THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070757
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
LENGTH: 25 lines
Beginning at noon Saturday, Fishermen will not be allowed to use flynets or shrimp trawls in the Atlantic between Cape Hatteras and Beaufort Inlet.
State Division of Marine Fisheries Director Bruce Freeman said Thursday that he had to close those waters to protect juvenile weakfish, croaker, sea mullet and flounder.
Few fishermen are catching shrimp in that area now. But Freeman said some watermen have been using shrimp trawls to catch fish and bypass a ban on flynets.
Existing restrictions prohibit anyone from taking, possessing, transporting, buying, selling or offering for sale weakfish less than 12 Inches long in the ocean or within 200 miles of shore. Restrictions also limit the mesh size of gill nets used to catch weakfish and bar possession of weakfish taken within 200 miles of shore with a shrimp or crab trawl.
Freeman said the Atlantic probably will reopen for traditional shrimp trawling in mid-March.
For more information, call the state Division of Marine Fisheries at (919) 726-7021.