N.C. Environmental Commissions Review Historic Coastal Habitat Protection Plan At Joint Meeting In Raleigh N.C. Environmental Commissions Review Historic Coastal Habitat Protection Plan At Joint Meeting In Raleigh
RALEIGH – Members of North Carolina’s three main environmental commissions met Thursday to review and discuss a historic plan designed to change the way the state protects special places along the coast that are critical to the survival of flounder, oysters, red drum and other marine creatures.
“This is an important day in North Carolina’s efforts to manage its natural resources,” said Bill Ross, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, before presenting the proposed Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, to the Environmental Management, Coastal Resources and Marine Fisheries commissions.
Required by the Fisheries Reform Act passed by the N.C. General Assembly in 1997 as a way to recover slumping fish stocks, the draft CHPP describes critical habitats where marine fish and shellfish feed, spawn and grow. It also details the threats to those habitats and outlines four broad goals that need to be reached in order to protect and enhance each habitat. A committee comprised of members from each of the three commissions guided the drafters of the CHPP.
The legislation also directed, for the first time, the three commissions to cooperate to carry out the goals outlined in the plan.
To start that process, members met in a rare joint session yesterday to formally receive the draft plan from the state agencies that wrote it. The plan has been the subject of 20 public meetings across the state during the past two years. The three commissions have until the end of the year to adopt the plan and then must devise coordinated strategies to meet its goals.
The panels have their work cut out for them, Ross noted. “My message is we the people of North Carolina have a problem and you – the commissions, we who work with the agencies and everyone who lives in, works in and recreates in North Carolina – are a crucial part of the solution.”
Mike Street, chief of the Habitat Protection Section of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, detailed some of those problems. The draft CHPP, he told the commission members, describes six types of critical marine habitats – the water, wetlands, underwater sea grasses, and water bottoms made up of shell, mud, sand or rock. Many types of fish and shellfish rely on more than one type of habitat during their lifetimes.
Some of the habitats have been severely stressed, with dire consequences for the creatures that depend on them, according to Street. Oysters, for instance, need water bottoms made of shell, usually of other oyster shells. But oyster dredging more than 100 years ago decimated many of the state’s shell bottoms, and oyster harvests have been in a slow decline since. The commercial catch is now at historic lows.
Stormwater runoff contains sediment that clouds the water, affecting the growth of underwater grasses that are crucial to the survival of bay scallops and the young of many fish species, Street explained. The runoff can also contain bacteria, he said, making oysters and clams unsafe to eat. Some fishing practices, such as mechanical oyster dredging, can dig up sea grass beds and create clouds of turbidity.
To protect and enhance those habitats, the draft CHPP includes a set of broad goals with specific recommendations related to each goal. The four broad goals are to:
Improve the effectiveness of existing rules and programs protecting coastal fish habitats.
Identify, designate and protect Strategic Habitat Areas.
Enhance and protect important habitats.
Enhance and protect water quality.
Barbara Garrity-Blake, a member of the Marine Fisheries Commission, chaired the Intercomission Review Committee that fashioned the goals and recommendations. Improving the effectiveness of existing rules, she said, was the major concern of the people who attended the public meetings, and the Strategic Habitat Areas are those “super habitats” that deserve particular attention.
“That goal recognizes that, though all fish habitats are important, there are some areas that are especially important,” Garrity-Blake said. “So let’s concentrate on those areas.”
Reaching those goals won’t always require new rules, Ross said. He offered the commission members a far-ranging list of suggested steps his department could take that require no new rules. Coordinating enforcement among the department’s agencies, issuing an annual report on the status of the CHPP, mapping underwater grass beds and oyster shell bottoms, and working to better educate the public about the importance of fish habitats are just some of those steps.
“If there is a problem, a threat, we can do something about it now,” he said. “We thought this is a way to get the ball rolling.”
“The three commissions will probably adopt the goals outlined in the draft CHPP,” said Dr. David Moreau, chairman of the Environmental Management Commission. “I really haven’t heard any negative comments about it,” he said.
The commissions are required to adopt a final version of the plan by Dec. 31.
The trick will be turning the enthusiasm generated yesterday into a working plan that protects those special places, said Jimmy Johnson, chairman of the Marine Fisheries Commission.
“This is a tremendous opportunity,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to build on the momentum over the next three months and take the steps to make this work.”
To learn more about the CHPP or to download a copy of the plan, visit www.ncfisheries.net, or call the Division of Marine Fisheries at (252) 726-7021 or (800) 682-2632.
RALEIGH – Members of North Carolina’s three main environmental commissions met Thursday to review and discuss a historic plan designed to change the way the state protects special places along the coast that are critical to the survival of flounder, oysters, red drum and other marine creatures.
“This is an important day in North Carolina’s efforts to manage its natural resources,” said Bill Ross, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, before presenting the proposed Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, to the Environmental Management, Coastal Resources and Marine Fisheries commissions.
Required by the Fisheries Reform Act passed by the N.C. General Assembly in 1997 as a way to recover slumping fish stocks, the draft CHPP describes critical habitats where marine fish and shellfish feed, spawn and grow. It also details the threats to those habitats and outlines four broad goals that need to be reached in order to protect and enhance each habitat. A committee comprised of members from each of the three commissions guided the drafters of the CHPP.
The legislation also directed, for the first time, the three commissions to cooperate to carry out the goals outlined in the plan.
To start that process, members met in a rare joint session yesterday to formally receive the draft plan from the state agencies that wrote it. The plan has been the subject of 20 public meetings across the state during the past two years. The three commissions have until the end of the year to adopt the plan and then must devise coordinated strategies to meet its goals.
The panels have their work cut out for them, Ross noted. “My message is we the people of North Carolina have a problem and you – the commissions, we who work with the agencies and everyone who lives in, works in and recreates in North Carolina – are a crucial part of the solution.”
Mike Street, chief of the Habitat Protection Section of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, detailed some of those problems. The draft CHPP, he told the commission members, describes six types of critical marine habitats – the water, wetlands, underwater sea grasses, and water bottoms made up of shell, mud, sand or rock. Many types of fish and shellfish rely on more than one type of habitat during their lifetimes.
Some of the habitats have been severely stressed, with dire consequences for the creatures that depend on them, according to Street. Oysters, for instance, need water bottoms made of shell, usually of other oyster shells. But oyster dredging more than 100 years ago decimated many of the state’s shell bottoms, and oyster harvests have been in a slow decline since. The commercial catch is now at historic lows.
Stormwater runoff contains sediment that clouds the water, affecting the growth of underwater grasses that are crucial to the survival of bay scallops and the young of many fish species, Street explained. The runoff can also contain bacteria, he said, making oysters and clams unsafe to eat. Some fishing practices, such as mechanical oyster dredging, can dig up sea grass beds and create clouds of turbidity.
To protect and enhance those habitats, the draft CHPP includes a set of broad goals with specific recommendations related to each goal. The four broad goals are to:
Improve the effectiveness of existing rules and programs protecting coastal fish habitats.
Identify, designate and protect Strategic Habitat Areas.
Enhance and protect important habitats.
Enhance and protect water quality.
Barbara Garrity-Blake, a member of the Marine Fisheries Commission, chaired the Intercomission Review Committee that fashioned the goals and recommendations. Improving the effectiveness of existing rules, she said, was the major concern of the people who attended the public meetings, and the Strategic Habitat Areas are those “super habitats” that deserve particular attention.
“That goal recognizes that, though all fish habitats are important, there are some areas that are especially important,” Garrity-Blake said. “So let’s concentrate on those areas.”
Reaching those goals won’t always require new rules, Ross said. He offered the commission members a far-ranging list of suggested steps his department could take that require no new rules. Coordinating enforcement among the department’s agencies, issuing an annual report on the status of the CHPP, mapping underwater grass beds and oyster shell bottoms, and working to better educate the public about the importance of fish habitats are just some of those steps.
“If there is a problem, a threat, we can do something about it now,” he said. “We thought this is a way to get the ball rolling.”
“The three commissions will probably adopt the goals outlined in the draft CHPP,” said Dr. David Moreau, chairman of the Environmental Management Commission. “I really haven’t heard any negative comments about it,” he said.
The commissions are required to adopt a final version of the plan by Dec. 31.
The trick will be turning the enthusiasm generated yesterday into a working plan that protects those special places, said Jimmy Johnson, chairman of the Marine Fisheries Commission.
“This is a tremendous opportunity,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to build on the momentum over the next three months and take the steps to make this work.”
To learn more about the CHPP or to download a copy of the plan, visit www.ncfisheries.net, or call the Division of Marine Fisheries at (252) 726-7021 or (800) 682-2632.
