OCEAN CITY -- Do you know what you're doing this summer? What I mean is, are you up-to-date on all the 2011 fishing regulations yet? I hope so, because with the new season knocking at our doors, you might soon find yourself standing beside the water with a fish hanging from your line and no idea what to do with it. Keep it for dinner? Throw it back? You don't want to make a mistake and have that fish you caught end up costing you $500 a pound.
Over the last few weeks a number of state and federal agencies have been spitting out their finalized versions of regulations for 2011. Waiting and wondering what the new regulations are going to be like has become a sort of annual ritual for fishermen. Every moment as the season gets closer the excitement builds, expectations peak, and spirits soar, until that glorious day finally arrives only to find there's nothing there for them but another lump of coal. Rats!
Fortunately, most of the regulations this year are anything but a lump of coal. Sandstone maybe, pumice perhaps, but coal? No, we got that last year. This year the regulations are similar in some respects, but they have a little more breathing room in them.
Take sea bass. Last year we were spooked by the threat of a really short season, like maybe only a couple months long. That would have been bad! But when it all shook out, we ended up with a season running from May 22 to Sept. 12, a heck of a cutback but still a lot better than just two months. Last fall we were again scared into believing that our sea bass season might be reduced to a mere pittance, only to be relieved to find that the season will actually be a little better than last. The 2011 regulations will allow for a 12.5-inch minimum size and a season that runs from May 22 until Oct. 11 and then Nov. 1 until Dec. 31. Not great, but better. Still, the improved black sea bass season was handed to us under the caveat that it is only for this year. Next season, unless other hurdles are overcome, we might again be looking at severe recreational cutbacks. I guess that will make the wait all the more exciting!
Next on the list is bluefin tuna, which also took a hit last year when recreational catch limits allowed anglers to keep no more than one fish per boat, unless it was a charter boat which could keep up to two, and no one could keep fish 59 inches or larger. We've recently been informed that again this season it'll be one fish on recreational boats and up to two on charter boats.
sources
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110421/WCT03/104210335
sources
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110421/WCT03/104210335
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