Fishermen at odds over tighter bass regulations

via Newsday

Long Island's commercial and recreational fishermen are divided over a recent presidential order directing federal agencies to prohibit the sale of striped bass caught in offshore waters. The rift is expected to generate debate this week at a meeting of Atlantic state fisheries managers.

Commercial fisherman say the executive order is redundant -- an existing moratorium already bans the harvest or possession of striped bass in federal waters. And they chafe at the part of President George W. Bush's order that urged states to consider making striped bass a gamefish in coastal waters, a move that would put them off limits to commercial fishermen.

Sportfishing groups pushed for the order. They say the added layer of federal protection will help ensure the full recovery of striped bass, which suffered dramatic population declines in the past.

"The idea is to keep the species healthy, and take away elements that might endanger it in the future," said Charles Witek, state chairman of the Coastal Conservation Association of New York, a nonprofit group of saltwater recreational anglers.

Despite their anxiety, New York commercial fishermen won't be affected by the order in the short term. "We have no plans right now to end our commercial fishery," said Steve Heins of the state Department of Environmental Conservation's bureau of marine resources. "The stocks right now are in very good shape."

The other fish Bush named in the order, red drum, is more prevalent in Southern waters.

Prized for their size and their firm, mild flesh, striped bass have bounced back remarkably from their low point in 1982. Back then, scientists estimated there were only 5 million left in Atlantic waters. Now there are as many as 65 million: they are no longer considered overfished.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages marine fisheries in near-shore waters from Maine to Florida, placed strict limits on the harvest of striped bass in the mid-1980s. A 1990 federal moratorium followed, banning commercial and recreational fishing of striped bass in federal waters -- 3 to 200 miles offshore.

"If and when those prohibitions are removed, the executive order would ensure that striped bass and red drum remain reserved for recreational catch as a conservation measure," Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said at an Oct. 19 press briefing.

About 60 percent of the striped bass sold in the United States comes from fish farms, with the other 40 percent caught wild, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Arnold Leo, a commercial fisheries consultant to the Town of East Hampton and a member of the commission's striped bass advisory panel, said he expected the issue to come up at today's meeting of the commission's striped bass management board.

Leo called the president's order "a completely unjustifiable reallocation of a public resource to one user group."

Commercial fishermen are restricted to a quota based on historic landings, while recreational anglers face a limit on the number and length of fish they catch each day. In times when striped bass are abundant, that means recreational anglers can conceivably catch far more fish than commercial boats.

"We're stuck with like one fifth of what the recreational guys have," Leo said.