TITLE 4. CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION

Final Regulation

Title of Regulation: 4VAC20-490. Pertaining to Sharks (amending 4VAC20-490-20, 4VAC20-490-42).

Statutory Authority: § 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.

Effective Date: May 1, 2025.

Agency Contact: Zachary Widgeon, Director of Communications, Marine Resources Commission, 380 Fenwick Road, Building 96, Fort Monroe, VA 23651, telephone (757) 414-0713, FAX (757) 247-2002, or email zachary.widgeon@mrc.virginia.gov.

Summary:

In compliance with Addendum VII of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan and the Spiny Dogfish Framework Adjustment 6 from the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, the amendments (i) add two definitions and (ii) prohibit overnight soaks for spiny dogfish permit holders on gill nets with 5.25-to-10-inch mesh sizes from November through March in specified areas off of the Delmarva Peninsula and Virginia Beach.

4VAC20-490-20. Definitions.

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

"Agent" means any person who possesses the Commercial Fisherman Registration License, fishing gear license, or fishing permit of a registered commercial fisherman in order to fish that commercial fisherman's gear or sell that commercial fisherman's harvest.

"Annual quota" means Virginia's 10.795% share of the annual coastwide commercial spiny dogfish quota managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

"Carcass length" means that length measured in a straight line from the anterior edge of the first dorsal fin to the posterior end of the shark carcass.

"Circle Hook hook" means a non-offset, non-stainless steel hook with the point turned sharply and straight back toward the shank.

"COLREGS Line" means the COLREGS Demarcation Line, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (33 CFR 80.510 Chesapeake Bay Entrance, VA).

"Commercial shark fisherman" means any commercial fisherman permitted to land or possess sharks (excluding spiny dogfish) that has landed and sold one pound of shark or more (excludes spiny dogfish) in that calendar year (January 1 through December 31).

"Commercially permitted aggregated large coastal shark" means any of the following species:

Blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus

Bull, Carcharhinus leucas

Lemon, Negaprion brevirostris

Nurse, Ginglymostoma cirratum

Silky, Carcharhinus falciformis

Spinner, Carcharhinus brevipinna

Tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier

"Commercially permitted hammerhead shark" means any of the following species:

Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran

Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini

Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena

"Commercially permitted nonblacknose small coastal shark" means any of the following species:

Atlantic sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae

Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo

Finetooth, Carcharhinus isodon

"Commercially permitted pelagic shark" means any of the following species:

Blue, Prionace glauca

Porbeagle, Lamna nasus

Thresher, Alopias vulpinus

"Commercially prohibited shark" means any of the following species:

Atlantic angel, Squatina dumeril

Basking, Cetorhinus maximus

Bigeye sand tiger, Odontaspis noronhai

Bigeye sixgill, Hexanchus nakamurai

Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus

Bignose, Carcharhinus altimus

Blacknose, Carcharhinus acronotus

Caribbean reef, Carcharhinus perezii

Caribbean sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon porosus

Dusky, Carcharhinus obscurus

Galapagos, Carcharhinus galapagensis

Longfin mako, Isurus paucus

Narrowtooth, Carcharhinus brachyurus

Night, Carcharhinus signatus

Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus

Sand tiger, Carcharias taurus

Sevengill, Heptranchias perlo

Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus

Sixgill, Hexanchus griseus

Smalltail, Carcharhinus porosus

Whale, Rhincodon typus

White, Carcharodon carcharias

"Control rule" means a time-certain date, past, present, or future, used to establish participation in a limited entry fishery and may or may not include specific past harvest amounts.

"Delaware and Maryland Atlantic Sturgeon Bycatch Reduction Area" means all tidal waters of the Atlantic Ocean that are bounded by a line beginning at a point at Latitude 38° 27.00' N, Longitude 75° 06.00' W; thence southeasterly to a point at Latitude 38° 21.00' N, Longitude 74° 48.00' W; thence southerly to a point at Latitude 37° 30.00' N, Longitude 75° 12.00' W; thence northwesterly to a point at Latitude 37° 48.00' N, Longitude 75° 30.00' W; thence northeasterly to a point at Latitude 38° 27.00' N, Longitude 75° 06.00' W, which is the point of beginning.

"Dressed weight" means the result from processing a fish by removal of head, viscera, and fins, but does not include removal of the backbone, halving, quartering, or otherwise further reducing the carcass.

"Finning" means removing the fins and returning the remainder of the shark to the sea.

"Fork length" means the length of a fish measured from the most forward projection of the snout, with the mouth closed, to the fork of the tail along the midline, using a straight-line measure, not measured over the curve of the body.

"Large mesh gill net" means any gill net with a stretched mesh of greater than five inches.

"Longline" means any fishing gear that is set horizontally, either anchored, floating, or attached to a vessel, and that consists of a mainline or groundline, greater than 1,000 feet in length, with multiple leaders (gangions) and hooks, whether retrieved by hand or mechanical means.

"Movable gill net" means any gill net other than a staked gill net.

"Permitted commercial gear" means rod and reel, handlines, shark shortlines, small mesh gill nets, large mesh gill nets, pound nets, and weirs.

"Recreational shore angler" means a person neither fishing from a vessel nor transported to or from a fishing location by a vessel.

"Recreational vessel angler" means a person fishing from a vessel or transported to or from a fishing location by a vessel.

"Recreationally permitted shark" means any of the following species:

Atlantic sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae

Blacknose, Carcharhinus acronotus

Blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus

Blue, Prionace glauca

Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo

Bull, Carcharhinus leucas

Finetooth, Carcharhinus isodon

Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran

Lemon, Negaprion brevirostris

Nurse, Ginglymostoma cirratum

Porbeagle, Lamna nasus

Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini

Smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis

Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena

Spinner, Carcharhinus brevipinna

Thresher, Alopias vulpinus

Tiger, Galeocerdo cuvier

"Recreationally prohibited shark" means any of the following species:

Atlantic angel, Squatina dumeril

Basking, Cetorhinus maximus

Bigeye sand tiger, Odontaspis noronhai

Bigeye sixgill, Hexanchus nakamurai

Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus

Bignose, Carcharhinus altimus

Caribbean reef, Carcharhinus perezii

Caribbean sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon porosus

Dusky, Carcharhinus obscurus

Galapagos, Carcharhinus galapagensis

Longfin mako, Isurus paucus

Narrowtooth, Carcharhinus brachyurus

Night, Carcharhinus signatus

Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus

Sand tiger, Carcharias taurus

Sandbar, Carcharhinus plumbeus

Sevengill, Heptranchias perlo

Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus

Silky, Carcharhinus falciformis

Sixgill, Hexanchus griseus

Smalltail, Carcharhinus porosus

Whale, Rhincodon typus

White, Carcharodon carcharias

"Research only shark" means any of the following species:

Sandbar, Carcharhinus plumbeus

"Shark shortline" means a fish trotline that is set horizontally, either anchored, floating, or attached to a vessel, and that consists of a mainline or groundline, 1,000 feet in length or less, with multiple leaders (gangions) and no more than 50 corrodible circle hooks, whether retrieved by hand or mechanical means.

"Small mesh gill net" means any gill net with a stretched mesh of equal to or less than five inches.

"Smooth dogfish" means any shark of the species Mustelus canis. Smooth dogfish are also known as "smoothhound shark."

"Snout" means the most forward projection from a fish's head that includes the upper and lower jaw.

"Spiny dogfish" means any shark of the species Squalus acanthias.

"Virginia Atlantic Sturgeon Bycatch Reduction Area" means all tidal waters of the Atlantic Ocean that are bounded by a line beginning at a point at Latitude 37° 18.00' N, Longitude 75° 54.00' W; thence southeasterly to a point at Latitude 36° 48.00' N, Longitude 75° 36.00' W; thence southwesterly to a point at Latitude 36° 33.00' N, Longitude 75° 51.00' W; thence northwesterly to a point at Latitude 36° 54.00' N, Longitude 76° 06.00' W; thence northeasterly to a point at Latitude 37° 18.00' N, Longitude 75° 54.00' W, which is the point of beginning.

4VAC20-490-42. Spiny dogfish commercial quota and harvest limitations.

A. The fishing year for spiny dogfish shall be from May 1 of the current calendar year through April 30 of the following calendar year. For the fishing year, the commercial spiny dogfish landings quota shall be limited to annual quota except as specified in subsection B of this section.

B. If a quota transfer occurs between Virginia and another state or region participating in the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for spiny dogfish, Virginia's annual quota for the fishing year shall be limited to the annual quota amount as adjusted for transfers.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, or possess aboard any vessel or to land in Virginia any spiny dogfish harvested from federal waters for commercial purposes after it has been announced that the federal quota for spiny dogfish has been taken.

D. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, or possess aboard any vessel or to land in Virginia more than 7,500 pounds of spiny dogfish per day for commercial purposes.

E. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, or possess aboard any vessel or to land in Virginia any spiny dogfish for commercial purposes after the annual quota specified in subsections A and B of this section has been landed and announced as such.

F. Any spiny dogfish harvested from state waters or federal waters, for commercial purposes, shall only be sold to a federally permitted dealer.

G. It shall be unlawful for any buyer of seafood to receive any spiny dogfish after any commercial harvest or annual quota described in this section has been landed and announced as such.

H. It shall be unlawful for any person fishing for spiny dogfish with a Virginia Spiny Dogfish Permit to leave any gill net gear with a mesh size equal to or greater than 5.25 inches and less than 10 inches in the Delaware and Maryland Atlantic Sturgeon Bycatch Reduction Area or the Virginia Atlantic Sturgeon Bycatch Reduction Area between 8 p.m. through 5 a.m. the following day from November 1 through March 31.