ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION APPROVES COASTAL HABITAT PLAN

RALEIGH – A state plan to protect critical fish habitat has received final approval and can now get a jumpstart from steps the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources is prepared to take to meet some of the plan’s goals.

The state’s Marine Fisheries Commission and Coastal Resources Commission adopted the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan at meetings last week. The Environmental Management Commission, the final environmental regulatory body required to approve the CHPP, voted to approve the plan at a meeting here today.

In the 1997 Fisheries Reform Act, the N.C. General Assembly directed the department to prepare a plan for protecting critical fisheries habitat as a way to help in the recovery of slumping fish stocks. The CHPP describes critical habitats where marine fish and shellfish feed, spawn and grow. The CHPP also identifies threats to those habitats and makes recommendations for addressing those threats.

CHPP recommendations fall under four broad goals:

Improve the effectiveness of existing rules and programs protecting coastal fish habitats.
Identify, designate and protect Strategic Habitat Areas.
Enhance and protect habitats from physical impacts.
Enhance and protect water quality.

The three commissions will spend the first six months of 2005 developing plans for implementing the CHPP. Any actions that require rulemaking will go through the appropriate commission’s normal rulemaking process.

Reaching the CHPP goals won’t always require new rules, according to DENR Secretary Bill Ross, who has developed a far-ranging list of steps the department could begin taking immediately toward implementing CHPP goals. Most of the actions identified by the department do not require new rules or legislative authority.

Enhancing enforcement of existing rules protecting fish habitat, developing indicators of habitat health and reporting on trends, working to restore oyster shell bottoms and educating the public about the importance of these habitats are just some of things the department can do.

Reporting on the status of critical fish habitats and developing a set of indicators that track the health of estuarine waters may be among the most important steps, according to Robin Smith, the assistant secretary for planning and policy in DENR.

“We need to be able to show what is actually happening with these habitats,” she said. “Having good information helps us understand what needs to be done– and build the support needed to do it. It also tells us whether the things that we are doing are working.”

DENR division heads will meet in the next few weeks to determine how to move forward with the department’s action plan.

“The state has spent a lot of time over the years studying impacts on fish habitat,” Smith said. “One of the things that we heard from the public was that it is time to put all of that knowledge to work to solve the problems. These habitats support more than just fish. Indirectly, critical fish habitats support the economy of Eastern North Carolina and a way of life.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is a list of actions DENR is considering to begin implementation of the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan.)

LIST OF ACTIONS DENR IS CONSIDERING TO BEGIN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COASTAL HABITAT PROTECTION PLAN

GOAL 1: IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EXISTING RULES AND PROGRAMS PROTECTING FISH HABITATS

Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2004, the Divisions of Coastal Management, Land Resources, Water Resources, Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Sanitation, Water Quality hold quarterly meetings on proposed projects and enforcement cases that are or may be subject to the permitting or enforcement jurisdiction of the programs of more than one of the listed divisions, and invite other state and federal agencies to participate as appropriate.
Beginning in 2006, issue an annual report on status and trends in the six critical fisheries habitats.
By July 1, 2005, develop and make available an educational program on the value of and threats to critical fisheries habitats.
Make protection and restoration of critical fisheries habitats a priority of the parts of the One North Carolina Naturally initiative that are directed at setting aside special places and at encouraging conservation on private lands.
Make protection and restoration of critical fisheries habitats a priority of state agency requests to Natural Heritage and Clean Water Management Trust Funds.
Develop a suite of indicators of estuarine and near coastal health by 2007.
Through the Museum of Natural Sciences, work in partnership with several local universities to obtain grant funding for the purpose of studying how students most effectively learn science; and then used lessons learned to increase the effectiveness of programs that teach science, especially the science of critical fisheries habitats and coastal ocean ecosystems, at the museum, the three aquariums, the zoo, coastal reserves, educational state forests, state parks, environmental education centers, and the public schools.

GOAL 2: IDENTIFY, DESIGNATE AND PROTECT STRATEGIC HABITAT AREAS

Map all SAV in coastal waters north of Snows Cut within five years.
Map all oyster and hard clam resources in coastal waters from Calabash through Croatan and Roanoke Sounds in waters 12 feet and less in depth within four years.
Identify Strategic Habitat Areas and evaluate possible strategies for designating and protecting them through a phased process that builds on sound science, stakeholder participation, university assistance, and pilot projects. Devise the process within one year and complete the pilot project work by June 30, 2007.
Coordinate this goal with the implementation of the Recreational Saltwater Fishing License program.

GOAL 3: ENHANCE HABITAT AND PROTECT IT FROM PHYSICAL IMPACTS

Continue the expansion of the Division of Marine Fisheries’ oyster restoration and estuary sanctuary efforts through additional projects like the recently completed Middle Bay Sanctuary.
Work with the Corps of Engineers and the Department of Transportation on innovative mitigation projects and an appropriate crediting system for them under the Ecosystem Enhancement Program. Such projects may include the protection and restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation sites and the removal of certain dams, such as the dam at Carbondale on the Deep River. Such projects will have to pass muster with all EEP partners and requirements.
Investigate, through consultation among the Divisions of Water Resources and the Marine Fisheries, the Secretary’s Office, and the Office of State Budget and Management, the use of the unobligated balance from completed water resoureces projects for navigation, water management, or stream restoration projects of particular importance to commercial fishing in NC.
Support public and citizen based projects, such as oyster shell recycling, that have important public education and resource enhancement potential.

GOAL 4: ENHANCE AND PROTECT WATER QUALITY

Enhance dependable water quality monitoring in the following ways:
Invest $125,000 in Neuse Estuary Modmon
Invest $ 75,000 to continue Ferrymon
Pursue legislative authority in 2005 for the wastewater loan program to allow a reduced interest rate (that is, 0% instead of the current 2.36%) for applicants which are coastal counties with stressed economies and which propose to clean up a wastewater discharge that flows directly to critical fisheries habitats in an estuary.
Pursue legislative authority in 2005 to allow local governments to use SRF loans at a reduced rate of interest (that is, 0% instead of the current 2.36%) for stormwater pollution control projects that are or may alleviate a significant adverse effect on critical fisheries habitats in an estuary.
Allow use of buffer credit payments for SRF loan repayments to provide financial incentives for local governments to initiate stormwater pollution control projects that will directly protect or restore critical fisheries habitats. (It may be possible to leverage at least $10 million from this fund with repayments from annual receipts.)
Revise the stormwater BMP manual to update recommended practices for management of post-construction stormwater runoff.
Work with the Department of Transportation to focus and prioritize some of DOT’s stormwater outfall mapping efforts on areas near critical fisheries habitats.
Develop a comprehensive monitoring plan for the estuarine system by 2007

ALL GOALS: ACTIONS THAT WILL ADVANCE TWO OR MORE GOALS

Have each DENR division and office include in its budget proposals for the next biennium (FY ‘05-’07) a request for the resources it will need to implement the recommendations of the CHPP.