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  New federal policy reserves red drum and striped bass for recreational fishermen
By SUSAN WEST President George W. Bush has announced new federal policy that would give recreational fishermen exclusive access to striped bass and red drum. In an executive order announced during a visit to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Musuem in St. Michaels, Md., on Saturday, Oct. 20, Bush encouraged states to designate striped bass and red drum gamefish, a legal designation that prohibits commercial catches and reserves the fish for sportfishermen. The order also directs the Departments of Commerce and Interior to work with federal fishery management councils to prohibit the sale of striped bass and red drum caught in federal waters, from three to 200 miles off the coast. Current regulations prohibit commercial and recreational fishing for both species in federal waters, but as stocks have grown healthier under fishing restrictions, some managers and scientists have recommended lifting the ban. “If and when those prohibitions are removed, the executive order would ensure that striped bass and red drum are reserved for recreational catch as a conservation measure,” said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, in a teleconference with reporters Friday, Oct. 19. The order comes at a time when scientists have seen improvement in the abundance and health of striped bass and red drum. Striped bass were declared officially recovered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the interstate group responsible for management in near-shore waters, in 1995. In North Carolina, the red drum stock is classified as recovering, with biological indicators nearing or possibly reaching target levels. Under current regulations, the commercial ocean striped bass fishery in the state is held to a 480,480- pound annual quota. Commercial fishermen are allowed to harvest no more than seven red drum per day, and the annual harvest can’t exceed 250,000 pounds. Outer Banks commercial fishermen said Bush’s action dashes any hope that they might see less restrictive regulations in the future. “Everyone talks about how we’ll have access again to the resource after fisheries are rebuilt to sustainable, renewable levels, but with one stroke of the pen, that’s off the table now,” said Dewey Hemilright, a commercial fisherman in Wanchese. “This has nothing to do with conservation. It’ll all about allocation,” he said. Connuaghton said the Bush administration has discussed the management of striped bass and red drum with the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and other recreational fishing interests over the past couple of years. The CCA, an organization of sportfishermen and associated industries, began in Texas in 1977 with a campaign to make red drum, more commonly called redfish along the Gulf of Mexico, and speckled trout gamefish. The organization has secured gamefish status for red drum in all Gulf Coast states except Mississippi. Walter Fondren, CCA national chairman, was present at the announcement ceremony in Maryland on Saturday. “This administration’s alignment with the CCA and Walter Fondren and other rich Texas oil men doesn’t surprise me,” said Willie Etheridge, owner of Etheridge Seafood in Wanchese. Fondren’s family helped pioneer the oil industry in Texas. “Still, it’s mind-boggling that my President would hand over the resource exclusively to the small group of people who fish for striped bass and red drum for fun,” said Etheridge. But, CCA spokesman Ted Venker described the executive order as “visionary” and called Bush “a conservation hero” in an interview with the Annapolis Capital Gazette. Hatteras commercial fisherman Jeff Oden said he sees a different agenda at work. “This executive order exposes what has been going on all along during this administration,” Oden said. “The federal government is plowing down and destroying the U.S. domestic fishing industry from Maine to Alaska.” Oden said that he now anticipates heightened pressure on the North Carolina General Assembly to designate both species gamefish in state waters. Federal legislation that would make striped bass gamefish in coastal and federal waters has been introduced every several years for the past decade 
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