THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410160172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
Recreational fishermen have every reason to be unhappy with the way the federal government is considering slicing up the yellowfin tuna pie.
After years of being warned of excessive commercial and recreational catches of yellowfin tuna, the National Marine Fisheries finally is getting ready to limit the catch.
But the action, as projected, would give recreational and charter-boat fishermen a thin slice of the pie, compared to what commercial purse-seine fishermen would get.
At the root of the matter is whose figures the government would use in deciding how the knife will do the slicing.
When limits on bluefin tuna went into effect several years ago, historic landings, averaged over a number of years, were used to establish the size of the slices.
But the National Marine Fisheries Service doesn't want to do that with yellowfins. Instead, the government wants to base future landings by purse-seine fishermen on what they caught in 1992.
That 1992 catch was 476 metric tons, or 1,047,200 pounds, while the average between 1981 and 1990 was 52 metric tons, or 114,440 pounds.
The government also is saying that the recreational catch for 1992 for all East Coast and Gulf Coast states was only 400 metric tons, or 880,000 pounds.
The figures are ``absolutely wrong,'' according to Curtis Donaldson of Weldon, N.C., a member of the North Carolina Marine Resources Commission.
``I can document, with official North Carolina figures, that the recreational catch in my state alone was 800 metric tons (1,760,000 pounds) that year,'' he said. ``This smells. It looks like the recreational fisherman and the charter-boat operator is about to get shafted again.
``But that's not my real concern. My concern is for the resource. I've done a lot of research on this subject and the bottom line is that we're not going to produce a turnaround in yellowfin tuna numbers by keeping the catch at 1992 levels. Those levels were way too high.''
Donaldson said he would fight to keep the purse-seine catch at 52 metric tons or less.
``These same purse-seiners wiped out the bluefin tuna,'' he said, ``and when they saw what was coming with yellowfin, they got their foot in the door, merely to establish their presence when we got ready to set quotas.''
Isn't it ironic that the purse-seiners, who were granted the biggest slice of the bluefin tuna pie, are now about to get an undeserved portion of the yellowfin pie?
However, Donaldson warned the real threat to yellowfin tuna is longline fishing.
``Based on federal figures, longliners landed 6,100 metric tons in 1992,'' he said. ``That's more than 13 million pounds of tuna. And it's more than 85 percent of the entire catch.
``Taking it farther, more than 70 percent of the total East and Gulf yellowfin catch was made by Gulf Coast longliners. These are the figures which must be reduced and reduced sharply.
``Otherwise, the federal government will make as big a mess of the yellowfin situation as they have the bluefin situation. And this (the yellowfin) is the fish which is the backbone of recreational and charter-boat fishing from North Carolina to New York.''
FLOUNDER LIMITS: More restrictions on the flounder catch could be forthcoming in 1995, based on surveys which indicate that the recovery of the overfished flatfish and the production of young fish both have been far less than expected.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council already has recommended lowering the total commercial and recreational catch from the 1994 quota of 26,680,000 pounds to 19,400,679 pounds for 1995.
Commercial fishermen, however, would still get a majority of the 1995 catch, 11,640,407 pounds, compared with 7,760,272 pounds for rod-and-reelers.
No changes are expected in either the recreational season, May 1 through Oct. 31, and in the 14-inch minimum size. However, the daily bag limit, now eight, could drop to seven or even six, according to Jack Travelstead of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
``I'm hoping that everything will stay the same for recreational fishermen,'' he said. ``We won't know until early next year. But right now, things don't look great.''
FINAL SHOT: Virginia's saltwater striped bass fishermen will get their final shot at having 1994 limits increased when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets this week.
But don't hold much hope that the restrictions will be expanded beyond the present two-fish bag limit and 32-day season, scheduled to open Oct. 27.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission already has been denied twice by the Atlantic States commission in its request to expand the season to 45 days.
Yet the coalition of East Coast states has declared that by Jan. 1 the fishery will be ``fully recovered'' from the excessive fishing that almost wiped out the rockfish on the East Coast.
Bill Pruitt, head of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and a voting member of the Atlantic States coalition, is expected to make a final plea when the agency meets Monday and Tuesday in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
N.C. STRIPERS: More than 1.3 million finger-size striped bass will be stocked in fresh and salt waters of North Carolina this year by the state's Wildlife Resources Commission.
It's part of an ongoing program to stock catchable numbers of stripers in freshwater lakes and to re-establish spawning runs in natal rivers.
More than 100,000 fish will be stocked in the Cape Fear River and more than 125,000 in the Pamlico River. The fish are between 1 and 2 inches in length, and were produced in state hatcheries.
In addition, more than 40,000 fish of between 6 and 8 inches will go into two large lakes: Roanoke Rapids and Falls of the Neuse.
Lake Gaston, which straddles the Virginia/North Carolina line, will receive 101,500 stripers from North Carolina and 161,523 from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries this year.
THE WINNER: Scott Cole of Virginia Beach didn't win either of the four individual contests in the Super September fishing tournament. But he wound up the overall winner.
Cole had the No. 2, 3 and 4 entries in the Cobb's Marina flounder tournament, giving him 18 points, more than any other contestant. Points were awarded for the top five places: 10 for first place, eight for second, six for third, four for fourth and two for fifth.
Cole's three fish weighed 3 pounds, 10 1/2 ounces, 3-3 and 2-13 1/2. Byron Farlow of Norfolk won the event with a fish that weighed 5-14.
Cole will receive his 3-foot trophy Tuesday at a wine-and-cheese party at Nauticus. In addition, a 5-foot, 2-inch trophy bearing his name will be displayed for the next year either at Nauticus, the Virginia Marine Science Museum or the Hampton Air and Space Museum.
The Super September format was conceived by Jim Wright of Virginia Beach, host of the regional cable TV show ``Salt Water Fishing With Dr. Jim,'' as a means of promoting late-season fishing in the area.
SHORT CASTS: Acquiescing to Gov. George Allen, the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has named William L. Woodfin Jr. executive director of the 385-person agency. Woodfin has been acting director since June, when he was named to the position by Allen. The position is one of the few in Virginia government in which the director supposedly serves at the pleasure of the board, not the governor. But Allen has said he wants to change that. Looks as though he already has. . . . The Nature Conservancy, an international conservation/preservation organization, has added to its Virginia holdings with the purchase of a 95-acre tract on the Chesapeake Bay. The tract is at New Point Comfort, near Mathews on the Middle Peninsula. More than 150 species of birds have been sighted on or around the preserve. The Conservancy owns most of the Eastern Shore Barrier Islands and has extensive holdings along the North Landing River in Virginia Beach. . . . The American Hiking Society is hoping that more than a million people will volunteer for the next National Trails Day, set for June 3, 1995. . . . Scientists have confirmed the presence, long suspected, of freshwater drum in the John H. Kerr Reservoir, popularly known as Buggs Island Lake, on the Virginia/North Carolina line. Now they want to determine what effect, if any, the drum's presence will have on other fish in the sprawling impoundment. Freshwater drum can reach weights in excess of 50 pounds. . . . Bill Harris of Virginia Beach has earned a citation from the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament with a 30 1/2-pound Wahoo, caught from the boat Baltimore Buy. by CNB