RED DRUM ADVISORY COMMITTEE SETS DATE FOR GILL NET DISCUSSION

[NCangler]

MOREHEAD CITY – A Red Drum Advisory Committee to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will discuss bycatch in gill nets when it meets Oct. 2 in Washington.

The meeting is open to the public and will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Washington Regional Office of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington.

A public comment period will be held at the beginning of the meeting.

The committee is assisting the commission with updating a Red Drum Fishery Management Plan, originally adopted in March 2001. The committee plans to vote on preferred recommendations regarding bycatch in gill nets at this meeting.

Recommended changes to the plan will go through an additional public comment period before the commission votes on them next year.

The committee had tentatively scheduled the meeting for Sept. 11, but the date was pushed back to allow N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries staff more time to analyze pertinent data.

The committee also plans to discuss socio-economic data pertaining to the red drum fishery.

For more information, contact Lee Paramore in the division’s Wanchese field office, at (252) 473-5734 or by e-mail at lee.paramore@ncmail.net.