REGULATION: PERTAINING TO SHARKS

VIRGINIA MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION
"PERTAINING TO SHARKS"
REGULATION 4 VAC 20-490-10 ET SEQ.

PREAMBLE

This chapter establishes gear restrictions, a possession limit, and limitations on the taking and landing of sharks. This chapter is promulgated pursuant to authority contained in § 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.

This chapter amends and re-adopts, as amended, previous chapter 4 VAC 20-490-10 which was promulgated December 19, 2006 and made effective on December 21, 2006. The effective date of this chapter, as amended, is May 1, 2007.

4 VAC 20-490-10. PURPOSE.

The purpose of this chapter is to ensure the conservation of shark resources by preventing overfishing by commercial and recreational fisheries and to control the practice of finning.

4 VAC 20-490-20. DEFINITIONS.

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

"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.

“COLREGS Line” means the COLREGS Demarcation lines, as specified in Coastal Pilot, 35th and 36th editions by Lighthouse Press.

“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.

“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 straight-line measurement of a fish from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail. The measurement is not made along the curve of the body.

“Large coastal shark group” means any of the following species:

Sandbar, Carcharhinus plumbeus
Silky, Carcharhinus falciformis
Tiger, Galeocerdo cuvieri
Blacktip, Carcharhinus limbatus
Bull, Carcharhinus leucas
Great hammerhead, Sphyrna mokarran
Lemon, Negaprion brevirostris
Nurse, Ginglymostoma cirratum
Scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini
Smooth hammerhead, Sphyrna zygaena
Spinner, Carcharhinus brevipinna

"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.

“Pelagic shark group” means any of the following species:

Blue, Prionace glauca
Oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus
Porbeagle, Lamna nasus
Shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus
Thresher, Alopias vulpinus.

“Prohibited shark group” means any of the following species:

Atlantic angel, Squatina dumerili
Basking, Cetorhinus maximus
Bigeye sand tiger, Odontaspis noronhai
Bigeye sixgill, Hexanchus vitulus
Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus
Bignose, Carcharhinus altimus
Caribbean reef, Carcharhinus perezi
Caribbean sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon porosus
Dusky, Carcharhinus obscurus
Galapagos, Carcharhinus galapagensis
Longfin mako, Isurus paucus
Narrowtooth, Carcharhinus brachyurus
Night, Carcharhinus signatus
Sand tiger, Odontaspis taurus
Sevengill, Heptranchias perlo
Sixgill, Hexanchus griseus
Smalltail, Carcharhinus porosus
Whale, Rhincodon typus
White, Carcharodon carcharias

“Small coastal shark group” means any of the following species:

Atlantic sharpnose, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae
Blacknose, Carcharhinus acronotus
Bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo
Finetooth, Carcharhinus isodon
"Spiny Dogfish" means any shark of the species Squalus acanthias.

4 VAC 20-490-30. GEAR RESTRICTIONS.

It shall be unlawful for any person to place, set, or fish any longline in Virginia's tidal waters.

4 VAC 20-490-35. SPINY DOGFISH QUOTA: (Repealed)

4 VAC 20-490-40. RECREATIONAL CATCH LIMITATIONS.

A. The taking, catching, or possessing aboard a vessel of more than one shark from either the large coastal, small coastal, or pelagic group per day, or the possession of more than one Atlantic sharpnose shark and one bonnethead shark per person per day, shall constitute a violation of this chapter. When fishing from any boat or vessel where the entire catch is held in a common hold or container, the possession limits for Atlantic sharpnose shark or bonnethead shark shall be for the boat or vessel and shall be equal to the number of persons on board legally eligible to fish. The captain or operator of the boat or vessel shall be responsible for any boat or vessel possession limits.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to retain or possess any prohibited shark.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess any large coastal, small coastal or pelagic shark, except Atlantic sharpnose and bonnethead sharks, landed under the recreational catch limitations described in this section, that is less than 54 inches fork length or 30 inches in carcass length.

4 VAC 20-490-41. COMMERCIAL CATCH LIMITATIONS.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, harvest, land, or possess, for commercial purposes, any shark less than 58 inches in fork length or any shark carcass less than 31 inches in carcass length, from any waters west of the COLREGS Line.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess on board a vessel or to land in Virginia more than 4,000 pounds, dressed weight, of large coastal sharks per day. The person who owns or operates the vessel is responsible for compliance with the provisions of this subsection.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to fillet a shark at sea. A licensed commercial fisherman may eviscerate and remove the head and fins of sharks, but shall retain the fins with the dressed carcasses. While on board and when offloaded, wet shark fins shall not exceed 5.0% percent of the dressed weight of the carcasses. Possession of wet shark fins on board a vessel or at offloading that exceeds 5.0% percent of the dressed weight of the carcasses shall constitute a violation of this chapter.

D. There are no commercial trip limits or possession limits for pelagic or small coastal sharks.

E. It shall be unlawful for any person to retain, possess or purchase any prohibited shark.

4 VAC 20-490-42. SPINY DOGFISH CATCH LIMITATIONS.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, possess aboard any vessel or land in Virginia any
spiny dogfish harvested from federal waters (Exclusive Economic Zone (3-200 miles), for
commercial purposes after it has been announced that the federal quota for spiny dogfish has
been taken.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, possess aboard any vessel or land in Virginia more than 3,000 pounds of spiny dogfish, per day, for commercial purposes.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to harvest any spiny dogfish for commercial purposes from state waters after it has been announced that the interstate quota for spiny dogfish has been taken.

D. All spiny dogfish harvested from state waters or federal waters, for commercial purposes,
must be sold to a federally permitted dealer.

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

4 VAC 20-490-43. LIMITED ACCESS CONTROL RULE.

At such time the status of shark stocks or their fisheries warrant the establishment of a limited access program for participation in the commercial fishery for sharks, a control rule may be enacted that limits participation in the commercial fisheries for sharks to those individuals who participated in that fishery on and before December 31, 2004. The control rule may also include eligibility requirements based on past harvest amounts.

4 VAC 20-490-45. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. (Repealed)

4 VAC 20-490-50. FINNING.

It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in finning.

4 VAC 20-490-70. PENALTY.

As set forth in §28.2-903 of the Code of Virginia, any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, and a second or subsequent violation of any provision of this chapter committed by the same person within 12 months of a prior violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

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