THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240315
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLINGTON ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
When Carson Beasley cut open a three-pound striped bass that was caught near his Colington Island seafood shop, he found 41 tiny crabs in the belly of the 22-inch fish.
There weren't any minnows, menhaden or other bait fish in the rockfish's stomach. Apparently crabs were the striper's main course.
Beasley said striped bass - also called rockfish - normally don't eat crabs.
But if the rockfish keep up their feeding frenzy, he contends, they'll seriously deplete Colington's blue crab population.
``There are so many rock out there in the sound that they've eaten everything around,'' Beasley said. ``Crabs aren't a normal diet for rockfish. But now they're starting to eat all of them, too.
``These rockfish are so thick, they're killing all the crabs. We're not allowed to catch enough rockfish to make it worthwhile. But if we don't catch them, and they eat all the crabs, then the rockfish will start starving - and dying, too.''
Biologists reject the claim, saying they've heard that argument before. They admit it's pretty unusual for a rockfish to be filled with crabs. But they say they see no correlation between the increased rockfish population and declining crab stocks.
Some fisheries officials even said North Carolina's blue crab populations are as large as ever.
``I don't think the comeback of the striped bass has impacted the crab population at all,'' North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries spokesman Harrell Johnson said from his Elizabeth City office.
``We recognize there's an extreme abundance of striped bass out there. There are more striped bass in the Albemarle Sound area now than I've ever seen,'' said Johnson, who has worked for the state fisheries division since 1974. ``But there's also been a big increase in effort on crabbing, so we can't really determine a stock status on blue crabs.
``Striped bass are opportunistic feeders. We mostly see small anchovies or menhaden in their stomachs. But if there's an abundance of crabs out there, they'll eat 'em - especially if there aren't any other small fish around.''
Phil Jones of Maryland's Tidal Fisheries Service agreed. His office studied effects the recent rockfish comeback has had on blue crab populations. He said there is no conclusive evidence that more rockfish lead to fewer crabs.
``Striped bass have been eating blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay for 12,000 years,'' Jones said from his Annapolis office. ``It would be unusual to see more than a few crabs in a fish's stomach at once. But we do get reports of that from time to time. And we don't think it really has any effect on the abundance of blue crabs. In the 1970s, there were a tremendous number of striped bass around - and plenty of crabs.''
``It does take more effort now to catch the same number of crabs,'' said the Maryland fisheries manager. ``But that doesn't suggest things are looking bad for the crab populations.''
Fishermen complain that if they were just allowed to catch and keep rockfish, the populations would regulate themselves and there would be plenty of small fish for the larger ones to feed on.
Colington Island waterman Phil Ray Haywood, who fishes for rockfish and pulls crab pots, said he could easily catch 2,000 pounds of rockfish in his 700-yard net in less than two hours this week. Most of the rockfish, he said, weigh between three and 10 pounds each. State regulations, however, prohibit commercial watermen from keeping more than five rockfish a day. In order to keep even that small number, the watermen have to bring in at least 75 percent of their total catch in other species of fish. Commercial fishermen also have to tag each rockfish they sell with a special state-issued marker.
``Telling a commercial fisherman he can only keep five rockfish a day is like telling a service station owner he can only sell five gallons of gas a day,'' Haywood said.
``There's nothing out there to catch but rockfish right now. We can't even get enough catfish to make that 75 percent quota. The rock've been thick for the past five or six years. But the state just won't let us catch 'em. If they'd open the season full wide, they wouldn't believe how many rockfish are out there to catch.''
``And if they'd let us catch the rockfish,'' Haywood said, ``then the crabs would start coming back.
``If I fished five days a week with two other guys on my crew, I couldn't catch even $300 worth of other fish out there right now. There are so many rock, they've eaten everything else. Not letting us catch the rock has put a lot of fishermen out of business - and a lot more pressure on other species of seafood.
``If we could catch the rock that are out there, three guys could make $20,000 in one week.''
In December, state officials opened the commercial rockfish season in the Atlantic for 20 days, with a limit of 125 fish per person per day - but no bycatch restrictions. Beasley and Haywood said they haven't made any money commercial fishing since the season closed, just before Christmas. With restrictions on this sound season, which opened Feb. 16, watermen say it's useless even to go out.
``I've had at least 100 calls from customers who want to buy rockfish,'' Beasley said. ``These fish are thick from Wanchese through Edenton, on both sides of the sound. You can see them schooling on the surface.
``But I can't get any to sell.''
Watermen say they believe in size restrictions and realize some regulations are needed to protect fish populations. If they could keep 50 fish a day instead of five, they said, they could at least earn a living. At least 1,000 Outer Banks watermen would catch rockfish commercially if they could, Haywood and Beasley said.
``We need limits. We need laws. But we need some reason, too,'' said Haywood. ``The thicker the fish are, they less they want us to catch. And that just doesn't make any sense.''
Johnson said he's well aware of how abundant the rockfish are - and would be glad to accompany Colington commercial watermen on a day-long fishing trip to observe the number that turn up in their nets. But he said the rockfish population has to be ``balanced, with fish from different age groups in addition to sheer increased numbers of fish,'' before the state will increase commercial quotas. In 1995, North Carolina officials closed the commercial rockfish season when watermen still had 9,000 pounds of the quota left.
``In 1997, striped bass probably will reach a restored status. Until then, they'll have to fish under the quota cap,'' said Johnson. ``Right now, we just don't have the right age groups in that population to balance things out.
``There's a chance we might re-open striped bass as a targeted species. But I think we'll continue managing it as a bycatch fishery until restoration is achieved.''
By then, Beasley said, it might be too late to save the crabs. ILLUSTRATION: When Carson Beasley cut open the belly of this 22-inch striped
bass - often called rockfish - which was caught near his Colington
Island seafood shop, he found 41 tiny blue crabs inside. Beasley
worries that the protected rockfish will deplete the area's crab
population, but state fisheries officials say it isn't a danger.
Fishermen complain that if they were just allowed to catch and keep
more rockfish, the populations would regulate themselves.
JIM LEE
by CNB