal area who depends on the sale of fish caught by non-permitted fishermen. He explained that the MFC could restrict participation to permitted fishermen without legislative approval. He also considered the result of a limited access privilege programme for the ocean striped bass fishery.
Crosson informed that a large number of fishermen would get quota shares initially. It means that a LAPP could eliminate the derby-style fishing that has characterized the fishing industry and could prevent overages by gear sectors. He said that bycatch could also become a huge problem.
