RE: GILL NETS - ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT
AREA
Preston P. Pate, Jr., Director, Division
of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that effective at 6:00 P.M., Wednesday, March 23,
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 areas
identified below. A 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
A.
No gill nets with a mesh
length greater than six inches shall be used.
B. Gill nets with a mesh length of 3 ¼ inches
shall not be greater than 30 meshes deep or exceed 800 yards in length. Gill nets with a mesh length of 3 ¼ inches
shall not be set in depths of water less than 7 feet, unless attended at all
times. Gill nets of 3 ¼ inches must be sunk and so as
not to fish within 3 feet of the water’s surface.
C.
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 bridge at Manns
Harbor. Gill nets with a mesh length
of 3 ¾ and 4 inches shall not exceed 800 yards.
D. The
total amount of small mesh gill nets ( 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.
E. Gill
nets with a mesh length of 5¼ inches and larger shall not exceed 1,000 yards
except as provided in Section II. F. and G.
F. Gill
nets with a mesh length of 5 ¼ 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 must not exceed 3,000 yards in length
and must 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 are required to 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 must not exceed 3000 yards in length
and must be set so as to fish on the bottom not to exceed a vertical height of
48 inches.
H. No
gill nets may be used in the area southwest of a line from Black Walnut Point
35° 59’ 23” N- 76° 41’ 00” W, running 138° (M) to a point 35° 56’ 20”N- 76° 36’
02” W at the mouth of Mackey’s Creek, including Roanoke, Cashie, Middle and
Eastmost rivers.
Only
drift gill nets may be used in the joint waters of Roanoke, Middle, Eastmost,
and Cashie rivers. Drift gill nets may
also be used in the Chowan and Meherrin rivers with the following
restrictions:
A. Only drift gill nets with a mesh
length of 3 inches may be used.
B. Only
one drift gill net may be used per vessel.
C. No
more than 100 yards of drift gill nets may be used per vessel.
D. All
drift gill nets must be attended at all times.
IV. SEASON CLOSURE:
The
season for the use of commercial gear described in Section II. A., B., C., and
E. and Section III., but excluding
Section II. F. and G., will close by
proclamation at a later date.
The 100 yards of gill net allowed
Recreational Commercial Gear License holders must adhere to the net
configurations and mesh sizes 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:
B. It is unlawful to violate provisions of any
proclamation issued by the Fisheries Director under his delegated authority per
N.C. 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, and controlling the bycatch of striped bass in directed gill net
fisheries.
D. The prohibition of the use of 2 1/2 inch drift
gill nets in the Albemarle Sound River Herring
Management Area from January 1 through May 15 was effective January 1,
2001, in order to comply with the recommendations of the Albemarle Sound Area
River Herring Fishery Management Plan.
E. This
proclamation supersedes Proclamation M-2-2005 (Revised), dated February 15,
2005.
March 21, 2005
2:15 P.M.
M-3-2005
/sab