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VMRC considers reducing striped bass limits

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will hold a public hearing next month on a proposal to reduce the commercial and recreational harvests of Atlantic striped bass. The meeting will be held at noon on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at commission headquarters in Newport News.

VMRC public information officer Laurie Naismith said that the proposed reduction is for the conservation of the spawning stock of striped bass. She said the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission projects the population of the striped bass, or rockfish, will be over-fished in 2015 at current fishing mortality rates.

The commission will consider proposals that reduce the commercial and recreational harvests of Atlantic striped bass by 20.5 percent from these Chesapeake Bay fisheries and 25 percent from the coastal fisheries.

As proposed, the commission would establish the Virginia commercial Chesapeake Bay striped bass quota as 1,064,997 pounds, Naismith said, or a 20.5 percent reduction from the 2012 Virginia commer...

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