December 4, 2014 — Because they’ve had so much success early in the season, commercial fishermen in North Carolina are going to have their daily trip limits cut from seven fish to four, beginning on Friday, Dec. 5.
“We cannot risk having the fishery close and disadvantaging fishermen in areas where last year’s closure had the greatest impact,” said Louis Daniel, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, which took the measure to slow commercial red drum landings while it tries to finish tallying landings from October and November.
State regulations allow for an annual harvest of 250,000 pounds in a season that begins Sept. 1. Of that, 150,000 pounds is allocated to the Sept. 1-April 30 period. However, the allocation for the fall/winter period has been reduced to 137,324 pounds this year because of 2013 overages.
Read the full story at North Carolina Sportsman