RE: GILL NETS -
ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT AREA
Preston
P. Pate, Jr., Director, Division of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that
effective at 6:00 A.M. Monday, March 24, 2003, the following
provisions shall apply to the use of gill nets in areas described below:
I.
AREA
DESCRIPTION
The waters of the North and
Pasquotank rivers.
II.
COMMERCIAL
NET RESTRICTIONS
A.
Gill nets with a mesh
length of 3 ¼ inches shall not exceed 800 yards.
B. Gill nets
with a mesh length of 3 ¼ inches may not
be set in depths of water less than eight (8) feet.
III. RECREATIONAL NET RESTRICTIONS
The 100 yards of gill net allowed
Recreational Commercial Gear License holders must adhere to the net
configurations and mesh sizes and depth restrictions in the waterbodies
described in this proclamation for commercial fishing operations. Marine
Fisheries Rule 3M .0513 limits the number of blueback herring and alewife taken
for recreational purposes to 25 in the aggregate per person.
VI. GENERAL INFORMATION
A.
This proclamation is issued under the
authority of G.S. 113-170.4; 113-170.5;113-182; 113-221(e); 143B-289.52 and
N.C. Marine Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3H .0103 and 3J .0103, 3Q .0107(1)(c) and
3M .0202 and 3M .0513.
B.
It is unlawful to violate provisions of
any proclamation issued by the Fisheries Director under his delegated authority
per 15A NCAC 3H .0103.
C. The
intent of this proclamation is to allow directed fisheries for mullet, white
perch, hickory shad and flounder while managing Albemarle Sound Management Area
striped bass and river herring stocks within the quota established by the North
Carolina Estuarine Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan, the Albemarle Sound
Area River Herring Fishery Management Plan, and controlling the bycatch of
striped bass in directed gill net fisheries.
This proclamation is in response
to bycatch of undersized striped bass in the shallow waters of the affected
rivers.
D. All
provisions of Proclamation M-3-2003
(REVISED), dated February 13, 2003
remain in effect. These are additional
restrictions that pertain to the setting of small mesh gill nets in the North
and Pasquotank rivers.
March 21, 2003
3:30 P.M.
M-5-2003
/sab