Holding the line on fishing restrictions will pay off in rebuilding summer flounder, bluefish and other fish stocks along the mid-Atlantic coast, says a new study by an environmental group.

With Congress being urged by some recreational fishing groups to make the federal fishery management law more "flexible," the Pew Environment Group produced a report today that says catch restrictions meant to rebuild four depleted mid-Atlantic fish stocks will pay off in higher catches later on, and more money in the pockets of those who depend on recreational and commercial fishng for a livelihood.

The report estimates catches would be 24 to 48 percent higher by now if the four fish stocks had been rebuilt by 2007, worth $570 million a year in increased income, sales and jobs for fishermen as well as operators of bait and tackle shops, motels and restaurants.

Some anglers have chafed at catch limits imposed on summer flounder and other stocks, and have argued that federal fisheries managers need to have more flexibility to respond to the latest scientific evidence of fish abudnance and reproduction. Lawmakers in New Jersey and New York have introduced legislation to that effect, arguing that "outdated federal rules" are stifling the once-thriving fishing industry.  For more on the legislation, go here. 

But the move has drawn fire from conservationists and split fishing groups, who argue that relaxing catch limits before a fish population has clearly recovered could have catastrophic long-term economic and environmental consequences.  And they're pointing to the successful restoration from the brink of collapse of striped bass, better known here in Maryland as rockfish.

Carl Safina, marine ecologist and conservation advocate, recalled how striped bass nearly disappeared in the 1980s from the Chesapeake Bay and mid-Atlantic waters because fisheries managers dithered as commercial fishermen resisted drastic catch restrctions    The fish declined so precipitously that Maryland imposed a complete catch moratorium in 1980, and other states then followed with tight restrictions.  But the stock recovered quickly, enabling Maryland to lift its moratorium after just five years.

"You simply cannot have good fishing if the fish don't recover," Safina said. "And they won't recover if we don't let them recover."

(1997 Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna)