THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190266
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
A proposed ban on catching weakfish offshore in the Atlantic Ocean went on trial Monday, with commercial fishing groups arguing the ban would do little good and government lawyers saying it would help a troubled species.
After hearing four hours of testimony, U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar emerged from his chambers late Monday to announce that he will issue a written order Wednesday.
Six fishing groups from North Carolina and Virginia claim the proposed ban in federal waters, from 3 to 200 miles offshore, is unconstitutional, based on poor science and would actually lead to more fish deaths.
Led by the North Carolina Fisheries Association, the groups were seeking an injunction Monday to block the ban's taking effect on Thursday, as scheduled. A full hearing to decide the legality of the moratorium would come later.
But the chief architect of the ban, William T. Hogarth, a fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, testified that without emergency relief, weakfish stocks may collapse as early as this winter.
``They're in as bad a shape as any fish stock on the East Coast,'' said Hogarth, noting that landings have decreased 85 percent since 1983.
Also known as gray trout, weakfish were the second most valuable fish caught off North Carolina last year. The weakfish catch grossed nearly $2 million. Similarly, nearly 1 million pounds of the fish, which often is sold in markets as a cheaper type of sea trout, were netted in Virginia last year.
Combined, North Carolina and Virginia catch almost 81 percent of all weakfish on the Atlantic coast, with New Jersey a distant third. by CNB