Proposed speed change makes waves among charter boat operators

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WWAY)–  The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration — or NOAA — says boats 35 to 65 feet in length should be required to travel at 10 knots.

Which is equivalent to 11 miles-per-hour.

The proposed change is in hopes of saving an endangered species — The North Atlantic Whale.

However, the speed reduction will mean boat captains will have longer round trips.

David Tilly, Captain of the Wild Rover III, is concerned about how this will affect charter trips he provides if this proposal is approved.

“I won’t be able to afford to run a Gulf Stream trip. The Gulf Stream here is 60 miles offshore so its gonna take me 6 hours to get there and 6 hours to get back. What’s that going to leave for fishing? And it will make it prohibitively expensive,” Tilley said.

If you would like to leave a comment regarding the proposal you can email the Federal Consistency Coordinator Daniel Govoni at DCMComments@deq.nc.gov.

The deadline to leave commentary is July 31st at 5PM.

Click here if you would like to read more on the proposal.