THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 

              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.



DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996                TAG: 9601050471

SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

TYPE: Local Briefs 

DATELINE: MOREHEAD CITY                      LENGTH: Short :   33 lines

COMMERCIAL BASS SEASON ENDS

The commercial striped bass season in the Atlantic Ocean will close at 5 p.m. today, officials of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries said Thursday.

The 1995-96 quota of striped bass, also called rockfish, was 334,000 pounds, which was divided between beach seiners, trawl boat crews and gill netters. That quota has been caught, said Bruce Freeman, director of the state's Marine Fisheries Division.

``In 1995, the Atlantic Ocean stocks of striped bass were declared recovered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,'' Freeman said. ``This marks the first real commercial striped bass season in the Atlantic Ocean that North Carolina has had since the mid-1980s.''

Because managing the striped bass population was a relatively new process for state officials, some problems arose over the allocation of pounds to each type of commercial fishery, said state fisheries division spokesperson Nancy Fish.

``The beach seiners quickly used their allotment,'' she said. ``The trawlers didn't use all of theirs. We're going to have to work some of this out.''

For more information, call Harrel Johnson at (919) 264-3911. by CNB