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Fishing Ban to Remain in Place: Md. Won't Pursue Commercial Haul of Yellow Perch

Posted on: Friday, 24 February 2006, 09:00 CST

By Rona Kobell, The Baltimore Sun

Feb. 24--The Ehrlich administration is dropping its proposal to end a 17-year moratorium on the commercial fishing of yellow perch in two Eastern Shore rivers.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources had proposed opening the Choptank and Nanticoke to commercial yellow perch fishing this spring. But after an outcry from environmentalists and recreational anglers, who said the measure would further imperil a scarce resource, department officials changed their minds.

"We are withdrawing that entire package," said DNR assistant secretary Mike Slattery. "We made a proposal based on the best science available, and to be honest, we think that science is pretty terrific. But concerns were raised."

At issue, Slattery said, was the question of fairness - how many fish would be left for the recreational anglers, many of whom catch the fish for sport but then release them, after the commercial fishers came in.

The agency said it would send a letter today to the legislative panel that reviews regulations asking that the proposal be pulled from consideration.

In its place, Slattery said, he plans to convene a diverse group - conservationists, fisheries managers, and recreational and commercial anglers - to discuss how best to manage the yellow perch stocks statewide.

He said the group would not just review the science but also consider the most fair way to divide the resource throughout Maryland's portion of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Yellow perch used to be plentiful in state streams and rivers, but by the 1970s, the bony, striped species was in significant decline. By the late 1980s, DNR closed several rivers to all yellow perch fishing, though managers have reopened some.

Watermen, who had been pushing the agency to lift yellow perch restrictions in the Choptank and Nanticoke rivers for the past three years, will be disappointed by the news, said Maryland Watermen's Association President Larry Simns.

Only about 40 watermen statewide fish for yellow perch, and the catch in the two rivers would yield only a few thousand dollars, according to DNR estimates. The fish - which once was one of the most accessible because its schools would swim up to banks - is not a favorite in Maryland as rockfish or crabs have been. Much of the demand for it comes from the Midwest.

Simns said the decision still hurts. Watermen who are catching white perch and catfish often have to throw back their yellow perch - a situation Simns compares to throwing part of your daily paycheck into the river.

"DNR just botched that up from one end to the other," Simns said of the yellow perch proposal. "They should have [lifted the ban] three years ago. Now you have an election year."

Recreational anglers, while pleased that DNR is withdrawing the proposal, were equally critical of the agency.

"It was such a dumb idea. I never understood why they went down this road in the first place," said Ken Hastings, a St. Mary's County engineer who runs the yellow perch restocking program for the Coastal Conservation Association, a group of recreational anglers that had lobbied against the proposal.

"Why they would go through all this discontent for these two lousy yellow perch streams that weren't ready to be opened anyway is beyond me," Hastings said.

He and other anglers pointed to a DNR report indicating the agency didn't have much information about whether the Nanticoke could support a commercial fishery. In the end, Hastings said, the agency did the right thing, but the process has galvanized recreational fishers, who now will be paying closer attention to fisheries management decisions.

Slattery said the process worked as it was supposed to.

"We had an idea, we listened to stakeholders, and what we took away from this was that we needed to include broader input," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Baltimore Sun

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Source: The Baltimore Sun, Maryland

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