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RECREATIONAL ANGLERS FACE SEASON CLOSURES FOR OCEAN-CAUGHT FLOUNDER

MOREHEAD CITY - The recreational season for ocean-caught flounder will close April 3 - July 3 and again Nov. 25 - Dec. 31, according to officials with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF).

The closure is part of an effort by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the National Marine Fisheries Service to reduce the east coast recreational summer flounder landings by 42 percent. Last year, recreational fishermen along the Atlantic seaboard exceeded their harvest target by 5 million pounds.

Each state is required to make harvest reductions based on past landings. Decreases range from 44 percent for Virginia to 4 percent for Delaware - North Carolina will have to reduce its recreational summer flounder landings by 32 percent.

The season closure is only for ocean-caught flounder. Fishermen will still be able to catch flounder in the state's sounds, bays and other internal waters. North Carolina has two major species of founder, summer and southern. Summer flounder are typically found in ocean waters and southern flounder are found primarily in the state's internal waters.

For more information on summer flounder, please contact Rick Monaghan by e-mail at Rick.Monaghan@ncmail.net or by calling 1-800-682-2632 or 252-726-7021.

Public Information Document for Amendment 4 to the Weakfish Plan Now Available for Public Comment: PUBLIC HEARINGS TO BE HELD IN NC IN APRIL

Washington D.C. - The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has scheduled meetings along the east coast to gather public comment and input on the recently released Public Information Document (PID) for Amendment 4 to the Weakfish Fishery Management Plan.

Following are the details of the scheduled meetings in North Carolina.

April 9, 2002; 6:30 pm
Carteret Community College
C-MAST Building
Morehead City, North Carolina

April 10, 2002; 6:30 pm
N.C. Aquarium at Roanoke Island
Manteo, North Carolina

The contact for both of these meetings is Dr. Louis Daniel, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, at (252) 726-7021.

The Weakfish PID outlines six issues the Commission is seeking input on from the public. These issues include reference points, bycatch, reference periods, creel limits, age/size structure, and data collection. The Public Information Document also provides an overview of the management history of weakfish at the Commission, information on the recreational and commercial fisheries, as well as an update of the most recent stock assessment.

The most recent stock assessment update indicates that the management measures put in place in Amendment 3 have resulted in positive trends for the weakfish population, with models indicating fishing mortality has significantly declined from levels that existed when Amendment 3 was adopted. The absolute magnitude of impact should be viewed with caution given the uncertainty of the fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass estimates for the most recent year of the assessment, which is often the case with these final year estimates.

The PID can be obtained by contacting the Commission office at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission's website at . Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the PID, either through attending public hearings or providing written comments. Written comment will be accepted until April 26, 2002, and should be submitted to: Carrie Selberg, Weakfish FMP Coordinator, 1444 I Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20005; (202) 289-6051 (fax) or . For more information, please contact Carrie Selberg, at (202) 289-6400.

CULTCH PLANTING MEETINGS TO BE HELD IN APRIL

MOREHEAD CITY - The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) will hold public meetings in April to receive suggestions and comments on cultch planting - where shells and rock are placed on formerly productive shellfish beds to restore the habitat. Oysters, clams and other aquatic life are attracted to the cultch and will begin to immediately colonize the material.

The DMF's Shellfish Rehabilitation staff constantly looks for ways to improve the program, so annual meetings are held to provide fishermen and interested parties the opportunity to provide advice and input regarding planting sites, methods, materials and quantities. Previously the program only worked with oysters, but has expanded to include clams.

Other issues to be discussed at the meetings include transplanting shellfish from polluted or slow growth areas to productive growing areas, and planting hatchery-reared seed. The meetings are on the following dates:

CORE SOUND LEASE MORATORIUM MEETING MARCH 25

MOREHEAD CITY - A meeting to discuss the future of shellfish leases in Core Sound will be held March 25 at 7 p.m. at the elementary school in Atlantic. The public is encouraged to attend.

The North Carolina General Assembly instituted a moratorium on shellfish leases in western Core Sound in 1996 and commissioned a human use mapping study of the area to evaluate concerns of commercial and recreational fishermen and potential leaseholders. The Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) has been charged with presenting the state legislature with a plan for managing the lease controversy in Core Sound. The current moratorium expires October 2002.

For the last two months, a10-member stakeholder committee appointed by the MFC, has been developing recommendations regarding the contentious issue of leasing portions of Core Sound to state residents for oyster and clam cultivation. Highlights of the recommendations include slowing growth of leased bottom and capping the total acreage available for leasing in the area.

Leasing portions of the water bottom to grow and cultivate shellfish in North Carolina dates back to the mid-1800s, when the first state laws were passed to allow this practice. Traditionally, leaseholders culture shellfish by a variety of means, including relaying existing shellfish from other areas, planting materials to attract shellfish larvae and/or distributing seed (juvenile) stock. Leaseholders are required to market a certain amount of shellfish on an annual basis. Granting exclusive shellfish rights has been controversial because many people feel these leases infringe on their right to access pubic trust resources.

For more information about this meeting, please contact Mike Marshall, Division of Marine Fisheries, by e-mail at mike.marshall@ncmail.net or by phone at 252-726-7021 or 1-800-682-2632.