Gray trout, also known as weakfish, once were severely depleted in North Carolina's and other states' ocean waters. It was not a targeted fishery, but too many weakfish were dying as bycatch in herring fly nets and shrimp nets.

With better management, the species recovered to create an excellent wintertime fishery for North Carolina's recreational anglers and charter captains.

However, along the northern states' coastal waters, their numbers may be plummeting again, says Dr. Louis Daniel, assistant to the director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries in Morehead City.

"A coastwide weakfish stock assessment was completed," said Daniel, who is the state's weakfish biologist and serves on the weakfish advisory panel. "The assessment showed a drastic decline in weakfish harvests, and there were other factors that also showed a decline."

The decline is thought to be natural, not a result of fishing-related mortality, and it largely impacts states north of Cape Hatteras.

"There is evidence there are two separate stocks of weakfish," he said. "We are hearing about anglers catching weakfish in South Carolina and Georgia, states that did not have historic catches of weakfish. North Carolina recreational landings continue to go up, while there appears to be a decline in northern states."

Daniel said that a recommendation from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's technical committee was to reduce harvest by 50 percent but that the move has not been made because of concerns about the results and the data.

"Questions were raised, and we need more information before such harsh action, including a reduction in the recreational bag limit to one fish, is implemented," Daniel said. "We wanted a peer review of the assessment before taking that severe action."

For a state such as North Carolina, where the recreational catching of weakfish has taken on the tone of an annual winter rite along the state's inshore and nearshore coastal waters, reducing the recreational bag limit would not be a popular move.

Cutting the current limit of seven weakfish of 12 inches minimum length to just one fish to meet the recommended 50 percent reduction in catch would be especially loathsome for some. The alternative is a four-fish limit with a defined season. Commercial fishermen also would be hit with severe restrictions.

Therefore, before such severe action is taken, Daniel has asked that the weakfish stock assessment receive more scrutiny.

"No regulations changes could go into affect until after our next meeting in May," Daniel said. "There are conflicting opinions about the weakfish data, and we hope to get a better handle on what's going on before we take such severe action."