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REGULATIONS
Vol. 32 Iss. 17 - April 18, 2016TITLE 4. CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCESMARINE RESOURCES COMMISSIONChapter 490Final RegulationREGISTRAR'S NOTICE: The Marine Resources Commission is claiming an exemption from the Administrative Process Act in accordance with § 2.2-4006 A 11 of the Code of Virginia; however, the commission is required to publish the full text of final regulations.
Title of Regulation: 4VAC20-490. Pertaining to Sharks (amending 4VAC20-490-20; adding 4VAC20-490-48).
Statutory Authority: § 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.
Effective Date: April 1, 2016.
Agency Contact: Jennifer Farmer, Regulatory Coordinator, Marine Resources Commission, 2600 Washington Avenue, 3rd Floor, Newport News, VA 23607, telephone (757) 247-2248, or email jennifer.farmer@mrc.virginia.gov.
Summary:
The amendments add (i) smoothhound shark to the smooth dogfish definition and (ii) a smooth dogfish commercial quota and smooth dogfish catch limitations.
4VAC20-490-20. Definitions.
The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Agent" means any person who possesses the Commercial Fisherman Registration License, fishing gear license, or fishing permit of a registered commercial fisherman in order to fish that commercial fisherman's gear or sell that commercial fisherman's harvest.
"Carcass length" means that length measured in a straight line from the anterior edge of the first dorsal fin to the posterior end of the shark carcass.
"COLREGS Line" means the COLREGS Demarcation Line, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (33 CFR 80.510 Chesapeake Bay Entrance, VA).
"Commercial shark fisherman" means any commercial fisherman permitted to land or possess sharks (excluding spiny dogfish) that has landed and sold one pound of shark or more (excludes spiny dogfish) in that calendar year (January 1 through December 31).
"Commercially permitted aggregated large coastal shark" means any of the following species:
Blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus
Bull, Carcharhinus leucas
Lemon, Negaprion brevirostris
Nurse, Ginglymostoma cirratum
Silky, Carcharhinus falciformis
Spinner, Carcharhinus brevipinna
Tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier
"Commercially permitted hammerhead shark" means any of the following species:
Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran
Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini
Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena
"Commercially permitted nonblacknose small coastal shark" means any of the following species:
Atlantic sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae
Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo
Finetooth, Carcharhinus isodon
"Commercially permitted pelagic shark" means any of the following species:
Blue, Prionace glauca
Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus
Porbeagle, Lamna nasus
Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus
Thresher, Alopias vulpinus
"Commercially prohibited shark" means any of the following species:
Atlantic angel, Squatina dumeril
Basking, Cetorhinus maximus
Bigeye sand tiger, Odontaspis noronhai
Bigeye sixgill, Hexanchus nakamurai
Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus
Bignose, Carcharhinus altimus
Blacknose, Carcharhinus acronotus
Caribbean reef, Carcharhinus perezii
Caribbean sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon porosus
Dusky, Carcharhinus obscurus
Galapagos, Carcharhinus galapagensis
Longfin mako, Isurus paucus
Narrowtooth, Carcharhinus brachyurus
Night, Carcharhinus signatus
Sand tiger, Carcharias taurus
Sevengill, Heptranchias perlo
Sixgill, Hexanchus griseus
Smalltail, Carcharhinus porosus
Whale, Rhincodon typus
White, Carcharodon carcharias
"Control rule" means a time-certain date, past, present or future, used to establish participation in a limited entry fishery and may or may not include specific past harvest amounts.
"Dressed weight" means the result from processing a fish by removal of head, viscera, and fins, but does not include removal of the backbone, halving, quartering, or otherwise further reducing the carcass.
"Finning" means removing the fins and returning the remainder of the shark to the sea.
"Fork length" means the straight-line measurement of a fish from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail. The measurement is not made along the curve of the body.
"Large mesh gill net" means any gill net with a stretched mesh of greater than five inches.
"Longline" means any fishing gear that is set horizontally, either anchored, floating or attached to a vessel, and that consists of a mainline or groundline, greater than 1,000 feet in length, with multiple leaders (gangions) and hooks, whether retrieved by hand or mechanical means.
"Movable gill net" means any gill net other than a staked gill net.
"Permitted commercial gear" means rod and reel, handlines, shark shortlines, small mesh gill nets, large mesh gill nets, pound nets, and weirs.
"Recreational shore angler" means a person neither fishing from a vessel nor transported to or from a fishing location by a vessel.
"Recreational vessel angler" means a person fishing from a vessel or transported to or from a fishing location by a vessel.
"Recreationally permitted shark" means any of the following species:
Atlantic sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae
Blacknose, Carcharhinus acronotus
Blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus
Blue, Prionace glauca
Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo
Bull, Carcharhinus leucas
Finetooth, Carcharhinus isodon
Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran
Lemon, Negaprion brevirostris
Nurse, Ginglymostoma cirratum
Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus
Porbeagle, Lamna nasus
Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini
Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus
Smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis
Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena
Spinner, Carcharhinus brevipinna
Thresher, Alopias vulpinus
Tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier
"Recreationally prohibited shark" means any of the following species:
Atlantic angel, Squatina dumeril
Basking, Cetorhinus maximus
Bigeye sand tiger, Odontaspis noronhai
Bigeye sixgill, Hexanchus nakamurai
Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus
Bignose, Carcharhinus altimus
Caribbean reef, Carcharhinus perezii
Caribbean sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon porosus
Dusky, Carcharhinus obscurus
Galapagos, Carcharhinus galapagensis
Longfin mako, Isurus paucus
Narrowtooth, Carcharhinus brachyurus
Night, Carcharhinus signatus
Sand tiger, Carcharias taurus
Sandbar, Carcharhinus plumbeus
Sevengill, Heptranchias perlo
Silky, Carcharhinus falciformis
Sixgill, Hexanchus griseus
Smalltail, Carcharhinus porosus
Whale, Rhincodon typus
White, Carcharodon carcharias
"Research only shark" means any of the following species:
Sandbar, Carcharhinus plumbeus
"Shark shortline" means a fish trotline that is set horizontally, either anchored, floating or attached to a vessel, and that consists of a mainline or groundline, 1,000 feet in length or less, with multiple leaders (gangions) and no more than 50 corrodible circle hooks, whether retrieved by hand or mechanical means.
"Small mesh gill net" means any gill net with a stretched mesh of equal to or less than five inches.
"Smooth dogfish" means any shark of the species Mustelus canis. Smooth dogfish are also known as "smoothhound shark."
"Spiny dogfish" means any shark of the species Squalus acanthias.
4VAC20-490-48. Smooth dogfish commercial quota and catch limitations.
A. The annual commercial quota for smooth dogfish shall be 922,030 pounds in dressed weight.
B. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, or possess aboard any vessel or to land in Virginia any smooth dogfish harvested from federal waters once the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries has determined and announced that 80% of the smooth dogfish coastwide quota has been harvested.
C. It shall be unlawful for any person to harvest or to land in Virginia any smooth dogfish for commercial purposes after the quota specified in subsection A of this section has been landed and announced as such.
D. Any smooth dogfish harvested from state waters or federal waters for commercial purposes shall only be sold to a federally permitted dealer.
E. It shall be unlawful for any buyer of seafood to receive any smooth dogfish harvested from federal waters once NOAA Fisheries has determined and announced that 80% of the smooth dogfish coastwide quota has been harvested.
F. It shall be unlawful for any buyer of seafood to receive any smooth dogfish after the commercial quota specified in subsection A of this section has been attained and announced as such.
VA.R. Doc. No. R16-4661; Filed March 24, 2016, 9:46 a.m.
