Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 322 CMR - Division of Marine Fisheries › Title 322 CMR 4.00 - Fishing and Shellfish Equipment › Section 4.06 - Use of Mobile Gear

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Definitions
. For purposes of 322 CMR 4.06 the
			 following terms shall have the following meanings:
Area 5
means that area within the
				waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth beginning at a point 2.80
				nautical miles from shore on the northernmost Gloucester/Rockport marine
				boundary; thence 136 ° true 4.35 nautical miles to a point 055 ° true
				1.85 nautical miles from Straitsmouth Island Light; thence 162 ° true 1.40
				nautical miles to a point 100 true 1.85 nautical miles from Straitsmouth Island
				Light; thence 180 ° true 1.65 nautical miles to a point 137 ° true 2.70
				nautical miles from Straitsmouth Island Light; thence 210 ° true 2.60
				nautical miles to a point on the southernmost Gloucester/Rockport marine
				boundary where said boundary line intersects a line bearing 130 ° true 2.70
				nautical miles from Salt Island; thence seaward along the southernmost
				Gloucester/Rockport marine boundary to the territorial seas line of the
				Commonwealth; thence northerly along said line to its intersection with the
				northernmost Gloucester/Rockport marine boundary; thence shoreward along said
				boundary to the starting point.
Area 6
means that area within the
				waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth beginning at the intersection
				of the northerly Rockport/Gloucester town line and the territorial seas line;
				thence along the territorial seas line to the Massachusetts/New Hampshire
				boundary; thence shoreward along the boundary to a point one nautical mile from
				shore; thence in a southerly direction along an imaginary line parallel to and
				one nautical mile from shore to a point on the Rockport/Gloucester town line
				one nautical mile from shore; thence seaward to the starting
				point.
Coastal Access Permit (CAP)
means the
				regulated fishery permit endorsement for certain mobile gear, issued pursuant
				to M.G.L. c. 130, § 80, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(4)(a):
Regulated Fishery
and 7.05:
Coastal Access Permit
				(CAP).
Cod End
means all parts of a net a
				distance of 50 continuous meshes forward of the terminal portion of the net
				where fish are retained.
Director
means the Director of the
				Division of Marine Fisheries.
Division
means the Division of Marine
				Fisheries.
Dredge
means mobile fishing gear
				consisting of a mouth frame attached to a holding bag constructed of metal
				rings, mesh or cages.
Effective Fishing Width
means the
				distance measured between the extreme outside edges of the mouth of a dredge or
				dredges.
Fishing
or
Fish
				For
means to harvest, catch or take or attempt to harvest, catch
				or take any fish or shellfish for commercial purposes. A vessel is presumed to
				be fishing if its dredge, trawl or seine gear remains in the water or is not on
				board and secured to the vessel's sides or sterns.
Ghost Gear
means any fixed fishing
				gear including, but not limited to, gillnets and traps with their associated
				ropes which are no longer buoyed to the surface of the water, are not visible
				from the surface and become entangled with mobile gear.
Hauling Back
means retrieving any
				dredge, trawl or seine and placing the contents of the catch on the deck or
				hold of the vessel.
Mobile Gear
means any moveable or
				encircling fishing gear or nets which are towed, hauled or dragged through the
				water for the harvest of fish including, but not limited to, pair trawls, otter
				trawls, beam trawls, mid water trawls, scottish seines, danish seines, pair
				seines, purse seines or shellfish dredges.
Molted Lobster
means any newly molted
				lobster whose carapace has not hardened and may be dented by exerting lateral
				pressure with the fingertips.
Night Fishing
means fishing ½
				hour after sunset to ½ hour before sunrise during the period of March
				1st through October 31st,
				or from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. during the period of November
				1st through the last day of February.
NOAA Chart
means the official and
				reproduced nautical charts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
				Administration, United States Department of Commerce.
Person
means any individual, including
				the captain, master or crew member of a fishing vessel, or any firm,
				partnership, corporation or other business entity.
Purse Seine
means any vertical wall of
				netting with floats on the top and weights at the bottom that is deployed to
				surround a school of fish and encloses fish in the netting by drawing together
				and tightening the bottom of the net.
Seine
means a net with long narrow
				wings that is rigged with floats and weights that is moved through the water to
				catch fish or any floated or weighted net that is used to encircle fish and is
				closed by means of a drawstring through threaded rings attached to the bottom
				of the net.
Small Mesh Squid Trawl Exempted Area
means that area within the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth
				beginning where 41° 40' north latitude intersects with the eastern
				shoreline of Chatham; thence in a straight line due east to where it intersects
				with the three nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Chart #13646; thence
				following the three nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Charts #13246 and
				#13237 in a southerly direction to where it intersects with 70° 00' west
				longitude; thence due south along the 70° meridian to where it intersects
				again with the three nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Chart #13237;
				thence following the three nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Charts
				#13237 and #13218 in a southerly then westerly direction to the
				Massachusetts-Rhode Island seaward marine boundary; thence following the
				Massachusetts-Rhode Island seaward marine boundary in a northerly direction to
				the shoreline; thence following the shoreline in a easterly direction to the
				starting point. This shall exclude all applicable inshore restricted waters
				defined at
				322
				CMR 4.02.
Small Mesh Trawl
means any trawl with
				net mesh openings that are less than 6½ inch in the cod end and six
				inches throughout the remainder of the net.
Southern Shoreline of the Elizabeth
				Islands
means the area circumscribed by an imaginary line
				beginning at the shortest straight line between Cuttyhunk Island and Nashawena
				Island; the shortest straight line between the easternmost point of Nashawena
				Island and the southwesternmost point of Pasque Island; the shortest straight
				line between Pasque Island and Naushon Island; the shortest straight line
				between Jobs Neck on the eastern side of Naushon Island to the southernmost
				point on Nonamesset Island; the shortest straight line from Mink's Point on the
				northernmost point of Nonamesset Island to the western entrance of Little
				Harbor in Woods Hole.
Three Mile Line
means that line as it
				appears on NOAA charts demarcating waters that are three nautical miles from
				the coastline.
Top of the Trawl Net
means the 50% of
				the trawl net that would not be in contact with the ocean bottom during a tow
				if the trawl net were laid flat on the ocean floor. It shall not include head
				ropes attached to the net.
Trawl
means any mobile fishing gear or
				nets which are towed, hauled, or dragged through the water for the harvest of
				fish including, but not limited to, otter trawls, beam trawls, and pair
				trawls.
Twine Top
means the net material or
				other material on the top of a scallop dredge.
Upper Cape Cod Whiting Area
means that
				area within the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth encompassed
				by an imaginary straight line that begins 42° 7.85' north latitude and
				70° 30.1' west longitude; thence in a south southeasterly direction to
				where it intersects with 42° 00' north latitude and 70° 24.076' west
				longitude; thence due east to where it intersects with 42° 00' north
				latitude and 70° 13.225 west longitude; thence in a north northwesterly
				direction to where it intersects with 42° 4.75' north latitude and 70°
				16.95' west longitude; thence in a east northeasterly direction to where it
				intersects with 42° 8.35' north latitude and 70° west longitude; thence
				in a northwesterly direction to 42°14.05' north latitude and 70° 8.8'
				west longitude; thence in a west southwesterly direction to the initial
				coordinate.
Vessel
means any commercial fishing
				vessel registered under the laws of the state and conducting commercial fishing
				operations within waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
(2)
Seasonal Mobile Gear
			 Closures
. The following closures shall apply to the use of mobile
			 gear within the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
(a)
Area 1 - North Shore Region -
			 Year Round Closure
. Except as provided at
			 322
			 CMR 4.06(2)(a)1. and
			 4.06(2)(k), it shall be unlawful to fish with mobile gear within the waters of
			 the North Shore Region Year Round Closure. The North Shore Region Year Round
			 Closure consists of those waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth
			 encompassed by an imaginary line beginning where 41° 21.552' north latitude
			 intersects with the eastern shoreline of Deer Island in Winthrop; thence in a
			 straight line in an east northeasterly direction to where it intersects with
			 42° 24.497' north latitude and 70° 49.232' west longitude; thence in a
			 straight line in a northeasterly direction to where it intersects with 42°
			 27.018 north latitude and -70° 46.446' west longitude; thence continuing in
			 a straight line in a northeasterly direction to where it intersects with
			 42° 29.664' north latitude and 70° 43.914' west longitude; thence in a
			 straight line in a northeasterly direction to where it intersects with 42°
			 31.688' north latitude and 70° 40.164' west longitude; thence in a straight
			 line in a easterly direction to where it intersects with 42° 31.836' north
			 latitude and 70° 38.118' west longitude; thence in a straight line in an
			 east northeasterly direction to 42° 32.502' north latitude and 70°
			 36.432 west longitude; thence in a straight line in a northeasterly direction
			 to the nearest point where it intersects with the three nautical mile line, as
			 described on NOAA Chart #13267, at the 70° 36.162' west longitude; thence
			 following the three nautical mile line, as described on the NOAA Charts #13267
			 and 13278, to the seaward junction of the Massachusetts - New Hampshire marine
			 boundary; thence shoreward along the Massachusetts - New Hampshire marine
			 boundary to the shoreline; and thence in a southerly direction along the
			 shoreline and concluding at the starting point.
1.
North Shore Mobile Gear
			 Seasonal Area Exemptions
. Coastal Access Permit holders further
			 endorsed for North Shore Mobile Gear may fish within the North Shore Region
			 Year Round Closure Area in accordance with the following exemptions:
a.
Area 1A Gloucester/Rockport
			 Exemption
. During the periods of February 1st
				through May 15st and June
			 15th through September
			 30th, mobile gear may be fished within those waters
			 under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth encompassed by an imaginary line
			 beginning off the northernmost Gloucester-Rockport coastline where 70°
			 37.365' west longitude intersects with the three nautical mile line, as
			 described on NOAA Chart #13278; thence following in a straight line in a south
			 southwesterly direction to where it intersects 42° 42.848' north latitude
			 and 70° 37.632' west longitude; thence in a straight line in a
			 southeasterly direction to where it intersects with 42° 40.806' north
			 latitude and 70° 33.468' west longitude; thence in a straight line in a
			 south southeasterly direction to where it intersects with 42° 39.504' north
			 latitude and 70° 32.776' west longitude; thence in a straight line due
			 south to where it intersects with 42° 37.806' north latitude and 70°
			 32.776 west longitude; thence in a straight line in a south southwesterly
			 direction to where it intersects with 42° 35.490' north latitude and
			 70° 34.578' west longitude; thence in a straight line in a south easterly
			 direction to the nearest point where it intersects with 70° 33.770' west
			 longitude at the three nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Chart #13278;
			 thence following the three nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Chart
			 #13278, in a northerly direction concluding at the starting point.
The Director shall amend the Area 1A Gloucester/Rockport
				exemption to prohibit mobile gear fishing within the period of May
				1st through May 15th
				during any year in which the Director lifts the fixed gear seasonal closures at
				322
				CMR 12.04 prior to May
				15th of that year. This prohibition to mobile gear
				fishing shall take effect on the same date that the fixed gear seasonal
				closures are lifted. This shall be accomplished by the Division filing a Notice
				of Declaration with the Secretary of State for publication in the Massachusetts
				Register, publishing the Notice of Declaration on the Division's Legal Notice
				web page, and distributing the Notice of Declaration
via
the
				Division's e-mail listserve.
b.
Area 1B Ipswich Bay
			 Exemption
. During the period December
			 15th through April 30th,
			 mobile gear may be fished within those waters under the jurisdiction of the
			 Commonwealth encompassed by an imaginary line beginning at the intersection of
			 70° 47.838' west longitude with the Massachusetts - New Hampshire marine
			 boundary; thence following the Massachusetts - New Hampshire marine boundary
			 seaward in an easterly direction to where it intersects with the three nautical
			 mile line, as described on NOAA Chart #13278; thence following the three
			 nautical mile line, as described on NOAA Chart #13278, in a southerly direction
			 to the northern Gloucester-Rockport coastline to where it intersects with
			 70° 37.365' west longitude; thence in a straight line in a south
			 southwesterly direction to where it intersects with 42° 42.222' north
			 latitude and 70° 38.130' west longitude; and thence following one nautical
			 mile seaward from shore in a northerly direction concluding at the starting
			 point.
c.
Restrictions
			 on the Use of Trawl Gear during Area 1A and Area 1B Seasonal
			 Exemptions
. It shall be unlawful for any fisher fishing with
			 mobile gear during the Area 1A and 1B seasonal exemptions:
i. To fish trawl nets configured with a sweep
			 or a foot rope greater than 80 feet.
ii. To fish trawl nets, unless configured
			 with a sweep or foot ropes composed of chain, wire or discs.
iii. To fish with roller gear.
iv. To possess or retain any lobsters. Any
			 lobsters caught shall be immediately returned to the sea.