THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510010038
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Plans for the fall striped bass fishing season will be reviewed this month by North Carolina and federal fisheries managers at meetings with commercial and sport anglers.
Fishing in the Albemarle Sound Management Area will be discussed at an Oct. 9 meeting in Columbia organized by the state Division of Marine Fisheries in light of this past summer's striped bass kill on the Roanoke River.
The Atlantic Ocean striped bass season will be discussed at two other meetings.
The Division of Marine Fisheries will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Manteo to discuss the fall season in the Atlantic. The National Marine Fisheries Service has scheduled a public hearing Oct. 12 in Manteo to discuss a federal proposal to lift a moratorium on striped bass fishing in offshore waters along the Atlantic coast.
The Fisheries Service also proposes a 28-inch minimum size limit on striped bass caught in federal waters - from three to 200 miles offshore - an area known as the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Under the federal proposal, striped bass transported from federal waters into a state's jurisdiction would be subject to state regulations that could include larger size limits, daily catch limits and seasonal closures.
The primary beneficiaries of the plan will be the state's commercial gill netters and trawlers who would most likely catch the striped bass while plying offshore waters for other species of fish, said William T. Hogarth, of the National Marine Fisheries Service's office of interjurisdictional fisheries management.
``It's a good move for the fish and the fishermen,'' Hogarth said. ``The fishermen will have the opportunity to utilize what they have caught and reap the benefits of good fisheries management.''
Also called stripers, rockfish and rock, striped bass are an anadromous fish, meaning they spawn in brackish and freshwater streams of estuaries.
Atlantic stripers spend their first few years of life in estuarine waters from New York to North Carolina, then move to coastal waters of southern New England and the Gulf of Maine to feed. Each spring, mature striped bass return to the brackish or freshwater streams to spawn.
The federal government imposed a moratorium on the harvest and possession of striped bass in the Exclusive Economic Zone to support the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's plan for managing the fish.
The federal ban on striped bass fishing in the zone is being re-examined because the fish's population has recovered significantly in the past five year, Fisheries Service Director Rolland Schmitten said.
The striped bass caught in the zone and landed at a state's ports will be applied to that state's seasonal quota.
The Fisheries Service is also seeking comment on minimum size limits on striped bass caught in state waters set under the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission plan.
The the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has frozen state size limits for striped bass during a two-year transition period, but Fisheries Service is concerned that every state could reduce its size limit below 22 to 24 inches. This action could hurt efforts to rebuild spawning stocks.
At its public meeting in Manteo, Division of Marine Fisheries officials will discuss how to distribute an increased Atlantic Ocean quota of 334,000 pounds among the various fishing methods , state fisheries Director Bruce L. Freeman said.
In Columbia, division officials will discuss the Albemarle Sound and Roanoke River striped bass management plan and hear the public's suggestions on the recreational and commercial fall season in the Albemarle Sound.
The fall recreational and commercial striped bass quotas are 12,000 pounds each. The division would like to hear fishermen's suggestions for minimum size limits and daily catch limits for sport anglers and minimum size limits, season length and gill net restrictions for commercial fishermen, Freeman said. by CNB