A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROtECT STRIPED BASS IN THE CENTRAL SOUTHERN MANAGEMENT AREA.
Whereas, the General Assembly recognizes the need to protect our coastal fishery resources through proper management based upon the best available science; and
Whereas, the General Assembly also recognizes the importance of providing plentiful fishery resources to maintain and enhance the quality of life for North Carolina citizens and to foster economic benefits to the State and local communities from commercial and recreational fishing; and
Whereas, research conducted and data gathered by the Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) and the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) show that over 85% of striped bass in the Central Southern Management Area (CSMA) are hatchery produced fish that are stocked annually; and
Whereas, WRC's objective in stocking striped bass has been and continues to be the rebuilding of spawning runs to the extent that further stocking becomes unnecessary; and
Whereas, reestablishing a strong spawning population has been unsuccessful due in large part to excessive harvest and cryptic mortality, hook and net mortality, and illegal harvest of stocked fish; and
Whereas, the commercial striped bass harvest in the CSMA, which is capped at 25,000 pounds annually, is only 15% of the total yearly striped bass harvest taken from all internal coastal waters in North Carolina, with the remaining 85% coming from the Albemarle Sound Management Area; and
Whereas, records of the DMF show the annual value of the commercial striped bass harvest from the CSMA to the 168 commercial fishermen participating in the harvest averages about $68,600 or about $408 per fisherman while the cost of stocking striped bass that make up the harvest is around $600,000 per year; and
Whereas, the General Assembly recognizes the importance of reestablishing a naturally spawning, sustainable striped bass population in the CSMA; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 113‑183 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(c)	Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) taken in the striped bass Central Southern Management Area as delineated by the Wildlife Resources Commission and the Division of Marine Fisheries (CSMA) shall not be possessed unless taken with hook and line, and no striped bass taken in the CSMA shall be (i) bought, sold, bartered, or exchanged or (ii) possessed or transported for the purpose of purchase, sale, barter, exchange, or shipment in commerce within the State or for export from the State, except for the following:
(1)	Striped bass taken lawfully by legal commercial methods in areas of open commercial season for striped bass outside the CSMA may be purchased and sold, possessed, and transported for commerce within the State and for export by licensed fish dealers within the CSMA.
(2)	Restaurants within the CSMA may purchase, possess, and sell striped bass prepared for their customers that are taken legally outside the CSMA during established commercial striped bass seasons or grown in licensed aquaculture facilities.
(3)	Striped bass raised in fish hatcheries in licensed aquaculture facilities within the CSMA may be bought and sold, possessed, transferred, and transported for commerce within the State and for export."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2017, and shall expire upon completion and implementation of the revision to the Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan scheduled to begin in 2018. The Division of Marine Fisheries shall notify the Codifier of Statutes of the effective date of the Plan upon its adoption.