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<\/p>\nPOQUOSON, VA – Waterman George Trice has spent a good number of fishing days over the last 10 years involved with Atlantic sturgeon \u2013 first trying to catch them and now showing how not to catch them.<\/p>\n
Working alongside university and agency researchers in a cooperative research program of the Marine Advisory Service (MAS) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), Trice has contributed to better understanding the charismatic but endangered sturgeon, while at the same time helping the fishing industry cope with changes in fisheries management.<\/p>\n
Anchored gillnets, the gear of choice for commercial striper fishermen in Virginia\u2019s portion of the Chesapeake Bay, are likely to encounter the bottom-dwelling Atlantic sturgeon, especially in the spring.<\/p>\n
However, modifying gillnets to create a 3\u2019 gap between the leaded anchor line along the bottom and the footrope at the bottom of the mesh net can reduce sturgeon bycatch, and preliminary research shows that striper catch is not impacted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew when the sturgeon got listed as endangered that the potential was there to shut down the striped bass anchored gillnet fishery,\u201d said Trice.\u00a0 \u201cWe changed from trying to stop the listing to showing we could still fish and not catch these sturgeon if we wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five distinct populations of Atlantic sturgeon, including one from the Chesapeake Bay, were federally listed as endangered in 2012.\u00a0 Virginia had imposed a total moratorium on sturgeon catches in 1974, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) imposed a coast-wide moratorium in 1998.<\/p>\n
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Cooperative research<\/b><\/p>\n
Virginia watermen, like fishermen everywhere, must constantly adapt to changing management regulations, dwindling stocks, and gear restrictions \u2013 and that adaptation spawns ideas about how to do it \u201ca better way.\u201d
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Read the rest of this story and much, much more in the February issue of\u00a0Commercial Fisheries News<\/em>. \u00a0Buy this issue or\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>. [add_to_cart=5908]<\/strong><\/p>\n (Read online immediately with access key and download for future reference.)<\/em><\/p>\n POQUOSON, VA – Waterman George Trice has spent a good number of fishing days over the last 10 years involved with Atlantic sturgeon \u2013 first trying to catch them and now showing how not to catch them. Working alongside university and agency researchers in a cooperative research program of the Marine Advisory Service (MAS) at … <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"