RE: FLOUNDER – COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATIONS –
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Preston P. Pate, Jr., Director, Division of Marine
Fisheries, hereby announces that effective immediately,
the following restrictions will apply to the commercial flounder fishery:
Commercial fishing operations will have until 12:00 midnight Wednesday, April 20, 2005 to land
the 5,000 pounds of flounder allotted to the harvest period which began at 12:01 A.M. Saturday, April 2, 2005.
1. Vessels will
be required to be tied to a dock in North Carolina prior to 12:00 midnight,
Wednesday, April 20, 2005.
2. Vessels are not authorized to possess or land more than
5,000 pounds of flounder in North Carolina during the April 2 through April 20,
2005 landing period.
III. PERMITS
A. Finfish dealers may not buy more than 100
pounds of flounder per day per commercial fishing operation unless the dealer
has a valid 2005 Atlantic Ocean Commercial Dealer Flounder Permit. Vessels landing more than 100 pounds of
flounder per day from the Atlantic Ocean are required to possess a valid License
to Land Flounder from the Atlantic Ocean from the North Carolina Division
of Marine Fisheries. Permits will be
issued only to those licensed seafood dealers holding a valid license as
authorized in G.S. 113-169.3. Dealers
must abide by all conditions of the 2005 Atlantic Ocean Commercial Dealer
Flounder Permit.
B. Dealers possessing a 2005 Atlantic Ocean Commercial Dealer Flounder
Permit shall report daily by noon
through FAX transmittal (252-726-3903) to the Division of Marine Fisheries
flounder landings from the Atlantic Ocean for the previous day.
A. This proclamation is issued under the
authority of N.C.G.S. 113-134; 113- 170.4; 113-170.5; 113-181; 113-182;
113-221.1(b); 143B-289.52 and NC Marine Fisheries Rules 15A NCAC 3M .0503 and
3O. 0500.
B. It is unlawful to violate the provisions of any proclamation issued by the Fisheries Director under his delegated authority pursuant to N.C. Marine Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3H .0103.
C. For the purposes of this proclamation, fish
shall be considered landed when fish are unloaded or the vessel is tied to the
dock, whichever occurs first.
D. Fisheries
Rule 15A NCAC 3M .0503 (c) (1) states it is unlawful to land more than 100
pounds per trip of flounder taken from the Atlantic Ocean unless the vessel has
been issued a North Carolina License to
Land Flounder from the Atlantic Ocean. This
is in addition to the normally required licenses.
E. Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3M .0503 (c) (2)
specifies that it is unlawful for a fish dealer to purchase or off-load more
than 100 pounds of flounder taken from the Atlantic Ocean by a vessel that has
not first produced a valid North
Carolina License to Land Flounder from the Atlantic Ocean.
F. Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3I .0113 specifies
that it is unlawful for any licensee under Chapter 113, Subchapter IV of the
General Statutes to refuse to allow the Fisheries Director or his agents to
obtain biological data, harvest information, or other statistical data
necessary or useful to the conservation and management of marine and estuarine
resources from fish in the licensee’s possession.
G. The intent of this proclamation is to allow
vessels until midnight, Wednesday, April 20, 2005 to land flounder from the
previous harvest period in North Carolina.
H. Atlantic
Ocean Commercial Dealer Flounder Permits are available at no cost from all
Division of Marine Fisheries License Offices.
I. This
proclamation supersedes the harvest period portion of Proclamation FF-26-2005,
dated April 1, 2005.
April 14, 2005
1:50 P.M.
FF-28-2005
/sab