Shad Fishing Gear to be Allowed

MOREHEAD CITY – The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center have agreed to modify the sea turtle settlement agreement to allow North Carolina’s traditional American and hickory shad fishery to occur.

The fishery will be allowed only while sea turtles are absent from coastal waters due to cooler water temperatures.

Customary shad fishing gear will be allowed to operate in the following areas:

• Beginning at noon Jan. 20 in the Pamlico Sound and the Pamlico, Pungo, Bay, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers; and
  
• Starting Feb. 1 in the Albemarle Sound Management Area (Albemarle, Currituck, Roanoke, and Croatan sounds and their tributaries).

The American shad fishery is closed in ocean waters.

Proclamations FF-10-2011, M-2-2011, M-3-2011 and M-4-2011 list the specific regulations for this fishery. The proclamations can found on the division’s website at http://www.ncfisheries.net/procs/index.html.

Fishermen will be allowed to use traditional shad nets in the above areas, which are typically large-mesh gill nets between 4 and 6 inches stretched mesh, not greater than 40 meshes deep. North of the N.C. 58 bridge in Carteret County, fishermen can use up to 2,000 yards of gill net; south of the N.C. 58 bridge, where the water bodies are much smaller, fishermen can use up to1,000 yards of gill net. Floats can be attached to these nets and the nets have no time restraints for being in the water.

Measures are in place to close these areas to fishing if turtle interactions occur; otherwise, the shad season is scheduled to close April 14.

Division sampling for the past 35 years shows there have been no sea turtle interactions during shad season. Sea turtles typically move out of North Carolina coastal waters as water temperatures cool during the winter months.

Once water temperatures warm in the spring, gill net restrictions will revert to the previous settlement agreement parameters. Also, waters not specifically exempted from the settlement agreement remain under the gill net restrictions, as set out in Proclamation M-2-2011.

Under these restrictions, fishermen who set large-mesh gill nets (4-inches-to-6.5-inches stretch mesh, inclusive) must use low-profile nets of no more than 15 meshes in height. The nets may be set only on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, no sooner than one hour before sunset each night, and retrieved no later than one hour after sunrise the following morning. Fishermen must use a lead core or leaded bottom line. They may not use cork, floats or other buoys, except those required for identification north of the N.C. 58 bridge; south of the N.C. 58 bridge, corks or floats may be used. The regulations limit fishermen to 100-yard sets with at least 25 yards between the separate lengths of net. Fishermen may not use more than a total of 2,000 yards of large mesh gill net per vessel north of the N.C. 58 bridge. Fishermen may not use more than a total of 1,000 yards of large mesh gill net per vessel south of the N.C. 58 bridge.

nr-2-2011