Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/5/2007
Posts: 182
Location: Emerald Isle, NC
|
County Worried About Federal Designation
BY BEN HOGWOOD
NEWS-TIMES
BEAUFORT — County officials are nervous a new federal designation proposed for Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras would strike at a key organ of the Down East economy.
The County Board of Commissioners passed Thursday a resolution opposing the inclusion of Cape Lookout National Seashore and Cape Hatteras National Seashore into a National Marine Protected Area (MPA). The resolution came during a special meeting, held in the county administration building, and came at the behest of the County Marine Fisheries Advisory Board. Commissioner Jonathan Robinson made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Pat Joyce. It passed unanimously. MPAs are areas of marine environment reserved by federal, state, tribal, territorial or local laws and regulations to provide lasting protection for part or all of the natural and cultural resources in them. They are given greater protection than the surrounding waters.
The fear on the side of the county is that in doing this, residents and tourists alike would be further restricted from fishing and hunting in those areas. That could well impact businesses, particularly those on Harkers Island, catering to fishermen and hunters going over to Cape Lookout. The resolution states inclusion of the two national seashores would be “devastating to the commercial and recreational fishing industry of Carteret Count and Coastal North Carolina.” “The economic impact could be severe to all those in the tourism industry,” particularly Down East, said Commissioner Robinson. “It’s not in our best interest, it’s not in the county’s best interest and it probably isn’t best for the national sea shore,” he said.
Commissioner Wade Nelms said that if it went through, the parks could deny access at certain periods of time – a particular concern for an area dependent on tourism.
“You don’t have to be a recreational or commercial fisherman to have concerns with this proposal,” Commissioner Nelms said. However, a spokesman for the National Park Service at Cape Lookout National Seashore said the designation does not establish any new regulations at the cape. In fact, said Wouter Ketel,
the Cape Lookout National Seashore management assistant, the cape is already considered an MPA and the nomination, if accepted, would only incorporate the seashore into the larger national system for planning support purposes. The nomination is a national recognition of those areas that are already protected in other ways, Mr. Ketel said. The designation brings those protections under one umbrella. “People locally may not realize how special this area is to the world,” he said. “That’s what those recognitions attempt to do.”
But two Down East business owners that attended the county’s meeting were certain that if the nomination went through, they would be impacted. Ron Loftis is the owner of two RV parks Down East: Cape Lookout RV Park on Harkers Island and Leffers Landing in Straits. He said he believes the designation of Cape Lookout as an MPA would destroy his business. “If they close it down (to fishing and hunting), they close
me down,” Mr. Loftis said. Steve Lancaster, owner of Captain’s Choice Restaurant on Harkers Island, said he might as well sell his business should this go through. Hunters and fishermen, he said, make up the bulk of his business during the off-season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is accepting public comments through Feb. 22 on the proposed MPA designation. Those interested in providing comments by e-mail can do so by going to mpa.comments.noaa
|
