Publication Name

Island Packet (S.C.)

No one likes to see his ability to earn a living curtailed by regulators, but the federal mandate to come up with plans by the end of this year to manage overfished species and to rebuild their stocks by 2016 means something's got to give.

Black sea bass are at the center of the latest debate. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council came up with a plan it hoped would extend the season for the popular fish.

The season that started June 1 ended in just 45 days for commercial fishermen and by mid-October for recreational fishermen. Some attribute the shorter seasons to increased pressure to fish for sea bass as other popular fish, such as red snapper, are put out of bounds. The short season came even with a stricter limit for daily sea bass catches for recreational anglers, from 15 per person to 5 per person. The new limit started in June.

The good news at the council's meeting last week was that black sea bass are doing better than thought. The latest stock assessment determined that the sea bass are no longer overfished and the annual catch limit could be increased.

But there was some bad news, too. Because the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has done a bad job of tracking commercial and recreational catches, the annual catch limits in previous years had been exceeded. Those overages are being subtracted from the new limit over the next several years, leaving the limit where it is now -- at 718,000 pounds a year -- for the next two years.

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Read the full editorial Inaction Not an Option for Fishery Regulators by visiting the Island Packet (S.C.) website.