Virginia Law

A. The sale of commercial channeled whelk pot licenses shall be limited to registered commercial fishermen, solely for the harvest of channeled whelk from Virginia waters described in this section, who meet either of the following requirements:

1. The fisherman shall have held a provisional Virginia conch pot permit in 1999 and reported in accordance with the requirements of 4VAC20-610-60 and the 1999 conch pot permit; or

2. The fisherman shall provide the commission with proof of having harvested channeled whelk from federal waters during the January 1, 1997, through October 1, 1999, period.

B. Any person licensed for commercial channeled whelk pot under the provisions of this section may transfer such license to any registered commercial fisherman when said transfer is documented on the form provided by the commission and approved by the Commissioner of Marine Resources. Upon approval, the person entering the Virginia commercial channeled whelk pot fishery shall purchase a commercial channeled whelk pot license in his own name. No commercial channeled whelk pot license shall be transferred more than once per calendar year.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person licensed under the provisions of subsection A of this section as a commercial channeled whelk pot fisherman to do any of the following, unless otherwise specified:

1. Place, set or fish any channeled whelk pot within any channel.

2. Fail to be on board the vessel when that vessel is operating in a commercial channeled whelk pot harvesting capacity within Virginia tidal waters;

3. Fail to display the commercial channeled whelk pot license decal prominently on the starboard side of the vessel;

4. Fail to inscribe each channeled whelk pot buoy with the last four numbers of the MRC ID preceded by the letter "W," which correspond to the lawful channeled whelk pot licensee;

5. Place, set or fish more than 200 channeled whelk pots within Virginia tidal waters;

6. Retain by-catch of any species not in the whelk family caught by channeled whelk pots;

7. Fail to report harvest-related data from harvests in Virginia waters on a monthly basis on forms supplied by the commission; and

8. Set, place, or fish a channeled whelk pot of any type in an area extending 250 yards from either span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. For purposes of this section, the distance shall be measured from the outer edges of each span and shall extend from the low water mark on Fisherman's Island to the one-mile marker on the south end of the bridge-tunnel.

D. It shall be unlawful for any person to take or catch channeled whelk with channeled whelk pots from the tidal waters of Virginia without first having purchased a channeled whelk pot license from the commission or its agent. No person may purchase a channeled whelk pot license unless the person is a registered commercial fisherman as described in § 28.2-241 of the Code of Virginia.