Raleigh

The words from Louis Daniel, the head of the state's Division of Marine Fisheries, said it all.

"I don't believe they will accept this."

The "they" is the National Marine Fisheries Service. The "this" is a plan adopted by the state Marine Fisheries Commission to allow gill nets that are killing endangered sea turtles to remain in large areas of Pamlico Sound.

Daniel's comments came earlier this month as the commission wrestled over what to do about gill nets - nylon mesh nets typically staked out in shallow-water bays in 200-yard lengths. The nets' usual target is flounder and saltwater trout.

The commercial fishermen who use the nets are under siege.

Last year, national fisheries officials notified the state that both it and its commercial fishermen could be subject to prosecution under the Endangered Species Act because of sea turtle deaths caused by the nets. The notification came after federal observers in Core Sound in Carteret County found 11 turtles in nets during four of five trips. Four of the turtles were dead or dying.

Just days after the commission's decision to continue allowing gill netting, a sea turtle rescue hospital on Topsail Island filed a lawsuit to have the nets removed. The lawsuit, threatened in earlier court filings, is being encouraged by environmentalists and recreational fishermen.

The turtle hospital contends that Daniel and state fisheries officials aren't complying with a federal permit that allows some turtles to be killed provided there is adequate monitoring of the nets and reporting of turtle deaths.

The lawsuit points out that commercial fishermen have ignored the reporting requirement.

Recreational fishing groups are also unhappy, mainly because North Carolina has become the primary source of commercially-caught red drum as other Southeastern states have banned nets in inland waters. In tidal creeks near places like Oriental and Hobucken, there's growing conflict between fishermen manning nets and those casting rod and reels.

Daniel and his staff, meanwhile, are caught in the middle.

They wanted the commission, which sets coastal fishing policy, to keep larger mesh gill nets - the ones associated with turtle deaths - out of major swaths of the state's bays and estuaries from May 15 to Dec. 15.

Commercial fisherman wanted nothing to do with the idea. They argued that it would kill the commercial flounder fishery.

So the nine-member commission rejected the staff recommendation. It adopted a plan to keep the nets in the water five days a week, from Monday afternoon to Friday morning.

The commissioners apparently fail to see what Daniel does. The gill netters might as well be trying to swim out of Beaufort Inlet just before high tide.

If they continue trying to swim against the growing tide, they'll drown.

They may argue that they'll drown anyway.

They can take solace in that argument when the same forces aligning against them, still angry about this fight, come for their sound-side trawlers.

Scott Mooneyham writes for Capitol Press Association in Raleigh. Contact him at smooneyh@ncinsider.com.