THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610270186
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: 114 lines
If you're unhappy with the parameters of Virginia's saltwater striped bass seasons, mark your calendar for noon Tuesday.
That's when the Virginia Marine Resources Commission will meet in Newport News to finalize dates and regulations for the 1997 season. Public suggestions will be considered.
Several changes have been proposed, all because of next year's Reedville Bluefish and Striped Bass Derby. Tournament officials want dates for Virginia's ``trophy fish'' striper season changed from May 1-15 to June 1-15 to include the early-June contest. Otherwise, fish in excess of 28 inches would have to be released.
But to change this season would mean also changing the spring season and the coastal season. And some folks probably aren't going to like that.
Still, the idea has the approval of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission as well as the Virginia agency's professional staff and the group of private citizens that serves as the agency's advisory board.
If the Virginia commission approves the suggestion, 1997 striper seasons would be:
Trophy season, Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries as well as coastal waters: June 1-15; one-fish possession limit, 32-inch minimum size and no maximum size.
Spring season, Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries: May 1-31 (now May 16-June 15); two-fish possession limit, 18-inch minimum and 28-inch maximum.
Coastal season: Jan. 1-March 31 (unchanged) and June 16-Dec. 31 (now May 16-Dec. 31); two-fish possession limit, 28-inch minimum and no maximum.
Fall season: Oct. 17-Dec. 31; two-fish possession limit, 18-inch minimum and no maximum (no change).
The commission staff is not proposing an increase in the commercial quota, which this year is 1,384,000 pounds. The quota has increased to its present point from 211,000 pounds in 1994 and 890,000 pounds in 1995.
The bottom line is that while you probably will see additional relaxation in striper-fishing rules in the future, you'll never see the fishery so wide open that anything and everything goes.
The striper has been closely regulated since the population plummeted in the 1970s. It became the first inshore species for which all East Coast states agreed to a tightly structured restoration plan that has been incredibly successful.
Several factors probably contributed to the species' decline, but scientists and fishery managers say the overwhelming cause was excessive harvesting.
They'll never let that happen again. They shouldn't, for the threat of excessive fishing probably will never go away.
Tuesday's hearing will begin at noon at the commission's headquarters at 2600 Washington Ave.
LICENSE PROJECTS: Also on the agenda Tuesday are proposals for expenditures from the licensing of saltwater anglers and commercial fishermen.
Recreational projects include a controversial $325,000 grant toward building a $700,000 boat ramp and basin at Kiptopeke State Park on the tip of the Eastern Shore. This would be contingent upon the state's issuing $325,000 in bonds for matching funds, with the remaining $50,000 from the Division of Parks.
Other recreational-fund projects include $144,200 for a fishing pier at Windmill Point in Lancaster County, $55,714 for digital imaging of the state's artificial reef program, $81,500 for an ongoing shad restoration program and $41,722 for a striped bass stock-assessement program.
In all, the commission will consider requests for $696,547 of the $1.7 million currently available from the fund.
The only expenditure from the commercial fund would be $15,000 for a study of the feeding boiology of American shad, with a matching amount from recreational moneys.
N.C. LICENSE: Early results of an ongoing survey show that 50 percent of those responding favored a saltwater fishing license in North Carolina, with 42 percent opposed.
The survey is being conducted by the Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina, a organization of recreational fishermen.
Most negative voters said that they would favor such a license if proceeds were dedicated to improving fish populations, according to Dick Brame, the associaation's executive director. And when given a range of $5 to $30 a year, 75 percent of the respondents said a license should cost $15 or more.
The survey consists of 20 questions posted on the association's home page on the Internet. It's still open and free to anyone with a computer, modem and access.
FIRST FEMALE: Julie Ball, a Navy dentist, has become the first female to earn ``expert angler'' recognition from the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament.
Inaugurated this year, the designation goes to any angler who earns the state-sponsored contest's citation awards for six species. A former angler-of-the-week in The Virginian-Pilot, Ball scored by boating an 8-pound, 4-ounce spadefish and a 1-0 spot, and by releasing qualifying red drum, cobia, black drum and amberjack.
The first to qualify was another medical person, Dr. James C. Wright of Virginia Beach, who has earned citation awards this year for 14 saltwater species. That gives Wright the lead in the contest's angler-of-the-year competition.
WILDLIFE AID: NASCAR driver Ward Burton, a native of Halifax County in Southside Virginia, has created a foundation to support wildlife conservation throughout the state.
The non-profit Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation has taken the Southside's emerging black bear population as its first project.
Part of the program includes a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone convicted of illegally killing a bear in the area.
Bob Duncan of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said his agency was ``extremely pleased to have this type of cooperation.''
SHORT CASTS: The 26th annual Easton, Md., Waterfowl Festival is set for Nov. 8-10 and will feature the works of numerous Virginia artists. One of the nation's premier events of its type, the festival has raised more than $3.3 million for wildlife conservation. . . . The dike/trail system at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach will close to hikers and bikers for the season Friday. . . . Effective Monday, North Carolina anglers will be limited to keeping 10 speckled trout a day. The limit was in effect for two years but was removed earlier this year. . . . Buddy Hopson of Virginia Beach bagged a massive 208-pound, 10-point buck on the Virginia portion of Knotts Island. . . . Amanda Dunstan, age 14, of Point Harbor, N.C., has won the junior angler award in the Pirate's Cove King Mackerel Tournament for the third consecutive year. Her latest winner weighed 22-4 and was caught from the Sea Haven II. by CNB