Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994                   TAG: 9401130041
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW CHIEF OF FISH DIVISION HAS HIS WORK CUT OUT

Maybe cast for a big brown trout in the tailrace of Gathright Dam on the Jackson River or vertical jig a Hopkins spoon for a jumbo striped bass cruising a bar at Smith Mountain Lake.

Wednesday, Martel was fishing, all right. But he wasn't wearing waders or an insulated jumpsuit. He was at the General Assembly, looking more like a banker than a biologist, casting for much needed funding the programs of his department will require.

Martel can expect to spend considerable time there the next couple of months. His inheritance is on the lean side:

Four of the department's nine fish hatcheries were constructed in the 1930s and often have been described as "crumbling."

Several of the department's 38 lakes and ponds have the kind of dam-repair needs that cause the people living down stream to spend a lot of time looking over their shoulder.

A shortage of field staff and funding has shut down research projects, which means management decisions too often must be made on antiquated data.

The 1994-96 Wilder budget contains nothing for continuing the highly touted fish-passage and shad-restoration projects. A new shad hatchery has been completed and is being equipped, but there may not be any money to operate it past mid-year. There was nothing in the budget for dealing with the threat of hydrilla and zebra mussels.

Nongame funds for threatened and endangered aquatic and amphibian species have been dwindling. There are 300 mollusk species, alone, to keep tabs on, and the number could drop if they don't get help.

The outstanding largemouth bass fishing at Back Bay, which once produced more than 200 citations annually, has died.

If public shoreline access and urban angling programs aren't beefed up, a new generation of anglers may be lost to other pursuits.

The trout stocking program is operating deep in the red.

One of the things that got Martel the job was his administrative skills and his ability to take a limited amount of money and manpower and make it count, said David Whitehurst, his boss.

"He has developed skills in understanding the budget and making good allocations of resources to address needs," said Whitehurst.

Since 1990, Martel has been the fish division's assistance chief, in charge of hatchery operations. He worked under Whitehurst, who was chief until his recent promotion to assistant director of operators for the department.

Whitehurst liked what he saw when Martel took a few extra bucks found in the budget and led hatchery workers in a campaign to update facilities, often relying on little more than personal pride and enthusiasm.

"In a lot of cases, what we got was well above expectations," Whitehurst said.

Before moving to the Richmond headquarters in 1990, Martel was hatchery manger at Coursey Springs in Bath County. He was district fisheries supervisor in Marion from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. He earned a bachelor's degree in fisheries biology at Cornell University and a master's in fisheries science at Virginia Tech.

\ FISHING REPORT: Harsh weather conditions and cold water temperatures have been tough on fishing success. At Smith Mountain Lake, some striped bass are being caught by anglers vertically jigging lures like the Hopkins spoon. Most catches are small, but a few reach the 12-pound mark.

Several fishermen reported success at Claytor Lake, where Bruce Mitchell of Rural Retreat caught a 5-pound, 6-ounce largemouth bass. Steve Duncan took an 11-pound, 13-ounce striped bass and Steve Green of Pulaski weighed a 1-pound, 4-ounce yellow perch.