StriperChaser Fishing News and Views: Fishermen ask that science, not assumptions, be basis for regulations

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Fishermen ask that science, not assumptions, be basis for regulations

Posted by }<)))*> StriperChaser on October 2, 2005, 8:47 pm
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Fishermen ask that science, not assumptions, be basis for regulations
BY SUSAN WEST, SENTINEL STAFF
"Please at least have the dignity of absolute scientific proof when you make decisions that will take away our livelihood," commercial fisherman Reuben Trantimplored fisheries managers Wednesday evening during a meeting in Manteo.
The meeting presented fishermen the opportunity to comment on new proposals for the regulation of the gray trout, also called weakfish, fishery. Brad Spear, fisheries management plan coordinator for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), came to Dare County to record comments on the commission's draft addendum to the weakfish interstate management plan. NC Division of Marine Fisheries biologists, Louis Daniel and Lee Paramore accompanied Spear.
The draft addendum contains management options for reducing the fishing mortality level for gray trout. Spear explained that while the scientists on the ASMFC's weakfish technical committee have recommended a 50 percent reduction in fishing mortality, the commission's weakfish management board has the final say on the amount of reduction.
The small group assembled in the meeting room at Roanoke Island Festival Park questioned the need for ASMFC to move forward with additional restrictions on fishing when the agency has acknowledged that natural mortality is the source of concern for the gray trout stock. Studies have indicated that decreased forage or increased predation might explain the increase in natural mortality.