RE: GILL NETS -
ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT AREA
Preston
P. Pate, Jr., Director, Division of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that
effective at 12:01 A.M., Saturday, January 1, 2005, the following provisions
shall apply to the use of gill nets in the ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT AREA.
I.
AREA
DESCRIPTION:
The
Albemarle Sound Management Area as
described in Marine Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3R .0201 (a), excluding Inland
fishing waters.
II. COMMERCIAL NET RESTRICTIONS:
Only
gill nets meeting the specified mesh lengths shall be used in the following
areas identified below. A commercial
fishing operation, regardless of the number of vessels or persons involved,
shall not use more than the lengths of gill nets specified for the following
areas:
Albemarle Sound, Currituck Sound,
Croatan Sound and Roanoke Sound and their Joint Water Tributaries
A.
No gill nets with a mesh length of six inches or greater shall be used.
B.
Gill nets with a mesh
length of 3 inches shall not exceed 400 yards.
C.
Gill nets with a mesh
length of 3 ¼ inches shall not exceed 800 yards.
D.
Gill nets with a mesh
length of 3 ¾ and 4 inches may be used east of a line from Baum Point 35°
55.1602’ N-75° 39.5736’ W to Rhodoms Point 36° 00.2146’ N- 75° 43.6399’ W and
east of a line from Eagleton Point 36° 01.3178’ N- 75° 43.6585’ W to Long Point
36° 02.4971’N-75° 44.2261’ W at the mouth of Kitty Hawk Bay. Gill nets with a mesh length of 3 ¾ and 4
inches may also be used south of the Highway 64/264 Business bridge at Manns
Harbor. Gill nets with a mesh length of 3 ¾ and 4 inches shall
not exceed 800 yards.
E. The
total amount of small mesh gill nets (3 inch, 3 ¼ inch, 3 ¾ inch, and 4 inch)
used shall not exceed 800 yards in
any combination. No other mesh sizes below 5 ¼ are allowed except those listed. Gill
nets with a mesh length of 5 ¼ inches and larger described in II. F. and G. may
not exceed 3,000 yards combined.
F. Gill
nets with a mesh length of 5¼ inches and larger that are equipped with floats
that do not exceed 2 inches in diameter and 6 inches in length placed a minimum
of 10 yards apart, not to exceed 11 floats per 100 yards of net. Nets shall not exceed 3,000 yards in
length. Nets shall be set so as to fish
on the bottom not to exceed a vertical height of 48 inches.
G.
All gill nets with a
mesh length of 5¼ inches and larger not meeting the criteria in Section II. F.
for floats shall be equipped with tie downs spaced no farther apart than 30
feet restricting the vertical distance between the top and bottom lines to 48
inches or less. Nets shall not exceed
3000 yards in length.
III. SEASON
CLOSURE:
The
season for the use of commercial gear described in Section II. B., C. and D,
but excluding Section II. F. and G., will
close by proclamation at a later date.
IV. RECREATIONAL NET RESTRICTIONS
RCGL gill
net(s) with a mesh length of 5 ½ inches and larger are required to be equipped
with floats that do not exceed 2 inches in diameter and 6 inches in length,
with float placement no less than 10 yards apart. The net(s) shall be set so as to fish on the bottom not to exceed
a vertical fishing height of 48 inches.
RCGL holders are not permitted to
use stretched mesh less than 5 ½ inches.
The net(s) shall be attended when used from one hour after sunrise
through one hour before sunset. Marine
Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3M .0513 (d) limits the number of blueback herring and
alewife taken for recreational purposes to 25 in the aggregate per person per
day.
V.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
A.
This proclamation is issued under the
authority of N.C.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 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
pursuant to Marine Fisheries Rule 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 while controlling the bycatch of
striped bass in directed gill net fisheries.
D. This proclamation supersedes
Proclamation M-10-2004, dated November 17, 2004.
December 23, 2004
10:00 A.M.
M-11-2004
/sab