STATE OFFICIALS ENCOURAGE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
IN COASTAL HABITAT PROTECTION PLAN EFFORTS

RALEIGH -- It’s the habitat that keeps B.K. Barringer coming back.

Dozens of times each year, Barringer makes the long trip from his home in Mooresville to the distant beaches of Cape Lookout National Seashore on the North Carolina coast. He comes for the Spanish mackerel in the spring, pompano and flounder in the summer and red drum and speckled trout in the fall. He’s been making those trips for more than 40 years.

“Surf fishing along our beautiful coast has been an important part of my life,” Barringer said. “We need to do all we can to ensure that future generations can experience the joy of catching a big drum or flounder.” 

The North Carolina coast, which lures millions of recreational fishermen like Barringer each year, is home to a tremendous variety of fish and shellfish largely because the state has such a great diversity of natural habitats where those animals feed, spawn and grow. Whether it is a freshwater swamp, a salt marsh, or a mud flat, these habitats all play a vital role in sustaining dozens of important species of fish and shellfish.

But our fish houses are in trouble. They are being compromised by what we do on the land and put in the water. Degrading the habitat jeopardizes the fish and shellfish that rely on them.

Piedmont and western N.C. residents next week can learn about a plan that the state is devising to protect critical marine habitats. The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is sponsoring two public meetings on its Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP. The first is scheduled for July 23 at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. The other is set for the next day for the Mooresville Citizens Center in Mooresville. Both start at 7 p.m. Eight other meetings are planned on the coast later this summer.

 
People who attend the meetings can help shape the plan and the future of the state’s fisheries.

Some people might pass this all off as something for coastal residents to worry about, but not Barringer. He’s the former president and a longtime member of the Davis Island Fishing Foundation, a sports fishing club made up of mostly Piedmont fishermen.

“This isn’t just an issue for coastal residents,” Barringer said. “Anyone who enjoys fishing along our coast or likes a fresh seafood dinner has something at stake here.”

Gov. Mike Easley couldn’t agree more. “North Carolina’s coastal waters are a natural treasure, and we need to protect this valuable resource for our children and future generations to come,” Easley said. “An important step in this ongoing process is the development and implementation of a Coastal Habitat Protection Plan. I encourage North Carolinians to participate and support this key environmental initiative to help protect and enhance our coastal resources.”

Ambitious Goal

State legislators, recognizing the need to protect critical marine habitats, passed the Fisheries Reform Act in 1997. One provision in the law contains the directive to protect and enhance coastal habitats that are critical to coastal fish and shellfish. To achieve that ambitious goal, the law requires the cooperation of the state’s three main regulatory commissions. The Environmental Management, the Coastal Resources, and the Marine Fisheries commissions must work together to prepare and adopt plans that protect and restore these critical habitats and to enact rules to implement the plans. The commissions also must ensure to the maximum extent practicable that they act in a manner consistent with the adopted plans.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries that has been assigned the task of formulating what’s known as the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP. It has been working since 1999 with several other state and federal agencies on the framework of the first plan, a sort of broad-brush examination of the six critical marine habitats coast-wide. Later plans will be more specific, examining those habitats in 11 geographic regions that closely follow coastal watershed boundaries.

What Is a CHPP?

CHPPs will be a rather detailed document that describes the habitats and includes scientific information on their ecological function and importance to marine species. It will also identify the threats to each habitat and recommend needed research and regulatory steps that should be taken to protect and enhance each habitat.

  Drafting the first coast-wide CHPP is now underway. Two representatives of each of the three regulatory commissions sit on an oversight board called the Intercommission Review Committee that will review and modify the draft plan. The public will also have an opportunity to review and comment on the plan at a series of public meetings this summer and again at meetings next year before the commissions adopt the final plan at the end of 2004. All the plans are supposed to be updated every five years.

The CHPP marks a historic turning point, noted Bill Ross, the secretary of DENR. It will require that the state’s environmental commissions act in harmony to preserve and enhance valuable aquatic habitats, he said.

“We all have a stake in the future of the state’s fisheries,” Ross said. “What we do on the land determines what happens in the water. What happens to these habitats affects what happens to the fisheries. Ultimately, environmental programs such as CHPP are related to both our survival and our ability to have economic growth in sustainable ways. I encourage everyone to attend these meetings and give us your suggestions. We’ll put them to work.”

Other meetings will be Tues, July 29, at the Brunswick Electric Membership Corp. in Supply; Wednesday, July 30, at the New Hanover County’s Northeast branch library in Wilmington; Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Dixon High School in Holly Ridge; Wednesday, Aug. 13, at East Carteret High School near Beaufort; Tuesday, Aug. 19, at the N.C. Aquarium in Manteo; Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the Town Council Chambers in Edenton; Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the N.C. Estuarium in Washington, N.C.; and Wednesday, Sept. 10, at Pamlico County High School in Bayboro.

 People can also visit the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Web site at www.ncfisheries.net/habitat/chpp1.htm or fill out the form in the publication to be put on the CHPP’s mailing list. If you are a member of a group, you may even be able to get a copy of a video to show other members.

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