Catching grief in troubled waters.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CAPITALGOODS - Editorial

A few years back, a couple of commercial fishermen would regularly call me to lodge complaints about my take on their ongoing feud with recreational anglers. I would listen patiently to their gripes before replying, "You know far more about the fishery than I ever will, but I may know a little more about political power. You better wake up to the reality that Marc Basnight won't always be in power."

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That day has dawned. Basnight, the political powerhouse from coastal Dare County and state Senate leader for longer than two decades, finally quit the legislature in 2010 after his Democrats lost their majority. Even before then, commercial-fishing interests in the state had become disaffected with their longtime champion. Maybe it was because he couldn't protect them from every crashing wave of regulatory discomfort. Or perhaps they were unhappy that be hadn't been able to gut and fillet the creation of a saltwater recreational fishing license.

Commercial fishing in North Carolina faces a lot of uncertainty these days, and it does so without a dedicated champion in the legislature, at least not one with the power Basnight used to wield. Commercial fishermen are coping with declining fish populations, increased regulation and overseas competition. As some fish populations have declined, the tussle between the industry and recreational groups has intensified, with more and better organized advocates pushing for carveouts for the hook-and-line fishermen. The commercial-fishing industry isn't big, and it isn't getting any bigger.

Just in the past few years, commercial fishermen have seen new limits on wreck fish--the groupers and snappers that congregate around offshore wrecks--including entire sections closed. When federal regulators took a look at gill nets in the Pamlico Sound, they discovered more turtle deaths than were being reported. A lawsuit followed, then came new restrictions on gill nets. Fisheries officials have also been scrutinizing shrimp trawling in the state's massive sounds and estuaries because of "bycatch," juvenile finfish killed in nets.

Recreational-fishing advocates such as the Houston-based Coastal Conservation Association and the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group in this state have started beating the drum for further restrictions. Two years ago, they persuaded a House...