THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701310694
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: Local Briefs
LENGTH: 28 lines
Commercial fishermen using beach seines, gill nets and ocean trawls will be allowed to catch striped bass in the Atlantic Ocean again beginning Saturday.
Bruce Freeman, director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries said Thursday that the striped bass quota was not caught during an earlier fishing season, so he is reopening the Atlantic to commercial harvests.
Fishermen using beach seines and gill nets will be allowed to keep five striped bass each day per boat as a bycatch while they are targeting other species such as weakfish, speckled trout and bluefish.
Fishermen using ocean trawl nets will be allowed to keep 100 fish per day per boat.
The striped bass must be 28 inches long or larger.
The commercial season on striped bass in the Atlantic Ocean is scheduled to close March 31 unless quotas are caught earlier.
Recreational anglers are allowed to catch striped bass in the Atlantic and keep two fish per day, as long as the fish are 28 inches long.
The sounds are closed to commercial and recreational catches of striped bass.
For more information, call the Division of Marine Fisheries at (800) 338-7805 or (919) 264-3911.