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
(From the Carteret News-Times, Friday, January 29, 2010)
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