THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504020163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
Virginia anglers will get three more chances to help formulate rules for the 1995 saltwater striped bass season before final regulations are approved.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which already has staged three information-gathering sessions, will hold additional hearings in Eastville and Gloucester at dates yet to be announced. A final public hearing will be held April 25 at the commission's Newport News headquarters. Rules for striper fishing will be decided then.
State law requires the agency to publish proposed rule changes, so the commission's board voted Tuesday to include all possibilities in its published list.
Options for Chesapeake Bay fishermen, for example, range from a 107-day season with an 18-inch minimum size to a 131-day season with a 28-inch minimum. The bag limit would be two fish.
It's a given that the offshore season will run 240 days, but the bag limit remains unsettled. It could be one or two fish, depending on what minimum size the commission selects.
There are various other options available to the board, including how many commercial fishermen will be allowed to catch stripers.
Jack Travelstead, head of the agency's fishery management division, said the board wanted to hear from as many fishermen as possible before finalizing the rules.
``This is the first time the season has been liberalized since it was opened in 1990,'' he said, ``and I think the board is very anxious to select what will please most fishermen.''
Since the season first opened, Cheapeake Bay recreational fishermen have been limited to 32 fishing days annually, with a two-fish bag limit and an 18-inch minimum.
Striped bass fishing along the entire East Coast has been closely regulated since 1983, when it became obvious that the rockfish had been harvested excessively and was in serious trouble.
The species officially has been declared ``fully recovered.'' The turnaround has been perhaps the greatest success story in modern fishery management.
HUNTING HEARINGS: The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is going statewide to hear from sportsmen before setting 1995-96 hunting seasons.
The agency has called for an unprecedented 12 hearings, scattered about the state, before setting regulations for upcoming seasons.
The hearings nearest Hampton Roads will be in Norge and Franklin.
The former will be at 7 p.m. Monday at Norge Elementary School on U.S. Route 60, west of the Williamsburg. The Franklin hearing, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, will be at the Gen. Vaughan Armory, 900 Armory Drive.
Other hearings are scheduled for Abingdon, Vienna, Roanoke, Middletown, Danville, Fredericksburg, Fishersville, Farmville, Richmond and Fairfax.
ANOTHER SUCCESS: The 71st Street Anglers of Virginia Beach have staged another successful fund-raiser with their 11th annual Anglers Ball.
As a result, the club contributed $2,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and $500 to the Surfrider Foundation. More than 350 attended the ball.
Additionally, Richard Hickey was named the club's angler of the year. Brett Kassir received a special award.
FLOUNDER OPEN: The rod-and-reel season for keeping flounder in North Carolina waters opened Saturday and will run through the remainder of the year.
The minimum size is 14 inches and the bag limit is eight fish, unchanged from 1994.
There are no changes affecting flounder taken from the state's internal waters, including inside ocean inlets. The minimum size there is 13 inches, with an unlimited bag and no closed season.
The differences exist because inland waters are shared by the more common summer flounder, or fluke, which also is found in Virginia, and the Southern flounder, which is extremely rare in Virginia. Only the summer flounder is regulated.
MORE CHANGES? Regulations for the 1995 East Coast flounder season have only recently been announced and officials already are looking to possible changes for 1996.
An information-gathering meeting has been set for April 10 in Manteo by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The agency is a coalition of East Coast states, including Virginia and North Carolina.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the North Carolina Aquarium. Others are scheduled for Cape May, N.J., Galilee, R.I., and Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
Among items to be discussed are rules, regulations, bag limits and quotas covering both commercial and recreational fishing.
BLUES FESTIVAL: The sixth annual Blues Festival, which includes a fishing contest and a distance-casting tournament, will be held April 28-30 at Rodanthe-on-Hatteras, N.C.
The fishing tournament of the festival begins at noon Friday and runs until 4 p.m. Saturday.
There's a division with awards for the three heaviest bluefish, plus the biggest trout, sea mullet and puppy drum, and a junior division with awards for the three biggest fish.
Other weekend activities will include a fish fry, blues music, arts-and-crafts exhibits, games and pony rides.
For details, contact Chicamacomico Festivals at (919) 987-2911 or (919) 987-2201.
TOURNAMENT TIME: The first Hatteras Village Offshore Open fishing tournament will be held May 10-13 out of Teach's Lair Marina. It will be a part of the North Carolina's Governor's Cup series, with billfish and other game fish eligible.
The entry fees will be $300 in Level I (mandatory) and $200 in Level I (optional). For details, contact Joe Morris, Teach's Lair Marina, at (919) 986-2579.
SHORT CASTS: Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton will stage its third annual in-the-water Virginia Yacht Show April 8-9 and 15-16. More than 100 boats, some more than 60 feet long, are expected to be displayed. Admission will be $5, free to those under age 12. For details, call 850-4300. . . . John Schroer of Chincoteague and Molly P. Brown of Virginia Beach have taken two of the four top national awards offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Schroer, manager of Chincoteague National Wildlife refuge, was named the agency's top manager. Brown, a volunteer at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, was selected as one of the two top volunteers. Brown organized the Friends of Back Bay in 1987 and has mobilized community support for the refuge. . . . A reminder that Virginia's spring turkey-gobbler season opens April 15 and runs through May 20. . . . The annual White Marlin Open at Ocean will be held Aug. 7-11 at Ocean City, Md. For details, call (410) 289-9229. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Public hearings will be held in Eastville, Gloucester and Newport
News to help formulate final regulations for the 1995 saltwater
striped bass season.
by CNB