At the 



General 

 Assembly 



In the early months of the 1993 

 session, North Carolina lawmakers 

 did not introduce bills concerning 

 the coastal environment or develop- 

 ment — and some legislators say 

 they don't expect to see any this 

 session. 



However, several 

 fisheries bills have 

 surfaced, the most 

 controversial of which 

 may require that any 

 person selling North 

 Carolina fish have a 

 license. That license, 

 according to early 

 versions of the bill in 

 both the House and 

 Senate, would cost $35 

 for North Carolina 

 residents and $250 for 

 nonresidents. 



Also proposed this 

 session are bills to 

 provide money to 

 continue a shellfish 

 enhancement research 

 program, to fund the 

 support of the N.C. 

 State University 

 Seafood Laboratory and 

 to transfer freshwater aquaculture 

 licensing authority from the Division 

 of Marine Fisheries to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



Fisher 



Fortification 



A decision on another shore- 

 hardening project is expected this 

 year. 



At the same time that it cleared 

 the way for the Oregon Inlet jetties, 



the CRC agreed to allow erosion- 

 control structures to protect historical 

 sites of national significance — in 

 other words, Fort Fisher. 



The Department of Cultural 

 Resources has applied for a permit to 

 build a revetment to protect the fort 

 from the churning Atlantic Ocean. 

 Schecter will make the final decision 

 on that permit, which Coastal 

 Management is reviewing now. 



Scoll D. Taylor 



PRIVATE PROPERTY 

 NO ACCESS 

 1*0 



BEACH 



Access 



Anticipation 



Coastal Management has plans 

 to ask legislators for money to add to 

 the state's Public Beach and Water 

 Access Program, division officials 

 say. But first, the division needs to 

 find a sponsor for the bill. 



Legislators first funded the 

 access program in 1981, largely in 

 response to the access difficulties 

 created by increasing private ocean- 



front development. The program 

 expanded two years later to include 

 estuarine access. 



As of 1992, the division had 

 spent $5.6 million in federal, state 

 and local money to complete more 

 than 135 projects, which provided 

 220 access sites. 



The division wants to continue 

 that expansion and to add riverine 

 access sites to the program, says 

 Jeanette Johnson, 

 division spokes- 

 woman. 



No state money 

 has been allocated for 

 access since 1989. 



Changes 



at the CRC? 

 Not by the 



House 



or the 



Senate. 



The Sierra Club 

 and the N.C. Coastal 

 Federation both had 

 plans to ask legisla- 

 tors to hasten the end 

 of some Coastal 

 Resources Commis- 

 sion (CRC) members' 

 terms by one year 



an attempt to allow Gov. Hunt to 

 place his own members on the 

 commission more quickly than the 

 law currently allows. 



But Hunt apparently didn't 

 favor the proposal, says environ- 

 mental lobbyist Bill Holman. "So 

 we dropped it," he says. 



But Hunt's administration has 

 brought change to the CRC. After 

 chairman Jim Harrington resigned, 

 Hunt appointed member Gene B. 

 Tomlinson of Southport to lead the 

 panel as interim chairman. 



12 MAY/ JUNE 1993 



