THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412090608
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
In North Carolina, rockfish wear plastic hospital bracelets.
Each fish sold in seafood stores and supermarkets has to have a numbered tag clamped through its mouth. Sound-caught fish wear red; ocean inhabitants sport blue. Last year, rockfish hauled in from the Pamlico Sound carried green tags.
Clamp the wrong color tag on a fish and the fish police will clamp down on you.
That's what Outer Banks seafood buyer Billy Beasley discovered Thursday morning. The Colington Island fish dealer almost lost his seller's license after putting red tags on ocean rockfish. He told state marine fisheries officials what he'd done - and they sent law enforcement officers to reprimand him.
``At the beginning of the rockfish season, we each got 300 tags to put on fish caught from the Atlantic,'' Beasley said from Billy's Seafood Market on Colington Road.
``We ran out of blue tags Tuesday and called the state fisheries managers to bring us some more. They told me to find some from another seafood dealer who might have tags left over. That's not my place. They're the ones that issue - and are supposed to supply - those tags.'' Until three years ago, North Carolina fishermen were not allowed to keep any rockfish, also known as striped bass.
But in 1991, the state reopened the once-thriving fishery. Biologists, however, imposed strict quotas for statewide catches - and instituted the tagging program to track hauls.
Maryland fishermen were allowed to land more than 2 million pounds of rockfish this year. But in North Carolina, the state total was limited to 96,000 pounds for 1994. The fishery opened Dec. 1.
After 4 p.m. today, commercial fishermen will not be allowed to catch any rockfish in North Carolina waters.
``We distribute the number of tags based on the number of rockfish fishing permits we've issued and the average weight of the fish,'' said Harrell Johnson, district manager of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Elizabeth City office. ``This year, fish buyers each got 300 ocean tags and 200 sound tags. If the dealer runs out of tags, he has to find some other dealer who has tags left over.
``We won't stop them from selling more than 300 rockfish this season,'' Johnson said. ``But they've got to find the extra tags themselves. We'll even help by telling them which dealers in their area might have tags left.''
When Beasley didn't get any additional rockfish tags Tuesday, he called Johnson's office again Wednesday. Three times, he said, he told fisheries officials that the evening's haul would bring in more fish than he had tags. Each time, they told him to find some more tags himself.
``The season was still open. The quota hadn't been met. And the guys were still bringing in good hauls,'' Beasley said.
``When they brought 88 big rocks in Wednesday night, I wasn't going to refuse them just because I didn't have the right tags. I put the last 29 blue tags on the fish, then used 6 red sound tags and 53 green tags I had left over from last year's Pamlico Sound stock. This morning, I called again to tell the fisheries managers what I'd done.''
Within two hours of Beasley's call, fish police arrived at his door. They understood he had illegally tagged rockfish in his store, they said. They wanted to see his log books - and take his dealer's license.
``He was told that there are plenty of other blue tags available but he'd have to get them himself,'' said Capt. Monty Willis, a North Carolina Marine Fisheries law enforcement official whose Columbia office investigated Beasley's store Thursday.
Originally, law enforcement officers gave Beasley a $25 ticket - which would grow to include $60 in court costs. They took his rockfish log books and threatened to take his license. But after Beasley called the N.C. Marine Fisheries office in Morehead City, the ticket turned into a warning - and Beasley got his log books back.
``We would've charged him with violating conditions of his rockfish-seller's permit,'' Willis said. ``But the division's interim director in Morehead made the decision not to issue the ticket. We have to abide by his direction.''
Beasley said he was relieved he got his log books and dealer's license back. But he is angry the conflict even occurred.
``They're going to put us all on welfare, the way these state fisheries folk are going,'' Beasley said. ``The fish are right here at our front door. But they won't let us catch them.
``I was trying to do the right thing here. If I was trying to get by with something illegal, I never would've called the fisheries office. Then, they never would've known.'' ILLUSTRATION: ROCKFISH RULES
After 4 p.m. today, commercial fishermen may no longer catch
rockfish in the Atlantic.
The season for rockfish - also known as striped bass - opened Dec.
1. But by today, state fisheries experts predict that the
96,000-pound quota will be met. Anyone caught hauling, selling or
buying rockfish will be fined.
For more information, call the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries at
(919) 726-7021.
by CNB