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Recreational Fishing Group Seeks Ban On Shrimping Device

A recreational fishing group wants the Marine Fisheries Commission to ban a device some commercial fishermen use to catch shrimp.

Gurnal Scott: The device is called an 'otter trawl' but it's not what you think. It's a net used to sweep the ocean floor to catch shrimp. Joe Albea with the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group says those traps kill small fish

Joe Albea: There is gear that can harvest the shrimp. We just have to do what the other states and the Gulf and Florida have done. They've regulated some of that gear off their beaches.

There are commercial fishermen who disagree with Albea. They say the damage is minimal at best. The Marine Fisheries Commission will hold public hearings on the matter. Commission member Louis Daniel says after that..the commission has a big decision to make.

Louis Daniel: Where do I draw the line at where is the problem that merits closing a fishery down.

Daniel says hearing directly from those whose lives are affected will guide their decision.

Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
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