Contact: Patricia Smith
Phone: (252) 726-7021
Date: May 13, 2010

Correction: Changes third bullet

Fisheries Commission Revises Gill Net Regulations

RALEIGH – The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission today revised regulations to address interactions with sea turtles in the state’s gill net fishery and settle the recent lawsuit filed in federal court.

The regulations take effect Saturday and apply year-round to all gill nets between 4-inches and 6 ½-inches stretched mesh that are fished as set nets in internal coastal waters, except in the Albemarle and Currituck sounds and their tributaries.

The regulations will not apply to run-around, strike or drop nets that are used to surround a school of fish and then are immediately retrieved. Also, the Pamlico Sound Gill Net Restricted Area will be exempt from these regulations while it operates under an Incidental Take Permit (Section 10 Permit) during the September through December 2010 season.

Under the revised regulations, gill nets must meet the following conditions:

• They must be set only on weeknights – set no sooner than one hour before sunset on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and retrieved no later than one hour after sunrise the following morning;
• They may be no more than 15 meshes in height;
• They may not be fished without a lead core or leaded bottom line;
• They may not have floats or other buoys except those required for identification north of the B. Cameron Langston Bridge on N.C. 58 in Emerald Isle. Floats will be allowed on nets fished south of the N.C. 58 bridge in Emerald Isle;
• No fishing operation may use more than a total of 2,000 yards of net in any combination at one time in any waters impacted by these regulations. No fishing operation may set more than a total of 1,000 yards of net in any combination at one time south of the N.C. 58 bridge in Emerald Isle;
• No more than 100 yards of net may be set in a continuous line;
• There must be at least 25 yards between separate lengths of net.

A proclamation was issued today that implements these measures as of Saturday.

The measures were adopted to settle a lawsuit filed against the commission, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries and Director Louis Daniel in federal court by the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic on behalf of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. The lawsuit claims violations of the Endangered Species Act regarding unauthorized sea turtle interactions with gill nets.