THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504260592
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
The unparalleled recovery of Chesapeake Bay striped bass was declared official Tuesday as the Virginia Marine Resources Commission approved sweeping liberalizations for both the recreational and commercial catch.
In another major action, the nine-member commission also approved financing for the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament from the state's saltwater license fund.
Recreational fishermen will have a rod-and-reel striper season running a total of 7 1/2 months, divided into four segments.
The first will be a ``trophy fish'' season, May 1-15, with a minimum size of 28 inches and a daily bag limit of one fish. The season will be for coastal waters and those of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries.
A second season will open May 16 and run through June 15, and will be only for waters of the Bay and its tributaries. Here, the bag limit will be two fish a day, with an 18-inch minimum and a 28-inch maximum.
The third season will open Oct. 17 and run through Dec. 31, also with a two-fish daily bag limit and an 18-inch minimum. However, there will be no maximum size.
The longest season, in the state's coastal waters, will open May 16 and run through Dec. 31, also with a two-fish bag limit but with a 28-inch minimum.
The dividing line between Chesapeake Bay and coastal waters will run between the lighthouses at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach and Smith Island on the Eastern Shore.
Commercial fishermen will see their annual striper quota climb from 211,000 pounds to 876,940. In another change, licensed commercial rod-and-reel fishermen will not have to abide by daily recreational bag limits, as they do for other fish.
The liberalizations reflect perhaps the most amazing turnaround ever produced by prudent fisheries management. Once on the brink of being wiped out by excessive harvesting, the striper now has been declared ``fully recovered'' by the Marine Resources Commission as well as the federal government.
All saltwater striper fishing in Virginia and several other East Coast states was banned for almost two years, from December 1988 until November 1990. Since then, anglers and commercial fishermen all along the East Coast have been severely limited in their striper catches.
In Virginia, anglers were restricted to a 32-day fall/winter season, an 18-inch minimum and a two-fish daily bag limit. Commercial fishermen were issued tags to identify their stripers to ensure staying within the 211,000-pound cap. Tags still will be used under the new policy.
The $145,050 the commission approved for the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament will come from the estimated $1.3 million paid annually for saltwater fishing licenses.
The contest, which awards plaques, known as ``citations,'' for qualifying catches, has been supported from the state's general fund since its inception more than 37 years ago. But Gov. George Allen and the 1995 General Assembly cut off that funding, effective July 1, leaving the future of the popular tourism-promotion contest up in the air.
Additionally, the citizens advisory board that recommends license-fund expenditures to the Marine Resources Commission called for extending the saltwater license statewide.
Currently, only anglers fishing the Chesapeake and its tributaries need the license. Those fishing the ocean, including Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach and along the Eastern Shore seaside, are exempt.
In other action Tuesday, the commission approved funding from the saltwater license for ongoing research projects involving tautog ($31,923), bluefish ($27,669) and striped bass ($25,516), and a statistical survey of recreational fishing ($59,940). by CNB