THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605260202
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: 39 lines
Fishery projects totaling almost $750,000, most aimed at finfish research, were approved Tuesday by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
Some $653,000 will come from license fees paid by saltwater anglers, with $85,000 from commercial fishermen's license fees.
The largest outlay, $140,000, will go for a study of shark nursery grounds in the Chesapeake Bay and an assessment of the state's shark population. The work will be done by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and will be funded exclusively from the recreational license fund.
The largest expenditure from the commercial fund will be a $75,000 public education campaign. The project will be coordinated by the Virginia Marine Products Board, appointed by the governor to promote the state's seafood products.
A study of gray trout, aimed primarily at determining if more than one coastal population is present, will be financed by the two funds, with recreational money providing 90 percent of the $130,983 total, to be done by VIMS and Old Dominion University.
Other projects, all to be funded with recreational money, include:
$97,000 for a study of tautog, to be done by VIMS.
$77,100 for a flounder study, VIMS.
$48,711 for a Spanish mackerel study, VIMS.
$38,341 for a cobia study, VIMS.
$37,977 for a bluefish study, VIMS.
$35,000 for dredging of the boat-ramp area at Croaker Landing on the York River.
$31,953 for a species identification of fish fillets using DNA, $31,953.
$20,000 for improvements to the pier used for servicing boats a Westmoreland State Park in the Northern Neck.
$5,800 for a children's fishing clinic in Newport News.
$3,899 for as second tautog study, VIMS. by CNB