ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270109
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS
It looks innocent, but children scooping buckets of minnows and selling them for bait are breaking the law.
That may soon change as state regulators decide whether to let school children and others sell minnows part time during the summer without applying for the $150 waterman's license.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is acting at the request of the General Assembly. Del. Robert Bloxom, a Republican from the Eastern Shore, introduced the legislation at the urging of a constituent whose young son had caught minnows from a dock.
``If he sold those minnows, he would have been in violation of the law,'' Bloxom said. ``And that didn't seem proper to me.''
If the commission agrees, people will be able to catch and sell up to three gallons of minnows per day without getting a commercial fishing license, as long as they aren't working for an established business.
Commercial minnow fisherman Tom Daisey of Chincoteague says he doesn't feel threatened by kid fishermen. The most someone could earn selling minnows without the license would be about $30 a day, he said, and ``I don't think anybody but a kid would do that.''
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB