Delaware strengthens fishing regulations
Officials approve new rules to curb declining population of weakfish
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/2...NEWS01/3190308

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said the official state fish, the weakfish, has experienced a major decline in recent years.
The recreational limit was reduced from six to one fish per person, per day, while the commercial limit is now 100 pounds per vessel, per trip.
Rick Cole, program manager for DNREC's Division of Fish and Wildlife, said the new weakfish limits are a precautionary measure to take one more stressor off the species.
"The stocks are at an awful low level right now, and we're hoping it's bottomed out," he said. "We're trying to at least help the stock if it does start to recover."
According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which monitors fish populations throughout the region, an estimated 2.9 million pounds of weakfish, better known as sea trout, exist throughout its range from Massachusetts to Florida.
Cole said the weakfish population was at its peak in the 1980s, when he could reasonably expect to catch more than one each time he went out.
"People would catch those fish weighing 12-16 pounds," he said. "They were very popular in the spring and throughout the year."
Roger Meekins, a fisherman from Ocean View, said he occasionally catches a weakfish, but they are usually too small to keep.
"Fish go in cycles," he said. "You can't regulate them and expect that to do something."
DNREC has also reinstated the standardized 12-inch minimum size for largemouth bass in all locations except for Becks Pond in Smyrna, where the limit remains 15 inches.
In addition, the state has entered a joint fisheries management plan with New Jersey, which enforces a 16-inch minimum size limit for black drum, along with a catch limit of three fish per angler, per day and an annual commercial landing quota of 65,000 pounds.
wmckelvey@dmg.gannett.com 302-537-1881, ext. 208