by Walton Milam, Associate Staff<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For years, Virginia anglers have lamented the arbitrary three mile line separating the legal area to chase Virginia\u2019s striped bass from the \u201cexclusive economic zone\u201d[1]<\/a> where commercial boats can legally reek havoc[2]<\/a> on schools of striper for which the Virginia coast is famous.\u00a0\u00a0The three-mile line is non-sensical for a number of reasons.\u00a0 The idea that the environment is less affected by a fish caught 2.9 miles offshore than one caught 3.1 miles offshore seems unpersuasive at best.\u00a0 If population decimation is the federal government\u2019s concern, the two fish per angler rule seems to address these concerns adequately.\u00a0\u00a0 If the two fish per angler rule is inadequate, laws ought to further restrict the amount of fish legally caught rather than how far offshore the fish can be caught. \u00a0The rule instead seems more likely to be the result of successful lobbying on the part of commercial fisherman who have long foiled the attempts of environmentalists to invoke meaningful improvement, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 While I admittedly am skeptical of any attempt by the government to manipulate behavior to affect environmental change, the case of the three-mile line seems particularly heinous.\u00a0 Commercial fisherman claim that their livelihood depends on their ability to harvest fish outside the three mile zone.\u00a0 However, many anglers make their living guiding \u201cnon-commercial\u201d patrons.\u00a0 Further, even more anglers work five days a week with the hopes that they can spend money and time and enjoy their free time on the weekend.\u00a0 In doing so they spend thousands of dollars on licenses, boats, tackle, bait, gas, ice, food, lodging, and beer. \u00a0These endeavors seem just as economic as any commercial fisherman catching fish in the \u201cexclusive economic zone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, the technological aspect of enforcement is tricky, given the nature of fishing near the line.\u00a0 While most GPS and Fishfinder systems include the Three Mile Line in maps, when fishing near the line, it is not always easy to ascertain whether one is in an illicit or legal zone.\u00a0 This issue is further complicated when fighting a fish that may start in the legal zone but move to the illegal zone.\u00a0 While most citations of which I am aware occur far outside the line, the difficulty of determining when one is fishing legally adds to the confusion.\u00a0 One could foreseeably hook up with a striper within the three-mile zone but have the friend run into the exclusive economic zone, making the fish illegal to catch.\u00a0<\/p>\n