Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 20 - MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION › Chapter 950 - PERTAINING TO BLACK SEA BASS › Section 4VAC20-950-48 - Individual fishery quotas; bycatch limit; at sea harvesters; exceptions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Each person
				possessing a directed fishery permit shall be assigned an individual fishery
				quota, in pounds, for each calendar year. A person's individual fishery quota
				shall be equal to that person's percentage of the total landings of black sea
				bass in Virginia from July 1, 1997, through December 31, 2001, multiplied by
				the commercial black sea bass directed fishery quota for the current calendar
				year. Any directed fishery permittee shall be limited to landings in Virginia
				in the amount of the permittee's individual fishery quota, in pounds, in any
				calendar year and it shall be unlawful for any permittee to exceed that
				permittee's individual fishery quota. In addition to the penalties prescribed
				by law, any overages of a permittee's individual fishery quota shall be
				deducted from that permittee's individual fishery quota for the following
				year.
B. In the determination of a
				person's percentage of total landings, the commission shall use the greater
				amount of landings from either the National Marine Fisheries Service Dealer
				Weigh-Out Reports or National Marine Fisheries Service Vessel Trip Reports that
				have been reported and filed as of November 26, 2002. If a person's percentage
				of the total landings of black sea bass is determined by using the Vessel Trip
				Reports as the greater amount, then the person shall provide documentation to
				the Marine Resources Commission to verify the Vessel Trip Reports as accurate.
				This documentation may include dealer receipts of sales or other pertinent
				documentation, and such documentation shall be submitted to the commission by
				December 1, 2004. In the event the commission is not able to verify the full
				amount of the person's Vessel Trip Reports for the qualifying period, the
				commission shall use the greater amount of landings, from either the Dealer
				Weigh-Out Reports or the verified portion of the Vessel Trip Reports to
				establish that person's share of the directed fishery quota.
C. It shall be unlawful for any person
				harvesting black sea bass to possess aboard any vessel in Virginia waters any
				amount of black sea bass that exceeds the combined total of any portion of the
				Virginia permitted landing limit, as described in subsection A of this section,
				and the North Carolina legal landing limit.
D. It shall be unlawful for any person
				permitted for the bycatch fishery to do any of the following:
1. Possess aboard a vessel or land in
				Virginia more than 200 pounds of black sea bass in addition to the North
				Carolina legal landing limit or trip limit, in any one day, except as provided
				in subdivision 2 of this subsection;
2. Possess aboard a vessel or land in
				Virginia more than 1,500 pounds of black sea bass in addition to the North
				Carolina legal landing limit or trip limit, in any one day, provided that the
				total weight of black sea bass on board the vessel does not exceed 10%, by
				weight, of the total weight of summer flounder, scup, Longfin squid, and
				Atlantic mackerel on board the vessel; or
3. Possess aboard a vessel or land in
				Virginia more than 100 pounds of black sea bass in addition to the North
				Carolina legal landing limit or trip limit when it is projected and announced
				that 75% of the bycatch fishery quota has been taken.