Government Affairs
Sportfishing
Access in Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreation Area
The Issue
Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina is one of the premier surf fishing locations in the United States, attracting anglers from all across the country for once-in-a-lifetime angling opportunities. Off-road vehicle (ORV) access to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreation Area (CHNSRA) is essential for surf fishing from the beaches, as well as for many other recreational activities. However on December 20, 2010, the National Park Service (NPS) announced its decision to approve an ORV management plan that closes extensive areas of the seashore to the public and severely limits ORV access, far outweighing what is needed to address resource protection. The final ORV plan, which is expected to go into effect in late 2011, poses serious issues for the local economy, which is largely dependent upon tourism and recreation.
ASA’s position
The American Sportfishing Association’s (ASA) goal is to protect the ability of CHNSRA residents and visitors to access the beaches for surf fishing while providing protection to the beach environment and piping plover. ASA also seeks to assure that the process for future beach closures relies on biological and economic information in a balanced fashion.
Background
Executive Order 11644 of 1972 requires federal agencies permitting ORV use on agency lands to make regulations for such use. Due to this Order, the NPS developed an ORV Management Plan for the CHNSRA. The NPS maintains that ORVs must be regulated in a manner that appropriately addresses resource protection—including threatened and endangered species—and potential conflicts among the various CHNSRA users. The NPS approved a new management plan in December 2010, which is currently undergoing the federal rulemaking process. This plan, which is expected to go into effect in late 2011, represents the most restrictive plan to date and severely curtails public access to the seashore for recreational activities such as surf fishing.
Since ORVs are necessary to access many sportfishing areas of the CHNSRA, the concern is that the ORV Plan has given little consideration to economic impacts to any segment of the sportfishing industry and the communities that depend on sportfishing. The implementation of the ORV Plan poses serious questions about the future of recreational fishing in the CHNSRA and presents a serious challenge to the sportfishing community.
Interim Strategy and Consent Decree
In an attempt to complete the ORV Plan in a collaborative fashion, the NPS formed the CHNSRA Negotiated Rulemaking (RegNeg) Committee to assist in its development of the Plan. The RegNeg Committee consists of stakeholders in the CHNSRA, including environmental groups, anglers, business-owners and tourism organizations, among others.
On June 13, 2007, the NPS implemented an Interim Protected Species Management Strategy (Interim Strategy) to provide adequate protection for resident shorebirds until Negotiated Rulemaking was completed. However, on February 20, 2008, the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society (Plaintiffs) filed an injunction asking that all ORV access, except for essential vehicles, be stopped on the CHNSRA. The Plaintiffs argued that the NPS's Interim Strategy did not provide adequate protection for area shorebirds. The federal government declined to defend the Interim Strategy and entered into settlement negotiations with the Plaintiffs.
In late April 2008, Federal District Judge Terrence Boyle approved a consent decree outlining the details of the settlement agreement, which remained in effect until the RegNeg Committee completed its work and the NPS issued the final long-term ORV Management Plan. The details of the settlement agreement are extensive and put in place protections for shorebirds that exceed those outlined in the Interim Strategy. These protections have resulted in extensive restrictions on ORV access to key surf fishing spots in the CHNSRA and an undue economic burden on the local economy.
Both Plaintiffs held seats on the RegNeg Committee, a situation that many viewed as a conflict of interest. This concern was brought to the attention of Department of Interior staff by other RegNeg Committee members and various CHNSRA stakeholders. Although several groups requested the removal of the Plaintiffs from the RegNeg Committee on the basis that they did not follow ground rules to negotiate “in good faith,” this request was denied by the DOI in June 2008.
The RegNeg Committee met approximately 12 times from January 2008 to February 2009. However, it was never able to come to consensus (i.e., unanimous vote) on a comprehensive management plan for ORVs. The points of contention were focused on which parts of the seashore would or would not be deemed an ORV “route or area” and what level of protection/buffers wildlife would be afforded. Following the end of the RegNeg Committee process, the National Park Service began to develop its own ‘preferred alternative,’ along with a spectrum of other alternatives.
ORV Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement
On March 5, 2010, the NPS released its ORV Draft Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which evaluates the potential impacts of several alternatives guiding management of the CHNSRA. The NPS preferred alternative, Alternative F, as outlined in the DEIS, is the most restrictive management option to date, far exceeding any sense of balance between resource protection and public access, and betraying all promises made to the public regarding recreational uses in the seashore. The majority of the provisions included within the preferred alternative far exceed anything proposed by a majority of the RegNeg Committee, including excessively large resource closures (buffers), unnecessary year-round and floating closures, and the lack of access corridors around or through resource closures. In addition, critical socio-economic information was either missing or incomplete in the DEIS.
The public comment period on the DEIS closed on May 11, 2010. After reviewing comments, the park made revisions to the DEIS and released a final Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement on December 20, 2010, which adopted the NPS preferred alternative. The final ORV management plan for the CHNSRA closes extensive areas of the seashore to the public and severely limits ORV access to one of the premier surf fishing locations on the East coast.
To view comments submitted by ASA, click here.
The NPS has announced that the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the management of ORV use at CHNSRA has been published in the Federal Register and is accepting public comment on the final management plan through September 6, 2011. The final ORV plan poses serious issues for the local economy, which is largely dependent upon tourism and recreation. This precedent-setting plan could shape the future treatment of angler and ORV access in National Parks across the country. ASA encourages all sportfishing businesses concerned about reasonable recreational access to submit comments on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore ORV Plan.
The Importance of Sportfishing to North Carolina
North Carolina has over 519,000 saltwater anglers and at $58.5 million, it ranks sixth in state tax revenue earnings from saltwater sportfishing. Recreational fishing in North Carolina’s has a significant annual economic impact on the economy; sportfishing in the state:
- Generates $1.98 billion annual economic output, $913 of which can be attributed to saltwater fishing;
- Generates $1.2 billion in North Carolina retails sales;
- Supports 20,712 North Carolina jobs;
- Generates $122.4 million in NC income taxes; and
- Pays $581.8 million in NC salaries and wages.
