4VAC20-490 Pertaining to Sharks

REGULATIONS

Vol. 27 Iss. 23 - July 18, 2011

TITLE 4. CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION

Chapter 490

Final Regulation

REGISTRAR'S NOTICE: The following regulation filed by the Marine Resources Commission is exempt 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, 4VAC20-490-30, 4VAC20-490-40, 4VAC20-490-41, 4VAC20-490-42, 4VAC20-490-44; adding 4VAC20-490-46, 4VAC20-490-47).

Statutory Authority: § 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.

Effective Date: July 1, 2011.

Agency Contact: Jane Warren, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Marine Resources Commission, 2600 Washington Avenue, 3rd Floor, Newport News, VA 23607, telephone [phone], FAX [phone], or email [e-mail].

Summary:

The amendments establish (i) a state commercial quota, (ii) additional qualification criteria for the spiny dogfish limited entry permit, (iii) quota monitoring requirements, and (iv) a management control date.

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 lines, as specified in Coastal Pilot, 35th and 36th editions by Lighthouse Press.

"Commercial shark fishermen fisherman" means any commercially permitted fisherman who 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 nonsandbar large coastal shark" means any of the following species:

Blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus

Bull, Carcharhinus leucas

Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran

Lemon, Negaprion brevirostris

Nurse, Ginglymostoma cirratum

Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini

Silky, Carcharhinus falciformis

Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena

Spinner, Carcharhinus brevipinna

Tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier

"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 permitted small coastal shark" means any of the following species:

Atlantic sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae

Blacknose, Carcharhinus acronotus

Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo

Finetooth, Carcharhinus isodon

"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

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.

"Movable gill net" means any gill net other than a staked gill net.

"Large mesh gill net" means any gill net having a stretched mesh equal to or 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.

"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 not 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 having a stretched mesh less than five inches.

"Smooth dogfish" means any shark of the species Mustelus canis.

"Spiny dogfish" means any shark of the species Squalus acanthias.

4VAC20-490-30. Gear restrictions.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to place, set, or fish any longline in Virginia's tidal waters.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to place, set, or fish any shark shortline in Virginia's tidal waters with more than 50 hooks. All hooks must be corrodible circle hooks. In addition, any person aboard a vessel fishing shortlines must practice the protocols and possess the federally required release equipment, for pelagic and bottom longlines, for the safe handling, release and disentanglement of sea turtles and other nontarget species; all captain and vessel owners must be certified in using handling and release equipment.

C. It shall be unlawful for a person to have possess more than two shark shortlines on board a vessel.

D. It shall be unlawful for any person fishing recreationally to take any shark using any gear other than handline or rod and reel.

E. It shall be unlawful for any person fishing for commercial purposes to possess any shark caught in state waters by means other than permitted commercial gear.

F. Any commercial shark fisherman fishing for sharks shall check all of his large mesh gill nets at least once every two hours.

4VAC20-490-40. Recreational catch limitations.

A. Recreational fishing vessels are allowed a maximum possession limit of one recreationally permitted shark, excluding smooth dogfish, per trip, regardless of the number of people on board the vessel. In addition, each recreational vessel angler may possess one bonnethead and one Atlantic sharpnose per trip. The possession aboard a vessel of more than one recreationally permitted shark, excluding smooth dogfish, or the possession of more than one Atlantic sharpnose shark or one bonnethead shark, per person, shall constitute a violation of this regulation. When fishing from any boat or vessel where the entire catch is held in a common hold or container, the possession limits for Atlantic sharpnose shark or bonnethead shark shall be for the boat or vessel and shall be equal to the number of persons on board legally eligible to fish, plus one additional recreationally permitted shark. The captain or operator of the boat or vessel shall be responsible for any boat or vessel possession limits.

B. A recreational shore angler is allowed a maximum possession limit of one recreationally permitted shark, excluding smooth dogfish, per calendar day. In addition a recreational shore angler may harvest one additional bonnethead and one additional Atlantic sharpnose per calendar day. The possession of more than one recreationally permitted shark, excluding smooth dogfish, or the possession of more than one bonnethead and one Atlantic sharpnose, by any person, shall constitute a violation of this regulation.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess any recreationally prohibited shark.

D. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess any recreationally permitted shark landed under the recreational catch limitations described in this section that is less than 54 inches fork length except Atlantic sharpnose, bonnethead, finetooth, blacknose, and smooth dogfish.

E. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, land, or possess any blacktip, bull, great hammerhead, lemon, nurse, scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, spinner or tiger shark from May 15 through July 15 of any calendar year.

F. All sharks must have heads, tails and fins attached naturally to the carcass. Anglers may gut and bleed the carcass as long as the head and tail are not removed. Filleting sharks at sea any shark is prohibited until that shark is offloaded at the dock or on shore.

4VAC20-490-41. Commercial catch limitations.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess on board a vessel or to land in Virginia more than 33 commercially permitted nonsandbar large coastal sharks in one 24-hour period. The person who owns or operates the vessel is responsible for compliance with the provisions of this subsection.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to fillet a shark at sea, until that shark is offloaded at the dock or on shore, except smooth dogfish as provided in subsection C of this section. A licensed commercial fisherman may eviscerate and remove the head of any shark, but the tail and all fins of any shark, except smooth dogfish as provided in subsection C of this section, shall remain naturally attached to the carcass through landing. The fins of any shark, except smooth dogfish, may be partially cut but some portion of the fin shall remain attached, until the shark is landed.

C. From July 1 through the end of February, commercial fishermen may process smooth dogfish at sea, except the first dorsal fin shall remain attached naturally to the carcass until landed. From March 1 through June 30, commercial fishermen may completely process smooth dogfish at sea prior to landing.

D. It shall be unlawful to possess, on board a vessel, or to land in Virginia any species of shark, after NOAA Fisheries has closed the fishery for that species in federal waters.

E. There are no commercial trip limits or possession limits for smooth dogfish or sharks on the lists of commercially permitted pelagic species or commercially permitted small coastal species.

F. Except as described in this section, it shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, land, or possess in Virginia any blacktip, bull, great hammerhead, lemon, nurse, scalloped hammerhead, silky, smooth hammerhead, spinner or tiger shark from May 15 through July 15. These sharks may be transported by vessel, in Virginia waters, during the closed season provided the sharks were caught in a legal manner consistent with federal regulations outside Virginia waters and:

1. The vessel does not engage in fishing, in Virginia waters, while possessing the above species; and

2. All fishing gear aboard the vessel is stowed and not available for immediate use.

G. It shall be unlawful for any person to retain, possess or purchase any commercially prohibited shark or any research only shark, except as provided in subsection I of this section.

H. All sharks harvested from state waters or federal waters, for commercial purposes, shall only be sold to a federally permitted shark dealer.

I. The commissioner may grant exemptions from the seasonal closure, quota, possession limit, size limit, gear restrictions and prohibited species restrictions. Exemptions shall be granted only for display or research purposes. Any person granted an exemption for the harvest of any shark for research or display shall report the species, weight, location caught and gear used for each shark collected within 30 days. Any person granted a permit to possess any shark for research or display shall provide the commissioner, on an annual basis, information on the location and status of the shark throughout the life of the shark.

4VAC20-490-42. Spiny dogfish commercial quota and catch limitations.

A. For the 12-month period of May 1, 2011, through April 30, 2012, the spiny dogfish commercial landings quota shall be limited to 2,148,224 pounds.

A. B. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, possess aboard any vessel or land in Virginia any spiny dogfish harvested from federal waters (Exclusive Economic Zone (3-200 miles)), for commercial purposes after it has been announced that the federal quota for spiny dogfish has been taken.

B. C. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, possess aboard any vessel or land in Virginia more than 3,000 pounds of spiny dogfish per day for commercial purposes.

C. D. It shall be unlawful for any person to harvest or to land in Virginia any spiny dogfish for commercial purposes from state waters after it has been announced that the interstate quota for spiny dogfish has been taken after the quota specified in subsection A of this section has been landed and announced as such.

D. All E. Any spiny dogfish harvested from state waters or federal waters, for commercial purposes, must shall only be sold to a federally permitted dealer.

E. F. It shall be unlawful for any buyer of seafood to receive any spiny dogfish after any commercial harvest or landing quota described in this section has been attained and announced as such.

4VAC20-490-44. Spiny dogfish limited entry fishery permit and permit transfers.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, catch, possess, or land any spiny dogfish without first having obtained a spiny dogfish limited entry fishery permit from the Marine Resources Commission. Such permit shall be completed in full by the permittee who shall keep a copy of that permit in his possession while fishing for or selling spiny dogfish. Permits shall only be issued to Virginia registered commercial fishermen meeting either of the following criteria:

1. Shall have documented on Virginia mandatory harvest reporting forms harvest from a legally licensed, movable gill net for an average of at least 60 days from 2006 through 2008, and a minimum harvest of one pound of spiny dogfish at any time from 2006 through 2008.

2. Shall have documented on Virginia mandatory reporting forms harvests that total greater than 10,000 pounds of spiny dogfish in any one year from 2006 through 2008.

3. Any smooth dogfish or unidentified dogfish documented on Virginia mandatory reporting forms as harvested during the months of November through February, 2006 through 2008, shall be classified as spiny dogfish when determining eligibility for a Spiny Dogfish Limited Entry Fishery Permit as described in subdivisions 1 and 2 of this subsection.

B. It is unlawful to transfer any spiny dogfish limited entry fishery permit after November 23, 2009.

C. The use of agents in the spiny dogfish fishery is prohibited.

D. The commissioner or his designee may grant exceptions to the prohibition against transfers of the spiny dogfish limited entry fishery permit as described in subsection B of this section to any individual who meets any of the following criteria:

1. Demonstrates a significant hardship on the basis of health and provides the commissioner documentation, by an attending physician, of the medical condition.

2. Demonstrates a significant hardship on the basis of a call to active military duty and provides the commissioner an explanation, in writing, and copy of the military orders for active duty.

3. Documents the retirement or death of the immediate family member permitted for the spiny dogfish limited entry fishery and possessing a legal Commercial Fisherman Registration License.

4VAC20-490-46. Spiny dogfish monitoring requirements.

A. Any Virginia seafood buyer purchasing spiny dogfish shall provide written reports to the Marine Resources Commission of weekly landings for each registered commercial fisherman to include that commercial fisherman's registration license number and exact weight of the spiny dogfish landed, in pounds, until it is projected and announced that 80% of Virginia spiny dogfish quota has been landed.

B. When it has been projected and announced by the Marine Resources Commission that 80% of the Virginia spiny dogfish quota has been landed, each Virginia seafood buyer shall call the Marine Resources Commission's interactive voice recording system on a daily basis to report the daily landings for each registered commercial fisherman to include the commercial fisherman's registration license number and exact weight of spiny dogfish landed, in pounds, until it is projected and announced that the Virginia spiny dogfish quota has been landed and the fishery closed.

4VAC20-490-47. Control date.

The Marine Resources Commission hereby establishes April 30, 2011, as the control date for management of all spiny dogfish licenses and fisheries in Virginia. The harvest of any spiny dogfish or the participation by any individual in any spiny dogfish fishery after the control date will not be considered in the calculation of spiny dogfish rights should further entry limitations be established. Any individual entering the spiny dogfish fishery after the control date may forfeit any right to future participation in the spiny dogfish fishery should further entry limitation be established.

VA.R. Doc. No. R11-2884; Filed June 30, 2011, 12:03 p.m.