THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200729
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: 35 lines
The size limit on bluefish will be lifted Monday and the number allowed to be taken per day will be cut in half, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced Thursday.
Anglers have been required to return all blues under 12 inches, but they could keep 20 per day of legal size.
On Monday they'll be allowed to keep any they catch, up to 10 a day.
Fisheries Director Bruce Freeman said, ``We are making this change in advance of the traditional surfishing season, which begins in mid to late fall and runs through the winter months, so anglers will have time to adjust to the new limits.''
He said the action was taken in response to comments from recreational fishermen that the old bluefish size limit of 12 inches and 20 fish per day was an ineffective conservation measure.
Many blues were under 12 inches and had to be returned with some dying in the process, said spokeswoman Nancy Fish.
The decision to allow anglers to keep bluefish of any size shows how hard times have fallen on the species that in the '70s and early '80s blitzed the beaches in droves.
Anglers spent vacations on the Outer Banks for the spring and fall runs and regularly caught dozens of 15-pounders. During a blitz, the ``choppers'' blackened the surf and drove terrified baitfish out of the water and onto the sand, where poleless strollers could pick up good-sized trout and other fish by the dozens where they had leaped.
Bluefish limits listed in the North Carolina Recreational Coastal Waters Guide for Sportsfishermen dated March 1, 1996, and in other publications will be incorrect starting Monday, officials said. by CNB