DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711011015

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C13  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Hutchinson 

                                            LENGTH:  104 lines

LONGLINE ANGLERS NOT ALONE IN KILLING MARLIN

Some recreational fishermen should look into the mirror before they point a finger at commercial longline fishermen.

That's the thrust of a recent letter from Dewey Hemilright, who skippers the commercial longliner Tarbaby out of Wanchese, N.C.

Hemilright presented some salient points, although he made no effort to defend longlining, which has been widely attacked for the number of marlin and sailfish discarded by the fishery.

Longlining involves the setting of as much as 10 miles of line and thousands of baited hooks in the ocean. The operation targets primarily swordfish and tunas.

But it also catches marlin and sailfish, which cannot be legally landed in this country. However, most longline billfish are discarded dead.

Anyway, Hemilright's major thrust was many anglers are killing marlin in the name of sport by fishing in contests which handsomely reward the biggest fish killed.

Anglers competing in many big-game tournaments pay exorbitant entry fees, with a percentage of the pot split among those who land (read, kill) the heaviest fish.

Hemilright doesn't say so, but isn't this more about gambling than fishing?

The 1996 White Marlin Open at Ocean City, Md., paid $416,890 to the crew of the boat landing a 73-pound white marlin, plus another $166,823 for the crew with a 466-pound blue marlin.

In 1993 and 1994 combined, the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 billfish tournament at Cape May, N.J., had payoffs in excess of $1.4 million.

Several other East Coast contests offer similar but smaller, albeit significant, cash awards.

No wonder the Internal Revenue Service has been taking a close look at big-time, big-game tournaments and their winners in recent years.

Hemilright makes another point worth considering: Many countries, including all developing nations, allow the sale of marlin and sailfish.

``While this (no sale) holds true here,'' Hemilright writes, ``many other countries can and do export millions of pounds of marlin to the U.S. consumer, legally.''

And he asks the question: ``If marlin and sailfish stocks are so over-exploited (as to ban their sale), how can the recreational fishing industry promote and hold enormous sportfishing `kill' tournaments all over the world?''

Anyway, the view from here is that in sport fishing, the sport should be between angler and fish, not between angler and angler.

NO CHANGES: There will no no expansion of the areas around Eastern Shore bayside creeks where gill-net fishing is banned during the speckled trout season.

Conversely, there will be no reduction in the area off Cape Charles where gill-net fishing for black drum is banned seasonally during daylight hours.

Both plans failed to get the approval of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission at its recent meeting.

Two sessions between anglers and netters failed to work out a compromise, as commission officials had hoped.

NO SHAD: ``Keep the Chesapeake Bay shad season closed'' is the strong message the Coastal Conservation Association of Virginia has sent to William Pruitt, head of the Marine Resources Commission.

With East Coast shad stocks officially described as ``stable,'' the commission has scheduled for its Nov. 25 meeting an ``informational discussion'' on the matter.

However, that ``stability'' is at an historically low level, even though the shad also has been described by federal officials as ``not overfished.''

``Simply stated,'' said the CCA's letter to Pruitt, ``too much money and effort has been allocated to this troubled fishery to risk an unnecessary threat to its potential recovery.''

Over the past two years, almost $290,000 from the state's saltwater fishing license fund have gone to shad restoration. Another $384,500 toward the project have come from the Wallop-Braux Fund, the excise tax anglers pay on fishing tackle.

THE WINNERS: Ivan Morris of Virginia Beach won a recent largemouth bass contest held out of Coinjock, N.C., by the Virginia Bassmasters.

His winning catch totalled 17 pounds, 2 ounces. Morris also had the lunker at 6-11.

Second went to Ray Stancill of Chesapeake at 8-11, third to Bill Wilson of Chesapeake at 7-9. Becky Tucker of the Chesapeake won the non-boat-owner award at 4-11.

SCHOOL BELLS: If you're interested in fishing for big striped bass, mark your calendar for Nov. 19 and Nov. 25.

That's when two Virginia big-striper experts, Robert and Sharon Reich of Virginia Beach, will be conducting free seminars, open to anyone, on the subject.

The first will be at West Marine off Great Neck Road in the Lynnhaven section of Virginia Beach, the other at E&B Marine, 5616 Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk. Both will start at 7 p.m.

Details: 496-9996 (West), 466-1826 (E&B).

SHORT CASTS: To accommodate striped bass anglers, the Little Island Fishing Pier in the Sandbridge section of Virginia Beach will remain open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 30. It has been closing Oct. 31. . . . Some of the biggest names in professional bass fishing will conduct a Super Bowl B.A.S.S. Institute Jan. 24-25 at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond. Featured will be David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., Denny Braur of Camdenton, Mo., Jack Haines of Many, La., Robert Hamilton of Brandon, Miss., and Joe Thomas of Milford, Ohio. Details: JSRCC, 1-804-371-3258. . . . Bass fishing generates more spending in the United States than golf and tennis combined, according to the International Game Fish Association.

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