Earlier this week, the Administrative, Executive Legislative Review Committee approved the 1991 fall striped bass regulations.
The review committee is an oversight group with many roles. One is to approve all emergency regulations. The fall 1991 striped bass, or rockfish,rules became emergency regulations because they were not completed in time to make their way through the maze of bureaucratic red tape before the season opened.
The official regulations will be printed within 10 days, but thisis what they will say:
The quotas for this fall will be 456,747 pounds (up from 318,750 pounds last fall) for recreational fishermen, the same number for commercial fishermen, and 161,206 pounds for charter boats (up from 112,500 pounds).
The recreational season runs Oct. 9 to 26, and permits and tags will be required. A person must immediately tag a legal fish, and anglers are permitted two fish for theseason.
Assuming the entire recreational allocation is not caught, a supplemental season will open not later than Nov. 9 and end when the quota is predicted to be achieved. No tags will be required, and the daily creel limit is two striped bass per person per day.
The Atlantic recreational season will open and close the same dates; anglers may catch one striped bass per person per day. Supplemental season dates will be the same as in the Chesapeake Bay, and anglers may catch one striped bass per person per day.
The charter boat season runs from Oct. 9 through Nov. 11. Captains will be issued tags, and they immediately must tag a legal fish. No transfers of permits or tagswill be permitted. Anglers will be permitted two striped bass per person per day, and a charter captain may make no more than two trips daily to fish for striped bass. Captain and crew are not permitted to take fish during a charter.
The Atlantic charter season will open and close the same dates, and anglers are permitted one fish per day.
The commercial striped bass fishing season runs Sept. 2 to 30 forpound nets and haul seines, Dec. 2 to 31 for hook and line, and Jan.2 to Feb. 28 for the drift gill net. No commercial harvest is permitted on weekends. Commercial fishermen cannot be an agent for another person until the fisherman has caught his allocation.
All fish must be tagged and checked at designated check-in stations. Fyke nets, hoop nets and fish pots are prohibited. Fishermen will be notified within 10 days of the season regarding their individual season and dailyallocation.
