Fishers display a day's catch in Manteo 

 before limits were imposed. 



virtually every drainage area from 

 Maine to Florida — was in decline. The 

 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 

 Commission (ASMFC), formed to 

 cooperatively manage and protect 

 interstate fisheries, approved a 

 coastwide plan in 1978 to reverse the 

 problem. Meanwhile, Congress gave 

 teeth to the plan by passing the Emer- 

 gency Striped Bass Management Act. 



Overfishing was identified as a 

 major cause of the problem, so the 

 ASMFC instituted size limits and bag 

 limits, says Harrel Johnson, district 

 manager of the N.C. Division of Marine 

 Fisheries in Elizabeth City. 



The goal was to reduce harvest to 

 80 percent of the average catch from 

 1972-79. Any state that failed to fish at 

 or below that rate had to add restrictions 

 on gear or fishing seasons. Maryland, 



however, took a different approach by 

 placing a moratorium on striped bass 

 fishing and starting a stocking program. 

 As a result, Maryland rebuilt the fishery 

 and reopened it in five years. 



North Carolina, using a more 

 permissive plan, met its goals in 1997. 



"Maryland reached recovery faster 

 than North Carolina, which opted not to 

 go that far but to merely restrict 

 commercial fishing back to a point 

 required by the plan and to look at a 

 longer-term rebuilding period that 

 would result from that," Johnson says. 



North Carolina was one of five 

 producer states — states whose rivers 

 contribute to the Atlantic Coast migrat- 

 ing stock — that were allowed to 

 manage their fisheries in internal waters 

 at an 18-inch minimum size limit. In the 

 ocean, producer and nonproducer states 



had a 28-inch minimum 

 size limit and creel limits. 



Now, after 20 years of 

 management, fishers say 

 more striped bass are in the 

 Albemarle than ever 

 before. 



"I agree with this 

 assessment," says Johnson, 

 who has worked in the 

 Albemarle Sound area 

 since 1974. "The popula- 

 tion is considered to be 

 recovered. It appears to be 

 healthy, it is rebuilding." 

 Under the 1978 



management 

 plan, North 

 Carolina 

 commercial 

 fishers were 

 allowed to 

 harvest no 

 more than 

 98,000 pounds 

 of striped bass 

 per year. 

 Today, 

 commercial 

 landings are 125,000 pounds, and the 

 recreational catch is 1 20,000 pounds. 



There are still restrictions: Fishers 

 cannot keep striped bass smaller than 1 8 

 inches in the sound or 28 inches in the 

 ocean. Recreational fishers can keep no 

 more than two fish per day in the ocean, 

 and on the sound, they can keep no more 

 than three fish per day with a season 

 varying from one month to six weeks in 

 the fall and spring. Commercial fishers 

 can harvest any day during set seasons 

 until the quota is met — then, the fishery 

 is closed and gear is removed from the 

 water. 



The ocean and coastal striped bass 

 fishery is managed by the Division of 

 Marine Fisheries; however, once the 

 fish move into inland waters, they're 

 managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources 

 Commission. □ 



30 AUTUMN 1998 



