For Release: October 7, 1998

Contact: Richard Sisson 222-3075 or 789-3094

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife has announced that the commercial harvesting season for striped bass will re-open from 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 10 until noon on Sunday, October 11, with a possession limit of two fish which measure at least 36 inches in total length.

The opening is made possible because projected landings of striped bass for the last two weeks of the season did not reach the levels expected by staff biologists. In fact, landings in each of the last two weeks were less than half what would be expected based upon previous weeks' landings, according to Richard Sisson, DEM Deputy Chief of Marine Fisheries. Biologists believe that an additional season, scheduled over the holiday weekend, will allow the commercial fishery to harvest the unused portion of the state's 1998 quota of 95,000 pounds.

The re-opening of this segment of the fishery does not change the two fish possession limit that applies to the recreational fishery, nor does it change regulations currently in effect for the floating trap fishery.

Holders of commercial fishing licenses may participate in this harvest, but they may only sell their catch to dealers who have been issued striped bass tags, which are used to identify fish landed in Rhode Island.