Chesapeake Bay News Freshwater Fishing NewsThe VMRC has voted on flounder size regulations for the 2010 season. The new regulations set the flounder size limit at 18.5 inches, with a creel limit decreased to four fish per day, with no mid-season closure. VMRC also voted to reduce the daily limit of six weakfish to one fish a day for recreational [...]
The General Assembly has passed Senator Northam’s SB668 to exempt Virginia anglers from having to pay the $25 fee associated with the Federally-mandated National Saltwater Angler Registry. SB668 has been amended to create a state-level angler identification system, similar to the Hunter Identification Program run by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. This [...]
The Coast Guard base on Chincoteague Island is scheduled to host an event for mariners to come and meet locally based federal and state law enforcement officers March 10 at 6:30 p.m. The event will provide an opportunity for mariners to meet some of their local enforcement officers, ask questions and learn about new and [...]
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland has announced that The United States will continue its support for a proposal to ban all international commercial trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna at this month’s meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (CITES) [...]
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) has called on U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, and NMFS Administrator Patricia Kurkul to issue an immediate moratorium on the flawed survey data used to implement recreational fishing quotas for the East Coast. In a letter addressed to Kurkul, Sen. Schumer cited the Marine [...]
Eric Schwaab has been appointed as Assistant Administrator to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). He brings more than 25 years of experience in local, state and federal natural resource management. Eric was a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) from 2000 to 2002 serving as Maryland’s State representative to the Council. He [...]
A national grassroots effort is currently underway to get coastal fishermen to the rally in DC on February 24th. The Virginia Beach Fishing Center is sponsoring a bus to go to Washington DC on February 24th. The bus will leave the Fishing Center at 7:00am Wednesday morning and will return some time that evening. The [...]
Crews at the Coast Guard Long Range Aids to Navigation stations, including the six Alaska-based stations, turned off their domestic signal across the nation at 11 a.m. Monday, February 8, 2010. The shutdown of the signal concludes the broadcast of the U.S. domestic signal. Stations Attu and Shoal Cove, which are bound by bi-lateral agreements [...]
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) will host an educational workshop March 16-18, 2010 on “catch shares.” The workshop will be conducted in cooperation with the Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Participants will include MAFMC members, MAFMC staff, MAFMC Advisory Panel [...]
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board (Board) approved a 15 million pound quota with a maximum possession limit of 3,000 pounds for the 2010/2011 fishing year (May 1 – April 30). Under Addendum II, the quota will be allocated with 58 percent to states from Maine through Connecticut, [...]
