86 



precipitous declines in catch, the causes of which are not known." 

 (Mercer, 1985) 



In 1991, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented the 

 Weakfish Fishery Management Plan Amendment #1. This Amendment determined 

 that the weakfish stock is overfished and recommended management measures 

 to restore the stock. The Amendment recommends that states be given 

 flexibility in achieving reductions in exploitation by using a combination 

 of: 



minimum size limits (with appropriate mesh restriction by gear) 



season and area closures for the ccmmercial fisheries 



size/bag limits for the recreational fisheries 



bycatch mortality reduction in non-directed fisheries (principally the 

 South Atlantic shrimp fisheries) 



MINIMUM SIZE LIMITS (WITH APPROPRIATE MESH RESTRICTIONS BY GEAR) 



Minimum size limits are implemented to reduce the harvest of small weakfish. 

 Mesh restrictions allow fish below the minimum legal size limit to escape 

 by passing through the mesh during the fishing operation. 



In the 1985 Weakfish Fishery Management Plan, the Atlantic States Marine 

 Fisheries Conmission reported research that shows that the mean length of 

 northern weakfish were greater than that of southern weakfish. "The mean 

 lengths at age of northern weakfish were greater than southern weakfish and 

 maximum mean lengths at age were also greater in the north and became 

 progressively smaller towards the south." (Mercer, 1985) 



In 1992, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries mandated a 10" TL 

 (total length) minimum size limit for weakfish. In addition, the DMF also 

 implemented a Weakfish Harvest Permit requirement for the taking of weak- 

 fish by gillnets, flynets and beach seines in the Atlantic Ocean. Dr. 

 William T. Hogarth, Director of the North Carolina Division of Marine 

 Fisheries, indicated that conpliance with the 10" minimum size has been 

 very good in the sink net fishery, (telephone conversation, 3-01-93) 



Gill nets are implicitly a very size selective gear. "The imposition of 

 size limits will be most effective in the sink net fleet in terms of 

 escapement of undersized weakfish. Since all fish are handled, undersized 

 fish are quickly released and generally in survivable shape (at least 75% 

 based on personal observation, Ross, 1992) due to the cold water temperatures 

 and minimal damage to the fish." (Ross, 1992) 



Although it isn't pertinent to the sink net fishery, it is important to note 

 that in 1992 the NC DMF also implemented mesh restrictions on flynets used in 

 harvesting weakfish in the Atlantic Ocean. Flynets must have tailbags with 

 a minimum stretched mesh length of 3 inches hung on the square and 35 inches 

 hung on a diamond. 



Mesh restrictions^ have not been imposed on the sink net fishery; the fleet 

 automatically increases mesh size with the imposition of a larger minimum 

 size for weakfish. The fleet went to a larger mesh size voluntarily 

 because the larger size reduces the number of undersized weakfish caught 



