THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406190182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Long
Within the next few days, he will have to send letters to the more than 2,500 anglers who won coveted ``citations'' in the 1993 tournament, telling them he isn't sure when they will receive their awards.
{REST} Bain knows that when the letters are received, his telephone is probably going to be ringing ceaselessly with complaints, a sound he already has started to hear.
``It isn't a pretty picture,'' Bain said of his dilemma. Unfortunately, it isn't his fault. But there is no one else to blame.
Since the contest began in 1958, the ``citations,'' handsome laminated plaques, have been hand-lettered by a calligrapher with each angler's name and city of residence and the species and weight of his or her catch. In an effort to save time and money, the hand-lettering is being replaced by a computerized program that, according to Bain, produces lettering that looks like it was done by a calligrapher. Bain now is beginning to realize that many time-saving efforts result in a trash can full of paper.
Not a single 1993 citation has been completed and shipped. Nor is Bain certain when the first might be on its way.
There's been a glitch. The new process allowed the computerized information to bleed through the lamination that covers the plaque. You can hardly read the names.
Bain said all 2,500-plus plaques have been lettered and about half have been laminated. Not one has been acceptable.
``We have several options, including starting all over and using hand-lettering,'' he said. ``But none of the options is going to keep a lot of folks from being upset.''
The contest, which makes the awards available free to anglers registering any of 23 saltwater species meeting minimum standards, promises that the plaques will be received ``within 120 days of the close'' of the tournament.
Right.
Bain and the 2,500 winners will be lucky if the awards are received by the time the 1994 contest closes Dec. 31.
``I know I'm going to catch heck from 2,500 people,'' Bain said. ``All I can tell them is the truth - that we're working on it as hard as we can. I probably won't satisfy them, but it's the best we can do.''
And you probably thought Bain had one of the world's best jobs.
MORE TOUGH JOBS: By the time his new term expires in January 1998, Bill Pruitt may regret that he was reappointed head of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission by Gov. George Allen.
On the same note, Dr. Bill Hogarth of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries may be glad he was not reappointed by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.
Fishery managers in all East Coast states are almost certain to raise the ire of both recreational and commercial fishermen during the next few years as they help adopt stringent laws for harvesting fish and shellfish.
Basically, the Inter-Jurisdictional Fisheries Management Act of 1993 gives the federal government the right to order a mandate on fishing in a state for any species when a member-state of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission doesn't uphold its end of multi-state agreements designed to conserve dwindling fish stocks.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission already has had a taste of what the new law is all about. It had to call for a total closure on saltwater striped bass fishing in 1988, when it was ``out of compliance'' with a multistate agreement to protect the rockfish. The fishery remained closed for almost two years, until November 1990.
At the time, the federal authority for such action was limited to stripers. But the new act, signed by President Clinton in December, extends that authority to all species for which management plans have been approved.
Now, many eyes are on North Carolina to see if its plan for protecting gray trout meets with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's approval. Anyway, with management plans either developed or being developed for practically every inshores species along the Middle Atlantic Coast, a great many fishermen - recreational, commercial and charter - are bound to oppose a lot of the restrictions.
People like Pruitt and Hogarth stand to catch the bulk of their wrath. Hogarth already has. His last day is to be June 30. But Pruitt is just beginning another four-year term.
The bottom line is that if the expected regulations are to be effective in turning around population declines that have accelerated in the past decade, Pruitt and other managers are going to take their lumps.
Politics being a part of the overall picture, some managers, like Hogarth, are certain not to survive.
TROUT TIME: The weakfish, popularly known as gray trout, will provide the first big test for the new regulations and for East Coast fishery managers.
The 15 members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission have agreed to have in place, no later than Aug. 1, plans to reduce the catch to 25 percent of 1989 levels, with the 1995 catch reduced 80 percent.
While the Virginia commission is working on a complicated formula for lowering the commercial catch, proposals for recreational fishing are relatively simple.
Two options are expected:
A minimum size of 14 inches and a 10-fish daily bag limit.
Or a 10-inch minimum and a 3-fish bag limit.
Both plans are as likely to be as well-received as an angry skunk in a crowded campground.
North Carolina already is holding public hearings on similar proposals, while Virginia is expected to take its final recommendations to public hearing in July, with a decision at the VMRC's July 26 meeting.
GOOD NEWS: Finally some good news to go with all the bad: The recovery of the bald eagle has been so great that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering removing it from the Endangered Species List.
America's symbol has made an impressive comeback in four of the country's five geographical areas since the banning of the use of the pesticide DDT more than two decades ago.
Eagle numbers are back at historic levels or have reached ``recovery-plan'' goals everywhere except in the Southwest.
If the bird is removed from the Endangered Species List, it will still be on the threatened list and fully protected under federal law.
The change has received the backing of the Virginia Wildlife Federation, among other conservation organizations.
NO NETTING: All commercial fishing for black drum in Virginia was banned as of midnight Friday by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
By then, according to a VMRC spokesman, the state's annual commercial quota of 120,000 pounds of black drum would have been met.
It is the first time commercial fishermen have met the quota since the regulation went into effect five years ago.
SHORT CASTS: Dan McDougald of Lottsburg, Va., won the recent Reedville Bluefish Derby with a chopper that weighed 18.67 pounds. He won $10,000. Second place and $5,000 went to Danny Wadsworth of Tappahannock, Va., at 17.90 pounds; third and $3,000 went to Charles Schefflien of Miller's Tavern, Va., at 17.83 pounds. . . . The fifth annual Tag-A-Tuna Tournament will be staged Saturday by the Eastern Shore Chapter of the Atlantic Coast Conservation Association. The two top entries will receive hand-carved fish from the studios of Bill Hall of Bloxom, Va. The entry fee will be $25, and the contest will be headquartered at Wachapreague Marina. You can get details from George Reiger at 1-787-7480 or Jack Adams at 1-787-7206. . . . Roger Warren of Virginia Beach has earned a citation from the Key West (Fla.) Fishing Tournament with a 31-pound wahoo. . . . O.T. Fears III of Sallisaw, Okla., won the recent Bassmaster Superstars fishing tournament at Peoria, Ill., on the Illinois River. He won $50,000 with a three-day largemouth bass catch weighing 31-9. Second and $23,000 went to Hank Parker of Denver, N.C., at 30-3, third and $22,000 to George Cochran of Hot Springs, Ark., at 27-8. The contest pitted 30 of the all-time top money-winners on the professional fishing circuit staged by the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.
by CNB