THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996             TAG: 9602080373
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Short :   35 lines

JUDGE INDICATES HE CAN DO LITTLE TO OVERTURN WEAKFISH BAN

A federal judge said Wednesday that a decision to ban weakfish catches along the East Coast was made last November despite figures showing an improvement in the fish population.

But U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar also said he has little authority to overturn the moratorium ordered by Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

``My hands are so tied,'' the judge told attorneys for Brown and the North Carolina Fisheries Association, which challenged the ban. ``What do I say if the scientists want to rely on information thatjustifies a decision already made?''

Attorneys for the commercial fishermen contend the ban was arbitrary and that Atlantic Ocean stocks of the fish, also known as gray trout or ``pan trout,'' were rebounding from a cyclical low.

But attorneys for the government said the moratorium was based on weakfish numbers that fell below recovery levels, not on a belief that stocks were still in decline.

Doumar, who heard two days of testimony in the case, indicated he would issue a ruling soon, possibly as early as next week.

The judge granted a conditional injunction in December that temporarily prevents enforcement of the ban off the North Carolina coast. That state's fishermen account for almost half of weakfish catches in the Atlantic. by CNB