THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604130360
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
State fisheries officials, acknowledging watermen's contentions that the season was too short, announced Friday that they could keep fishing for herring until April 22.
The season was scheduled to close Monday, but Bruce Freeman, director of the Division of Marine Fisheries, said unusually cold water this winter delayed the peak arrival of herring in the rivers, so commercial fishermen were given an extra week to fish for them.
The watermen had contended that they had reduced the number of nets used to harvest herring to conserve the fish, but claimed that the state wouldn't give them a break on the season.
``The decision to extend the herring season is a good solution to a difficult problem,'' Freeman said. ``The citizens of our state will be allowed to make a living, while we as fisheries managers are still able to do our job of conserving and protecting the public resource.''
Freeman said that a harvest of about 250,000 pounds of herring should not damage the population. And if that total is not caught by April 22, he said, another extension might be granted.
Freeman also reminded watermen that the commercial season for striped bass ends at 12:01 a.m. Monday. And he said that at noon today it will be illegal to catch weakfish of less than 10 inches. by CNB