THE 



CATCH 



T 



.hat you can catch striped 

 bass at all is remarkable. 



In the 1970s, their stocks suffered 

 dramatic declines that were reversed 

 only through a federal management plan 

 — the first of its kind. As part of the 

 plan, North Carolina and other Atlantic 

 Coast states fell under an interstate 

 system of size and bag limits that 

 seriously curtailed striped bass fishing. 



Today, North Carolina stocks have 

 rebounded from 20 years of restrictions 

 on harvests. The fishery management 

 plan and its success in restoring stripers 

 are a model for the state as it begins 

 drafting its own plans for managing 

 other declining stocks off its shores. 



"This is a textbook case of fishery 

 management," Bahen says. "We almost 



Catherine Harmon Willis ofHatteras set a state record in 1972 

 with this 60-pound striped bass 



around Weldon and Roanoke Rapids. 

 After spawning, the mature stripers will 

 return to the ocean in mid to late spring, 

 where they will stay until fall. Mean- 



while, the fish born in the river will 

 remain there about five years before 

 swimming to the ocean to join in the 

 staging. 



George Peyton Jr. ofRodanthe poses 

 with his prize striper in 1970. 



Aycock Brown 



lost the species because of overfishing 

 and lack of management. When we saw 

 that, we did something about it and we 

 protected it. Now we've got fish back in 

 the numbers we can be proud of." 



In January 1972, before the decline, 

 Bahen recalls catching 45- to 50-pound 

 adult female stripers off Oregon Inlet. 

 But by the late '70s, the Atlantic 

 migratory stock — striped bass in 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 29 



