News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
April 15, 2009 - Vol. 39, No. 162
For more information, contact Roy Miller, 302-739-9914, or Rick Cole, 302-739-4782, Fisheries, or Joanna C. Wilson, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.
Atlantic Sharks, Spiny Dogfish Regulations to Be Topic of April 23 Public Hearing
The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23 in the Division of Soil and Water Conservation building at the western end of Pilottown Road in Lewes, on proposed modifications to the state’s Tidal Finfish Regulations concerning Atlantic sharks and commercial fishing for spiny dogfish.
The purpose of the proposed revisions is to bring Delaware into compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Coastal Sharks and to liberalize commercial requirements in concert with the most recent revision to the ASMFC’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish.
The Interstate Plan for Coastal Sharks mirrors requirements for shark fishing in federal waters by requiring all states from Virginia to New Jersey to prohibit recreational and commercial landings of 10 shark species - silky, tiger, blacktip, spinner, bull, lemon, nurse, scalloped hammerheads, great hammerhead and smooth hammerhead - from May 15 through July 15. Delaware and all other states also must prohibit recreational and commercial landings of sandbar sharks year-round, except for those commercial fishermen who hold a valid sandbar shark research permit issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
Additional revisions to the coastal sharks plan are as follows:
Shore-bound anglers may harvest one shark per day not otherwise prohibited, including smooth dogfish sharks, plus one additional bonnethead, one Atlantic sharpnose and one additional smooth dogfish per day.
Recreational fishing vessels will be allowed to harvest and possess one shark not otherwise prohibited per trip, including one smooth dogfish, regardless of the number of people on the vessel.
In addition each recreational angler aboard a vessel may harvest and possess one bonnethead, one Atlantic sharpnose and one smooth dogfish per person per trip.
All sharks possessed by recreational fisherman must have the heads, tails and fins attached naturally to the carcass prior to landing on shore.
Commercial fishermen may eviscerate and remove the head of any shark reduced to possession, but the tail and fins must remain attached to the carcass.
When the NMFS closes the recreational or commercial fishery for any species of shark in federal waters other than the spiny dogfish, the recreational or commercial landing, harvest and possession of that species shall be prohibited in Delaware waters until the NMFS reopens the fishery.
Any commercial fisherman possessing sharks taken in large mesh gill nets may not use a gill net that exceeds 2,735 yards when otherwise legal to do so, and the net must be tended at a minimum of every two hours if the sharks are to be landed.
The coast-wide commercial quota for spiny dogfish has been liberalized to 12 million pounds per year, to be allocated among a Northern Region, Southern Region and North Carolina. The Southern Region, which includes Delaware, is allocated 26 percent of the annual quota. When the quota in the Southern Region is projected to be reached, the commercial landing, harvest, and possession of spiny dogfish for commercial purposes will be prohibited for the remainder of the year.
The daily landing limit for any Delaware commercial foodfishing license holder will be 3,000 pounds of spiny dogfish, except for those taking spiny dogfish from federal waters or for any Delaware fisherman selling spiny dogfish to a federally-permitted dealer, in which case federal possession and landing limits apply, including federal closures on the possession and landing of spiny dogfish. Any Delaware commercial fisherman in possession of a federal permit will have to abide by the most restrictive spiny dogfish landing limits, whether they are federal or state.
Questions may be addressed to the Fisheries Section, Division of Fish and Wildlife, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, 302-739-9914. Comments for the hearing record may be sent to Lisa Vest, DNREC Hearing Officer, DNREC Office of the Secretary, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901 or emailed to lisa.vest@state.de.us. The record will remain open for written or e-mail comments until 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 28, 2009.