THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260528
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
In an unprecedented move, the Marine Resources Commission Tuesday placed a commercial-catch limit on a saltwater fish without evidence that the species is trouble.
The agency gave unanimous approval to a plan which will limit the commercial catch of speckled trout to 51,104 pounds annually.
``This is an opportunity for us to act rather than react,'' said agency chief Bill Pruitt. ``This fish has a tremendous value to the recreational community and we want to make sure that this value isn't threatened.''
The quota is based on the average catch of the past two years, plus 25 percent. The commercial take during those two years averaged slightly more than 40,000.
Most of the catch is made by one haul-seine fisherman, Robert Hollowell of the Ocean View section of Norfolk, who said that his catch in past years had been as high 40,000 pounds and that he had landed about 20,000 pounds in 1994.
Hollowell is virtually the only netter in the state who specifically targets the species, according to Jack Travelstead, head of the agency's fishery-management staff.
Hollowell, who said he had haul-seined for trout for about 30 years, said he catches almost all his fish during the final four months of the year.
Most of the remaining catch, Travelstead said, is a by-product of commercial fishermen targeting other species.
To make sure that Hollowell isn't shut out of the fall fishery by early-season opportunists, the period for measuring the catch will run from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31 each year.
The shallow-water speckled trout, one of the most handsome fish in Virginia, is one of the state's most popular rod-and-reel species. It is stalked by legions of anglers along both shores of the Chesapeake Bay, around the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and in Rudee and Lynnhaven inlets in Virginia Beach.
It has been given game-fish designation in South Carolina, Florida and Texas and almost as much protection in Louisiana and Georgia, where gill-netting of the species is illegal.
Scores of recreational fishermen appeared at Tuesday's meeting to endorse the plan, applauding their approval of the commission's unanimous vote.
``It's a step in the right direction,'' said Bob Pride of Virginia Beach, head of the Coastal Conservation Association of Virginia, a federation of anglers. ILLUSTRATION: Color drawing
Shallow-water speckled trout...
by CNB