CONTACT: Gordon Helm          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                              9/18/97

To rebuild the overfished stock of Atlantic coast weakfish to healthy levels, the National Marine Fisheries Service will regulate the harvest of weakfish in federal waters from Maine to Florida, the Commerce Department announced today.

The fisheries service, an agency of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has developed weakfish regulations for federal waters that complement state fisheries management rules for that species already in place and cooperatively managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

According to fisheries service officials, biological indicators show that the weakfish stock is severely overfished. Therefore, the fisheries service has implemented the following measures in federal waters:

     -  12 inch minimum size limit;
     -  mesh sizes compatible with the size limit;
     -  bycatch possession limit of 150 pounds for smaller mesh sizes;
     -  no flynetting in a closed area south of Cape Hatteras to the South 
        Carolina state line;
     -  no possession of weakfish while using shrimp trawls or crab 
        trawls when fishing in the area closed to flynetting    
     -  commercial landings of weakfish, taken in federal waters (from 
        state waters out to 200 miles from shore) may be landed only in 
        certain states (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 
        York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North 
        Carolina).

Commercial and recreational fishermen target weakfish in East Coast waters from Massachusetts to Florida. Fishermen catch about eight million pounds of weakfish annually, but marine fisheries scientists believe millions more could be taken if weakfish stocks are managed to a healthy state.

These regulations are expected to begin the process of rebuilding the stock in coordination with other measures implemented under the Atlantic commission's Weakfish Fishery Management Plan.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for managing Atlantic coast weakfish in federal waters, while the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, consisting of 15 East Coast states, is responsible for managing weakfish in state waters.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has the lead in developing a federal weakfish fishery management plan, but has been unable to do so because of workload constraints. In the absence of a federal fishery management plan, the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act allows the Secretary of Commerce to implement regulations in federal waters that complement the Atlantic commission's weakfish plan in state waters. The commission's fishery management plan already requires Atlantic coast states to implement measures similar to those proposed for federal waters, and requests supportive action by the Department of Commerce in federal waters.

The fisheries service developed the weakfish regulations in close cooperation with the Atlantic commission and its member states.

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