Market Summary 



Managing the Stocks 



November to March, boundaries for the Atlantic stock of king mackerel extend 

 to mid-Florida. April to October, the fish migrate to Florida's southern tip. 



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Used to be a fisherman could 

 ride offshore and snag all the 

 kings or blues he could carry 

 home. But time, fishermen and new 

 technologies changed things. Some 

 species are running in short supply and 

 need to be managed. For the manag- 

 ers, this isn't an easy job, especially 

 when it comes to pelagic fish. 



The very nature of these open-water 

 fish makes them difficult to study and 

 to regulate. "Generally, species like 

 coastal pelagics are not as apt to be 

 over-exploited," says Charles Ma- 

 nooch, a research biologist at the Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service in 

 Beaufort. "They produce a lot of eggs 

 and the whole stock turns over 

 quicker." 



But pelagics don't play by the rules. 

 "The loophole is that these fish 

 school," says Manooch. That makes 

 them easier for fishermen to spot, 

 target and catch. 



To make matters more difficult, 

 there may be several stocks within one 

 species that travel in different areas, 

 adds Manooch. A stock is a population 

 of fish that migrates together and that 

 is reproductively and genetically dif- 

 ferent from another population of the 

 same species. 



Most of the conflict for managers 

 comes when pelagics cross state lines. 

 Species like mackerel, tuna and marlin 

 rove about the coast like nomads on an 

 offshore interstate. 



Unlike blue crabs and clams, most 

 pelagics wander in and out of state 

 boundaries as they please in search of 

 suitable feeding grounds and waters. 

 The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries 

 monitors and regulates fish and shell- 

 fish from the state's sounds to three 

 miles offshore. 



But who governs the roaming pela- 

 gics beyond the state's boundary lines? 

 And how can the fisheries be con- 

 trolled equally between the states? 

 In general, the federal government 



regulates the area called the Fisheries 

 Conservation Zone, which lies three to 

 200 miles offshore. Enforcement pow- 

 ers are shared by NMFS, the U.S. 

 Coast Guard and state fishery pro- 

 grams. Trying to outline the jurisdic- 

 tion of each is like getting caught and 

 tangled in a gill net. 



To untangle some of the confusion, 

 especially with the pelagic fisheries, a 

 regional management system was cre- 

 ated in 1976 by the Magnuson Act. 

 Administrators realized such a pro- 

 gram was needed to deal with the 

 varied and biologically complex fish- 

 eries. That year, eight councils under 

 NMFS were started to carry out this 

 plan. Now, North Carolina joins South 

 Carolina, Georgia and Florida to make 



up the South Atlantic Fisheries Man- 

 agement Council. 



Its members work alongside the 

 Gulf and Mid-Atlantic councils to 

 make decisions on seasons, gear types, 

 license fees and recreational and com- 

 mercial catch limits. When the group 

 was established, the members in- 

 tended to divide the species according 

 to regions, but because fish know no 

 boundaries this couldn't be done per- 

 fectly, says Jim Murray, director of 

 UNC Sea Grant's Marine Advisory 

 Service. 



When fishing trends suggest that a 

 species within a region or across re- 

 gions is declining, NMFS investigates 

 for proof. With pelagics, this can be a 



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