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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 4. Conservation And Natural Resources
Agency 20. Marine Resources Commission
Chapter 252. Pertaining to Atlantic Striped Bass
11/21/2024

4VAC20-252-30. General prohibitions and requirements.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person while aboard any boat or vessel or while fishing from shore or pier to alter any striped bass or to possess any altered striped bass such that its total length cannot be determined.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to gaff or attempt to gaff any striped bass at any time.

C. It shall be unlawful to place, set, or fish any gill net within 300 feet of any bridge, bridge-tunnel, jetty, or pier during any open recreational striped bass season in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, except during the period midnight Sunday through midnight Wednesday.

D. During the period April 1 through May 31, inclusive, it shall be unlawful for any person to set or fish any anchored gill net or staked gill net, for any purpose, within the spawning reaches of the James, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Rappahannock Rivers. Drift or float gill nets may be set and fished within the spawning reaches of these rivers during this period, provided that the person setting and fishing the net remains with the net during the time it is fishing and all striped bass that are caught shall be returned to the water immediately.

E. Any license or permit issued by the commission to fish for striped bass, recreationally or commercially, shall authorize any commission personnel or their designees to inspect, measure, weigh, or take biological samples from any striped bass in possession of the licensee or permittee.

F. Nothing in this chapter shall preclude any person, who is legally eligible to fish, from possessing any striped bass tagged with a Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) tag. Possession of VIMS-tagged striped bass shall not count towards the personal recreational possession limit. Permitted commercial striped bass individual transferable quota (ITQ) holders shall not be required to apply a tamper evident, numbered tag provided by the commission, in order to possess any striped bass tagged with a VIMS-inscribed tag. It shall be unlawful for any person to retain any VIMS-tagged striped bass except to provide the VIMS-tagged striped bass to a VIMS representative. Under no circumstance shall any VIMS-tagged striped bass be stored for future use or sale or delivered to any person who is not a VIMS representative.

Statutory Authority

§ 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 13, Issue 8, eff. December 6, 1996; amended, Virginia Register Volume 17, Issue 5, eff. October 30, 2000; Volume 22, Issue 7, eff. November 14, 2005; Volume 22, Issue 23, eff. July 1, 2006; Volume 29, Issue 2, eff. September 1, 2012; Volume 35, Issue 2, eff. September 1, 2018; Volume 36, Issue 26, eff. August 1, 2020.

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