§ 143B-289.51.  Marine Fisheries Commission - creation; purposes.

(a) There is hereby created the Marine Fisheries Commission in the Department of Environmental Quality.

(b) The functions, purposes, and duties of the Marine Fisheries Commission are to:

(1) Manage, restore, develop, cultivate, conserve, protect, and regulate the marine and estuarine resources within its jurisdiction, as described in G.S. 113-132.

(2) Implement the laws relating to coastal fisheries, coastal fishing, shellfish, crustaceans, and other marine and estuarine resources enacted by the General Assembly by the adoption of rules and policies, to provide a sound, constructive, comprehensive, continuing, and economical coastal fisheries program directed by citizens who are knowledgeable in the protection, restoration, proper use, and management of marine and estuarine resources.

(3) Implement management measures regarding ocean and marine fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean consistent with the authority conferred on the State by the United States.

(4) Advise the State regarding ocean and marine fisheries within the jurisdiction of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Compact, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and other similar organizations established to manage or regulate fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. (1997-400, s. 2.1; 1997-443, s. 11A.119(b); 2015-241, s. 14.30(u).)