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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 4. Conservation And Natural Resources
Agency 20. Marine Resources Commission
Chapter 751. Pertaining to the Setting and Mesh Size of Gill Nets
11/21/2024

4VAC20-751-20. Gill net mesh sizes, restricted areas, and season.

A. In the restricted areas as described in 4VAC20-751-15, it shall be unlawful to do any of the following:

1. From January 1 through March 25 of each year, for any person to place, set, or fish any gill net with a stretched mesh size greater than 3-3/4 inches and less than five inches.

2. From March 26 through June 15 of each year, for any person to place, set, or fish any gill net with a stretched mesh size greater than six inches.

B. During the period May 1 through June 30, it shall be unlawful for any person to have aboard any vessel or to place, set, or fish more than 8,400 feet of gill net.

C. During the period May 1 through June 30, it shall be unlawful for any person to have aboard any vessel or to place, set, or fish any gill net in the Chesapeake Bay or in Virginia's portion of the Territorial Sea, that is made, set, or fished in a tied-down manner, by connecting the net's head rope and foot rope with lines, which cause the net to form a pocket of webbing.

D. During the period June 1 through June 30, it shall be unlawful for any person to have aboard any vessel or to place, set, or fish any gill net with a stretched mesh greater than six inches in the Virginia portion of the Territorial Sea, south of a line connecting Smith Island Light and the three-mile limit line.

E. From June 1 through August 14, it shall be unlawful for any person to place any unattended small-mesh gill net within 500 yards of the mean low-water mark, on the ocean side of Northampton and Accomack Counties, north of a line, beginning at the southern most point of Smith Island and thence extending due east to the three-mile limit line.

F. It shall be unlawful for any person to use any agent to place, set, or fish any gill net within 500 yards of the mean low-water mark within the Assateague Island Small-Mesh Gill Net Area from August 15 through October 31. The commissioner, or his designee, may approve the use of an agent if the legally licensed person can document a significant hardship on the basis of health that impedes the retrieval of any gill nets within the Assateague Island Small-Mesh Gill Net Area.

Statutory Authority

§ 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR450-01-0099 § 2, eff. January 1, 1995; amended, Virginia Register Volume 11, Issue 17, eff. April 14, 1995; Volume 13, Issue 8, eff. January 1, 1997; Volume 15, Issue 18, eff. May 1, 1999; Volume 17, Issue 16, eff. April 1, 2001; Volume 22, Issue 6, eff. November 1, 2005; Volume 24, Issue 15, eff. March 1, 2008; Volume 25, Issue 6, eff. October 29, 2008; Volume 29, Issue 10, eff. January 1, 2013; Volume 31, Issue 4, eff. September 27, 2014; Volume 37, Issue 15, eff. March 1, 2021.

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