The Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries has revised the boundaries for estuarine gill net management areas and updated gear definitions in anticipation that a new Incidental Take Permit (ITP) may be issued during the upcoming commercial flounder season.
Currently, the Division manages the estuarine gill net fishery under the Endangered Species Act Section 10 Incidental Take Permits for sea turtles and for sturgeon. On December 2022, the Division applied for a renewed ITP with a revised application based on public comments submitted in November 2023. However, a new ITP was not issued by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) before the sea turtle ITP expired at the end of August 2023 and the Atlantic Sturgeon ITP expired mid-July 2024. In both cases NMFS provided a letter authorizing the Division to continue operating under the respective ITPs until a final determination is made on the application.
Recent discussions with NMFS have suggested it is possible the new combined ITP for sea turtles and sturgeons may be issued during the 2024 commercial flounder season. In this event, to avoid confusion with the public and enforcement, Proclamations M-15-2024 and M-16-2024 include the revised management units and exempted gear definitions expected in the new ITP.
Specifically, the current boundary between Management Units B and D1 in Core Sound has been moved north to the 35° 00.000’ N latitude line such that Core Sound will be wholly contained in Management Unit D1. Large-mesh gill nets for flounder will still be able to be set between 35° 00.000’N south to 34° 48.270’ N (now in the northern D1 subunit). Prohibition of this gear south of 34° 48.270’ N (now in the southern D1 subunit) will still be in effect as required by the previous ITPs. Additionally, Turnagain Bay will be fully in Management Unit C instead of being split between Management Units B and C.
The definitions of gears exempted from the ITP have also been updated. The revised definitions offer greater consistency with the descriptions of gear in the current ITPs and the ITP application, and are as follows:
- Run-around, strike, or drop gill nets - gill nets that are actively fished by either (1) using the boat to run a net around a school of fish, creating a closed circle, or (2) using the boat after the net is set to herd fish into the net without delay, whereby soak time does not exceed 30 minutes from the end of the set to the beginning of the haul.
- Drift gill nets - gill nets that are used to capture fish while being moved along by water currents whereby the net stays attached to the vessel from deployment through retrieval.
Accompanying maps to the proclamations can be accessed at M-15-2024 Maps and M-16-2024 Maps.