Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 322 CMR - Division of Marine Fisheries › Title 322 CMR 12.00 - Protected Species › Section 12.02 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
For the purposes of322 CMR 12.00, the following
				terms shall have the following meanings:
Abandon
means to leave any fixed gear
				in the waters for a period of at least 30 days without hauling the gear or to
				leave any fixed gear in any fixed gear seasonal closure.
Bottom or Sink Gillnet
means a
				gillnet, anchored or otherwise, that is designed to be, capable of being, or is
				fished on or near the bottom in the lower third of the water column.
Breaking Strength
means the highest
				tensile force which an object can withstand before breaking.
Buoy Line
means that segment of line
				connecting fishing gear in the water to a buoy at the surface. For trap gear,
				the connection to the fishing gear in the water shall be where it connects to a
				trap, trap bridle, or groundline in front of the terminal trap at that end of
				the trawl. If the connection between the buoy line and the groundline is not
				readily apparent or visible then the terminus of the buoy line shall occur at
				the point 12' in front of the terminal trap at that end of the trawl.
Buffer Zone
means an area outward from
				a right whale a distance of 500 yards in all directions.
Cape Cod Bay Vessel Speed Restriction
				Area
shall consist of all waters of Cape Cod Bay south of 42°
				08' north latitude and those waters north and east of Cape Cod west of 70°
				10' west longitude.
Commercial Fisher
means any person who
				may set gear or catch, possess or land fish for the purpose of sale, barter, or
				exchange or keeps for personal use any fish taken under the authority of a
				commercial fishing permit issued in accordance with M.G.L. c. 130, §§
				2, 37, 38 or 80, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(2):
Commercial Fishing Permits
.
Double
means two traps connected
				together by a groundline with a single vertical line buoy attached.
Fish
means to use, set, maintain,
				leave in the water, or haul any traps or gillnets to harvest, catch, or take
				fish.
Fixed Fishing Gear
means any bottom or
				sink gillnets or traps that are set on the ocean bottom or in the water column
				and are usually connected to lines that extend to the water's surface.
Gillnet
means anchored, or surface or
				drifting vertical walls of webbing, buoyed on top and weighted at the bottom,
				designed to capture fish by entanglement, gilling, or wedging.
Groundlines
means the lines connecting
				traps on a trap trawl and lines connecting gillnets to anchors.
Homeport
means the location assigned
				as a vessel's home on its commercial American Lobster Permit issued by NOAA
				Fisheries, or if a federal commercial American Lobster Permit is not held, then
				the Homeport shall mean the location assigned as the vessel's home on its
				Coastal Lobster Permit issued by the Division of Marine Fisheries pursuant to
				322
				CMR 7.01(2):
Commercial Fishing Permits
.
Large Whale Seasonal Trap/Pot Gear Closure
				Area
means those waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth
				that fall within the federally designated Massachusetts Restricted Area listed
				in the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan and established at
				322 CMR
				12.11.
Massachusetts Restricted Area
means
				those waters described in the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan
				and bounded by the following coordinates: beginning at the shoreline at 42°
				12' N latitude; thence heading due east to where 42° 12' N latitude
				intersects with 70° 30' W longitude; thence due north to where 70° 30'
				W longitude intersects with 42° 30' N latitude; thence due east to where
				42° 30' N latitude intersects with 69° 45' W longitude; thence due
				south to where 69° 45' W longitude intersects with 41° 56.5' N
				latitude; thence in a straight line in a southeasterly direction to where it
				intersects with 41° 21.5' N latitude and 69° 16' W longitude; thence in
				a straight line in a west southwesterly direction to where it intersects with
				41° 15.3' N latitude and 69° 57.9' W longitude at the shoreline of
				Nantucket; thence following the eastern shoreline of Nantucket to where it
				intersects with 70° 00' W longitude; thence due north to where 70° 00'
				W longitude intersects with the shoreline of Cape Cod at 41° 40.2' N
				latitude; thence following the shore line of Cape Cod back to the original
				point.
Massachusetts Mixed Species Pot/Trap
				Fishery
means inclusively the commercial lobster and crab trap,
				black sea bass pot, scup pot, and whelk pot fisheries occurring within the
				waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
Negatively Buoyant Line
means line
				that has a specific gravity equal to or greater than that of seawater, 1.03,
				and does not float up in the water column.
Positively Buoyant Line
means line
				that has a specific gravity less than that of seawater, 1.03, and floats up in
				the water column.
Recreational Fisher
means any person
				permitted in accordance with M.G.L. c. 130, § 38, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(4)(b)  to catch,
				possess and land lobster or crabs for family use, sport, or pleasure, which are
				not to be sold, traded, or bartered.
Registered under the Laws of the
				Commonwealth
means any individual or vessel which is licensed by
				the Division of Marine Fisheries as evidenced by the issuance and possession of
				a valid commercial Offshore Lobster Permit or Coastal Lobster Permit, issued
				pursuant to
				322
				CMR 7.01(2):
Commercial Fisherman Permits
, which may be in addition to any
				federal registration of the vessel.
Right Whale
means that species of
				marine mammal known as
Eubalaena (Balaena) glacialis
.
Single Trap
means individual set and
				buoyed traps.
To Abandon
or
To
				Store
means to leave fixed gear in the water without hauling it at
				least every 30 days or in prohibited areas during prohibited periods.
To Fish
means to use, set, maintain,
				leave in the water or haul gillnets or traps to harvest, catch, or take any
				species of fish or lobster.
Trap
means any lobster trap, modified
				lobster trap, fish pot, fish trap, conch pot, or other contrivance, other than
				nets, that is placed on the ocean bottom and designed to catch finfish, whelks,
				lobsters or crabs.
Trawls
means a series of single traps
				that are tied together and buoyed at one or both ends.
Vessel
means every description of
				watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as
				means of transportation on the water.
Weak Buoy Line Contrivance
means a
				device installed into the buoy line that is designed to part when exposed to
				1,700 pounds of tension or less. Lawful contrivances are only these devices
				approved by NOAA Fisheries pursuant to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction
				Plan.
Weak Link
means a breakable section or
				device that will part when subjected to specified poundage of pull pressure and
				after parting, will result in a knot-less end, no thicker than the diameter of
				the line, the so-called "bitter end" to prevent lodging in whale baleen. Lawful
				weak links are those devices approved by NOAA Fisheries pursuant to the
				Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan and published in the Atlantic Large
				Whale Take Reduction Plan's
Supplemental Gear
				Guide
.