A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to prohibit the secretary of environment and natural resources from granting shellfish cultivation leases in a certain part of core sound.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  Notwithstanding G.S. 113‑202, the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources shall not grant shellfish cultivation leases in that part of Core Sound bounded by a line beginning at a point on Cedar Island at 35°00'39"N ‑ 76°17'48"W, thence 109°(M) to a point in Core Sound 35°00'00"N ‑ 76°12'42"W, thence 229°(M) to Marker No. 37 located 0.9 miles off Bells Point at 34°43'30"N ‑ 76°29'00"W, thence 207°(M) to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse at 34°37'24"N ‑ 76°31'30"W, thence 12°(M) to a point at Marshallberg at 34°43'07"N ‑ 76°31'12"W, thence following the shoreline in a northerly direction to the point of beginning except that the highway bridges at Salters Creek, Thorofare Bay, and the Rumley Bay ditch shall be considered shoreline.
SECTION 1.(b)  This act shall not prohibit the renewal or transfer of a shellfish cultivation lease as provided in G.S. 113‑202 in that part of Core Sound to which Section 1 of this act applies if the lease to be renewed or transferred existed prior to July 1, 2003.
SECTION 2.  The Division of Marine Fisheries in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture on or before January 1, 2005, on the implementation of this act.SECTION 3.  Section 1 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2003.  Sections 2 and 3 of this act are effective when the act becomes law.