Jack G. Travelstead,
Commissioner, VMRC

Commissioner’s Message

Welcome to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.  We serve as stewards of the Commonwealth’s marine and aquatic resources, and protectors of its tidal waters and homelands, for present and future generations.

We manage saltwater fishing, both recreational and commercial.  We work to create and maintain sustainable fisheries for the benefit of all anglers and the ecosystem.

We also manage water bottoms in public trust for the citizens of the Commonwealth.  Our Habitat Management Division works with those who wish to use them for piers or water-dependent projects.

Our Law Enforcement Division, the Virginia Marine Police, patrols the waterways to enforce the regulations and to assist citizens in need.

We take our duties seriously, striving always to serve the public in a professional, responsive and responsible way.

Please join us as protectors of our critical natural resources so that they remain for our children and grandchildren to enjoy them as we do.

Important Links

Agency News

May 9, 2012: Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament announces Expert and Master Anglers for 2011. [Press Release| Master Anglers| Expert Anglers]

April 30, 2012:  Governor Robert F. McDonnell has appointed Jack Travelstead to be Commissioner of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.  Mr. Travelstead was sworn in today and takes the post he has held as Acting Commissioner since March 22.  He has served with the agency since March 1, 1981.  He was chief of the Fisheries Management Division since 1984, and deputy commissioner since 2006.  He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Old Dominion University and a Master’s of Arts in Marine Science at the College of William and Mary.  He lives in Toano with his wife. <Press Release>

April 24, 2012:  The Virginia Marine Resources Commission agreed to closely monitor the spring and summer crab harvest and decide in September whether to extend the commercial crab pot season by several weeks, into December.  While the stock’s abundance has increased 66 percent since last year and the number of juvenile crabs has set a new record, due to a four-year stock rebuilding program, a drop in spawning-age females signals caution.  The Commission indicated that any season extension may come with daily bushel limits to offset any harvest increase from a season extension. <Meeting Summary>

April 23, 2012:  Notice is hereby given by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), pursuant to authority granted the Commissioner by Chapter 4VAC 20-720-35, that on April 23, 2012:  The Public Oyster Ground hand tong harvest season in the James River seed area including the Deep Water Shoal state replenishment seed area is hereby extended through May 31, 2012 for the harvest of seed oysters only.  In addition, pursuant to Chapter 4VAC 20-1230-10, ET SEQ., "Pertaining to Restrictions on Shellfish, subdivision 4VAC 20-1230-30(M), a bulk seed permit shall be required for the harvest of wild seed oysters for the month of May. <Notice>

April 20, 2012:  Effective 12:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST), Sunday, April 22, 2012, the Virginia horseshoe crab fishery for any gear other than trawl, dredge, pound net, or hand harvest will close.  Based upon landing reports from Virginia seafood buyers and horseshoe crab harvesters, it is projected that Virginia will have caught 100% of the horseshoe crab quota allocated to harvest by gears other than trawl, dredge, pound net, or hand harvest, by the above date and time.

Therefore, after 12:00 P.M., EST, April 22, 2012, the possession or landing of any horseshoe crabs in Virginia caught by any gear other than dredge, trawl, pound net, or hand harvest shall be prohibited (Chapter 4 VAC 20-900-10 et. seq.).  The dredge, pound net, and hand harvest fisheries will remain open west of the COLREGS line, and the trawl fishery (east of the COLREGS line) will open on June 8. <Notice>

April 19, 2012:  Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley announced today the Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population is booming, fueled by an extraordinary explosion in juvenile crab abundance.  The results of the 2012 Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey determined the total population of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has reached 764 million, due to four years of a bay-wide stock rebuilding program.  This is the highest level recorded since 1993, and is more than triple the record low of 249 million set in 2007.  The new high abundance level is the result of a massive bay-wide baby boom – an almost tripling of the number of juvenile crabs from 207 million last year to 587 million.  Juvenile crab abundance has never been recorded at such high levels and the new record obliterated the old record of 512 million juveniles established in 1993. <Press Release>

April 12, 2012:  Effective 6:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST), Friday, April 13, 2012, the Virginia horseshoe crab fishery, east of the COLREGS line, will close to any gear other than trawl. Based upon landing reports from Virginia seafood buyers and horseshoe crab harvesters, it is projected that Virginia will have caught 100% of the horseshoe crab quota allocated east of the COLREGS line, by gears other than trawl, by the above date and time. All other horseshoe crab fisheries will remain open until further notice. <HSC Closure Notice>

Effective 11:59 P.M., Eastern Standard Time (EST), Wednesday, April 18, 2012, the Directed Virginia Offshore Summer Flounder Fishery will close. Vessels that have entered Virginia waters and secured to an offloading site prior to 11:59 P.M., EST, Wednesday, April 18, 2012, may possess and offload 10,000 pounds of Summer Flounder, minus any previous landings during the fifteen-day landing period. <Flounder Closure Notice>

April 4, 2012:  The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament today certified a 24-pound, 3-ounce tautog caught by a Seaford dentist as a new state record.  The 32-inch-long fish was caught on March 25 by Ken Neill, III and broke the previous record of a 24 pound tautog set 25 years ago.  Mr. Neill made the record-setting catch at the Morgan wreck, which is one of the vessels contained within the footprint of the popular Triangle Reef site and located slightly over 30 nautical miles off Cape Henry. <Press Release>

March 27, 2012:  The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has given a green light for construction of what will likely be the country’s first offshore wind turbine generator, a prototype that will stand 479-feet-tall and produce five megawatts of clean energy.  It will be located in state waters in the Chesapeake Bay three miles from Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore.  The facility is slated for completion at the end of 2013.  If so, it would be the first of its kind in the country. <Press Release> <Meeting Summary>

March 7, 2012:  Virginia Marine Resources Commissioner Steven G. Bowman has announced his retirement from state service, effective March 26, after six years in charge of the state agency that manages the Commonwealth’s tidal fisheries and the state-owned waterbottom.  Bowman, 52, has accepted a position as Chief of Police for the Town of Smithfield, his hometown.  He spent most of his career in law enforcement and has lived in Smithfield for decades. <Press Release>

February 28, 2012: The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has lowered the recreational flounder size limit for the third year in a row, allowing anglers to keep more of the fish they catch. The 2012 flounder size limit will be 16.5 inches, with a four fish daily possession limit. The 2011 possession limit was 17.5 inches with a five fish possession limit. <Summary>

February 15, 2012:  A 74-pound striped bass, caught on January 20th by Cary Wolfe of Bristow, VA, has been certified as the new Virginia State Record by the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.  Wolfe’s catch surpassed the existing record of 73 pounds, caught nearly four years ago to the day by Fred Barnes of Chesapeake. <Press Release>

February 13, 2012: The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has received a unique application from Gamesa Energy USA, LLC to install a single 5-Megawatt offshore wind turbine generator prototype and its supporting infrastructure approximately 3 miles southwest of Cape Charles Harbor in the lower Chesapeake Bay, west of Northampton County. The project includes the installation of a steel monopile foundation and tower with a maximum blade tip height of 479 feet above mean sea level, stone riprap scour protection around the foundation base, and the installation of 15,219 linear feet of submerged power cable buried a minimum 6 feet below the seabed. The cable will connect the proposed wind turbine to the Cape Charles electrical grid through the Bay Coastal Railroad property in Cape Charles Harbor. The proposed wind turbine will be located at N 37º14’37.4”, W 76º03’47.3” in approximately 53 feet of water. A public notice for this project was published on February 11 and 12, 2012 in the Va. Pilot and Eastern Shore News. Interested parties are welcome and encouraged to comment on the proposal. Comments are requested within 15 days, and may be sent to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Habitat Management Division, 2600 Washington Avenue, 3rd Floor, Newport News, VA 23607. Here are details of the proposal:  <Gamesa Project Description>

February 10, 2012:  Here are the bills being tracked by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission during the 2012 General Assembly Session. <2012 Legislation>

February 7, 2012:  Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that Virginia’s oyster harvest has skyrocketed over the past decade, a boom fueled through the Virginia Marine Resources Commission’s use of a rotational harvest system, sanctuaries and targeted shell plantings on public oyster grounds. Over the past decade, the oyster harvest in Virginia has increased ten-fold, from 23,000 bushels in 2001 to 236,000 bushels in 2011. In that time, the dockside value of the oyster harvest increased from $575,000 to $8.26 million. In fact, last year’s oyster harvest in Virginia was the largest since 1989. <Governor's Press Release>

February 6, 2012:  Online registration for the Fisherman Identification Program (FIP) is open. Toll-free, call-in registration is also available. Saltwater anglers who do not need to buy a license under state law must register for free and supply their contact information before they fish every year. Anglers who buy a saltwater fishing license will be automatically registered. The intent is to create a Virginia-wide “phone book” of saltwater anglers, which will be given to the National Marine Fisheries Service in order to improve fishing effort surveys and to exempt Virginia anglers from having to sign up directly with the National Saltwater Angler Registry and pay the annual $15 federal registration fee.  Anglers that registered last year must register again this year; registrations are valid for one year from date of issuance. Please keep your FIP number with you while fishing.  The free FIP registration is not a substitute for a license when the angler is required by law to purchase and hold a saltwater license. <FIP Information Page with Online Registration>

January 31, 2012:  Anglers registered 5176 trophy-size fish for Citation awards during the 54th Annual Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, which ran from January 1st through December 31st.  This was the 12th year in a row anglers registered at least 5,000 Citations since the Tournament began in 1958. <Press Release>

January 24, 2012:  The Virginia Marine Resources Commission agreed today to consider lowering the recreational flounder size limit for another year, setting a public hearing and vote for next month’s meeting.  Also, the Commission ordered the two-year suspension of a recreational angler’s fishing license after he was convicted of possessing an illegal number of cobia in a hidden compartment in his boat.  A commercial crabber’s license was suspended for two years after he admitted he was fishing an illegally large number of crab pots. <Post Meeting Summary>

January 6, 2012:  The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has received top marks for shellfish management and enforcement of regulations designed to protect consumers from the dangers of tainted shellfish, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded in a new audit. <Press Release> <FDA 2011 Shellfish Sanitation Audit>

January 5, 2012:  Governor Bob McDonnell today announced a partnership between the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) that supports his government reform initiative to streamline services. Beginning in late-January, citizens can register boats and boat trailers in one trip to either DGIF or DMV. They will also be able to purchase hunting and fishing licenses from both agencies. Saltwater fishing licenses sold through the DGIF sales system will also then be available at DMV locations when the new sales process is implemented late this month.  <Governor's Announcement>

January 1, 2012: A moratorium on River Herring fishing went into effect today. The purposes of the moratorium are to rebuild the Virginia stocks of River Herring and to comply with the requirements of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring. It is unlawful for any person to possess any river herring in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Fishermen that traditionally fish for river herring with hook and line, dip nets, cast nets, gill nets or any other gear should be aware of this fishing closure and not purchase a gear license if they were only interested in fishing for river herring. <Moratorium Regulation>

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