GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

S                                                                                                                                                    D

SENATE DRS55279-SB-20  (03/12)

Short Title:        Improve Success of FMPs.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Senator Vaughan.
Referred to:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to provide that fishery management plans must meet a standard of at least fifty percent probability of achieving the target mortality rate for the fishery or fisheries.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 113-182.1(b) reads as rewritten:

"(b)      The goal of the plans shall be to ensure the long-term viability of the State's commercially and recreationally significant species or fisheries. Each plan shall be designed to reflect fishing practices so that one plan may apply to a specific fishery, while other plans may be based on gear or geographic areas. Each plan shall:

(1)        Contain necessary information pertaining to the fishery or fisheries, including management goals and objectives, status of relevant fish stocks, stock assessments for multiyear species, fishery habitat and water quality considerations consistent with Coastal Habitat Protection Plans adopted pursuant to G.S. 143B-279.8, social and economic impact of the fishery to the State, and user conflicts.

(2)        Recommend management actions pertaining to the fishery or fisheries.

(3)        Include conservation and management measures that will provide the greatest overall benefit to the State, particularly with respect to food production, recreational opportunities, and the protection of marine ecosystems, and that will produce a sustainable harvest.

(4)        Specify a time period, not to exceed 10 years from the date of the adoption of the plan, for ending overfishing and achieving a sustainable harvest. This subdivision shall only apply to a plan for a fishery that is overfished. This subdivision shall not apply to a plan for a fishery where the biology of the fish or environmental conditions make ending overfishing and achieving a sustainable harvest within 10 years impracticable.

(5) Meet a standard of at least fifty percent (50%) probability of achieving the target mortality rate for the fishery or fisheries."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.