As per the media report tax break alone cannot cure the troubles of the commercial fishing industry on Harkers Island. The fish houses in this region have been closed for years in Carteret County. The state is trying to ensure that the remaining fish houses don’t face a similar future. For the second year, the state is offering a tax break for the owners of businesses dependent upon the water, like fish houses and piers.
Experts informed that fishing businesses have been an integral part of the county’s culture and economy for years. Now it has been battling a perfect storm of tightening fishing regulations and soaring real estate prices. Fish houses are the middlemen in the seafood business. This is where fishing vessels unload their catch and shrimp are shelled, where the product can be iced down and shipped out to the general public.
It is true that March is typically a slow time for the business, the future doesn’t look too bright. The state is considering new regulations that could close down the flounder fishery. If that happens, the business will lose a chunk of income that, along with shrimp, typically helps it get through the tough winter months. The state’s legislation gave counties the authority to tax working waterfronts, like fish houses and piers, on their present use as a business rather than their real estate value.
The state intervened when it realized fish houses and piers were disappearing at an alarming rate. Enlightening the situation, N.C. Sea Grant, a research and education program, released a study that found 33 percent of the state’s fish houses operating in 2000 were no longer in business in 2006.
