Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 20 - MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION › Chapter 720 - PERTAINING TO RESTRICTIONS ON OYSTER HARVEST › Section 4VAC20-720-15 - Control date, license moratorium, transferability, and agents

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. The Marine
				Resources Commission (commission) hereby establishes July 1, 2014, as the
				control date for management of all public oyster fisheries in Virginia.
				Participation by any individual in any public oyster fishery after the control
				date may not be considered in the calculation or distribution of oyster fishing
				rights should entry limitations be established. Any individual entering the
				public oyster fishery after the control date will forfeit any right to future
				participation in the public oyster fishery should further entry limitations be
				established by the commission.
B.
				Only individuals who have paid the oyster resource user fee described in clause
				(ii) of subsection A of § 28.2-541 of the Code of Virginia in any year
				from 2013 through 2016 may pay that fee in 2017 for harvest of oysters from
				public ground in that year. In any year following 2017, eligibility to pay the
				oyster resource user fee described in clause (ii) of subsection A of §
				28.2-541 of the Code of Virginia shall be limited to those individuals who paid
				the oyster resource user fee for harvest of oysters from public ground in the
				previous year.
C. Should the number
				of people eligible to pay the oyster resource user fee described in clause (ii)
				of subsection A of § 28.2-541 of the Code of Virginia in any given year
				fall below 600, a random drawing shall be held to award eligibility to pay that
				oyster resource user fee to individuals who were not previously eligible until
				the number of persons eligible to pay the fee reaches 600. Any Commercial
				Fisherman Registration Licensee may apply for the random drawing.
D. Any person eligible to pay the oyster
				resource user fee described in clause (ii) of subsection A of § 28.2-541
				of the Code of Virginia, or such person's legal representative, may transfer
				the eligibility to pay such user fee to:
1. A
				transferee who is the transferor's spouse, sibling, parent, child, grandparent,
				or grandchild and who possesses a current Commercial Fisherman Registration
				License and intends to participate in the public oyster fishery.
2. A transferee other than a person described
				in subdivision 1 of this subsection if the transferor has paid the oyster
				resource user fee described in clause (ii) of subsection A of § 28.2-541
				of the Code of Virginia for the previous five consecutive calendar years and
				has satisfied one of the following conditions:
a. Has oyster harvest documented by the
				Marine Resources Commission's mandatory harvest reporting system and buyers'
				reports in a minimum of three of the previous five calendar years; or
b. Has a Commissioner of the Marine
				Resources-approved documented medical hardship or is deceased.
All transfers under this subsection shall be documented on a
				  form provided by the Marine Resources Commission.