Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 20 - MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION › Chapter 1040 - PERTAINING TO COMMERCIAL CRAB FISHERY LICENSES › Section 4VAC20-1040-20 - License sales moratorium and license ineligibility conditions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. For any lawful
				crab fishery season, commercial licenses for crab pot, peeler pot, crab scrape,
				crab trap, ordinary trot line, patent trot line, and dip net shall be sold only
				to those registered commercial fishermen who have been determined by the
				commission to be eligible to purchase any of these licenses in 2010, except as
				described in subsection B of this section.
B. For any lawful commercial crab fishery
				season, those registered commercial fishermen who were eligible from 2004
				through 2008 for any crab pot or peeler pot licenses but reported no harvest
				from 2004 through 2007 were placed on a waiting list in 2009 and shall remain
				ineligible to purchase a commercial crab pot or peeler pot license in
				accordance with subsection C of this section.
C. At such time as results from the Bay-wide
				Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey indicate that an abundance of 215 million age 1+
				female blue crabs (blue crabs 2.4 inches and greater, in carapace width) has
				been attained in three consecutive, seasonal (December - March) Bay-wide Blue
				Crab Winter Dredge Surveys, those registered commercial fishermen on the
				waiting list as described in subsection B of this section shall resume their
				eligibility to purchase their commercial crab pot or peeler pot licenses
				according to a limited and delayed access system established by the
				commission.
D. Any person receiving
				a commercial crab license by lawful transfer also establishes his eligibility
				to purchase that specific license; however, any person either failing to
				register as a commercial fisherman in any year or lawfully transferring his
				commercial crab license to another person shall forfeit his eligibility to
				purchase that specific crab license.
E. Any person eligible to purchase any
				commercial crab license as described in subsection A of this section may
				transfer that eligibility to an immediate family member of that eligible
				licensee at any time . In the case of death or incapacitation of the eligible
				licensee, eligibility for any and all commercial crab licenses may be
				transferred to a registered commercial fisherman at any time. Eligibility for
				commercial crab licenses may also be transferred to another registered
				commercial fisherman, except that not more than 100 licenses shall be
				transferred in any current year. All such transfers shall be documented on
				forms provided by the commission and shall be subject to the approval of the
				commissioner or his designee.
F.
				Any commercial crab pot or peeler pot license that was purchased by the
				commission through the 2008 Federal Crab Disaster Relief Program shall be
				permanently retired and shall not be available for sale to any fisherman at any
				time. Any person whose license was purchased under the 2008 Federal Crab
				Disaster Relief Program may re-enter the fishery only through the transfer of
				another commercial crab pot or peeler pot license as authorized by regulations
				in effect at the time of the transfer.
Statutory Authority: §
											28.2-201
					 of the Code of Virginia.