New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 25 - DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE RULES › Subchapter 14 - CRAB AND LOBSTER MANAGEMENT › Section 7:25-14.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Blind crab pot line" means a length of submerged line to which crab pots are attached.
"Blue crab" means the crab Callinectis sapidus.
"Commercial crab pot" means a cube or rectangular shaped device not larger than 30 inches on a side with openings inward for the entrance of crabs. Any similar device may be approved by the Division. The material of which the pot is constructed shall have a mesh not less than one inch across measured on its longest axis. The openings into the interior of the pot shall be oval and not larger than seven inches wide and four inches high.
1. Effective January 1, 1998, no person shall possess on marine waters or sell or offer for sale a commercial crab pot which does not include a biodegradable panel or other mechanism which is designed to create an opening to allow the escape of crabs or other marine organisms after a pot has been abandoned or lost, and which meets the following criteria:
i. The opening covered by the panel, or created by another approved mechanism as identified in subparagraph 1iii below shall be oval or rectangular and measure at least six and one-half inches wide and five inches high, shall be located in the upper portion of the pot, and shall be in a position which allows the unobstructed exit of crabs or fish from the pot;
ii. The panel shall be constructed of, or fastened to the pot with one of the following materials: wood lath; cotton, hemp, sisal or jute twine not greater than 3/16 inch in diameter; or nonstainless, uncoated ferrous metal not greater than 3/32 inch in diameter, except that plastic floatable panels may be fastened to the pot on the top side only by nonbiodegradable material and fastened on any other side by one of the biodegradable materials listed above;
iii. The door or a side panel of the pot may serve as the ghost panel if the door or side panel is fastened to the pot with a material specified in subparagraph 1ii above; and
iv. Any similar device may be approved by the Division after consultation at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Marine Fisheries Council.
2. Effective January 1, 1998, all commercial crab pots set in any body of water, less than 150 feet wide from shoreline to shoreline at mean low water or in any man made lagoon shall include terrapin excluder devices attached to the inside of all pot entrance funnels which meet the following criteria:
i. The terrapin excluder device shall be rectangular or diamond shaped and no larger than six inches wide and two inches high; and
ii. The terrapin excluder device shall be securely fastened inside each funnel to effectively reduce the size of the funnel opening to no larger than six inches wide and two inches high; and
iii. Any similar device may be approved by the Division after consultation at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Marine Fisheries Council.
"Crab" means any species commonly known as a crab except horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). A Jonah crab is not considered a crab for the purposes of this subchapter except when specifically mentioned in a particular rule or provision.
"Crab dredge area" means all marine waters of the State including the Atlantic Ocean, with the exception of the Newark Bay Complex, the State oyster beds defined in N.J.A.C. 7:25-19.1, and the Delaware Bay north and west of a line:
1. Beginning at a point (corner 1) on the shore line of Cape May County (Lat. 39 deg 04.35' N; Long. 74 deg 54.81' W) thence running 247 deg 38.08'(T) 21,127 feet to a point (Corner 2) where the Clam Line intersects the Brandywine-Dennis Creek Line (Lat. 39 deg 05.67' N; Long. 74 deg 58.94' W);
2. Thence running 221 deg 14.32'(T) 4,871 feet to a point (Corner 3) (Lat. 39 deg 05.07' N; Long. 74 deg 59.62' W) located on the Dennis Creek Range Line:
3. Thence running 319 deg 56.61'(T) 25,329 feet to a point (Corner 4) (Lat. 39 deg 08.25' N; Long. 75 deg 03.08' W) located in Delaware Bay;
4. Thence running 270 deg 16.96'(T) 17,346 feet to a point (Corner 5) (Lat. 39 deg 08.25' N; Long. 75 deg 10.60' W) located in Delaware Bay;
5. Thence running 324 deg 07.80'(T) 22,527 feet to a point (Corner 6) (Lat. 39 deg 11.24' N; Long. 75 deg 13.42' W) located in the Delaware Bay;
6. Thence running 246 deg 44.27'(T) 11,924 feet to a point on the State boundary 3,400 feet southeasterly of Elbow of Cross Ledge Lighthouse (Lat. 39 deg 10.46' N; Long. 75 deg 15.73' W) in Delaware Bay.
"Delaware Bay," for the purpose of this subchapter, consists of the marine waters under the jurisdiction of the State of New Jersey north and west of the COLREGS Demarcation Line which runs from the Cape May Point Lighthouse in Cape May, New Jersey to F1 5sec Horn at Cape Henlopen, Delaware.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Division" means the Division of Fish and Wildlife.
"Land" means to transfer the catch of crabs from any vessel to any land, pier, wharf or dock.
"Lobster" means the American lobster Homarus americanus.
"Newark Bay Complex" means the tidal Passaic River, the tidal Hackensack River, the Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, and the Kill Van Kull.
"Trot line" means a single length of anchored line no longer than 3,000 feet to which baits or baited barbless hooks are attached.