Nearly 100 fishermen met this week to discuss restrictions of a lucrative New River fishery laden with old munitions that Camp Lejeune officials deemed hazardous.
Locals packed T’s Café in Sneads Ferry on Monday to plead for continued access to an area ripe for clamming, shrimping and fishing.
“One of the biggest points that impacted my thinking is that it may just be a small percentage of the New River, but it is the most lucrative,” said Barbara Ikner, chairwoman of Onslow County Board of Commissioners. “If they are going to close it off, can they do it in increments?”
Onslow County was home to 18,430 licensed saltwater anglers and 411 commercial anglers in 2014, according to the latest data from N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. The New River generated $2.6 million in seafood revenues that year; 91 percent of that total was from shellfish.
At a meeting next week, the base plans to provide information “on unexploded ordnance safety risks and an advisory to limit public activities in the waters,” according to the initial notice published recently in The Daily News. The meeting will be 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Sneads Ferry Community Center, 126 Park Lane.
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