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Contact: Patricia Smith MOREHEAD CITY – The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will allow gill net fishermen to modify their old flounder nets to meet current regulations for mesh depth. Fishermen may bind their old nets so that they fish only 15 meshes deep, said Louis Daniel, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. Daniel issued a proclamation May 13, which took effect May 15, requiring fishermen that set large mesh gill nets (4-inch to 6 ½ mesh) to use low-profile nets of no more than 15 meshes in height in inshore waters. Mesh size refers to the size of the openings between the knots of a net. “We’ve heard from so many fishermen, who either could not find 15-mesh webbing or had already purchased deeper nets prior to the new regulation taking effect May 15,” Daniel said. “We wanted to allow them a way to continue to fish, with the expectation that they will purchase the proper 15-mesh webbing in the future.” Deeper nets may be cinched every 10 feet, so that they fish as a low-profile net, Daniel said. The nets may not fish deeper than 15 meshes at any place on the net, he said. Another policy-decision the division has made to clarify the new net regulations pertains to the use of float lines. The proclamation prohibits the use of cork, floats or other buoys, except those required for identification, on large mesh gill nets set north of the B. Cameron Langston Bridge at N.C. 58 in Emerald Isle in inshore waters. The proclamation does not specifically prohibit the use of float line (foam core line where the flotation is built inside the rope) and the division is allowing its use. However, fishermen may not use a continuous line of float line for multiple sets. They may use a continuous lead line on the bottom of the net, but these nets require two yellow, properly-marked buoys at the end of each 100 yard shot of net. The proclamation also does not require tie-downs for nets, although the requirement for tie-downs in the upper Neuse, Pamlico and Pungo rivers is still in effect. |