(a) In Registration
Area E, shrimp may be taken with pots only as specified in this
section.
(b) A shrimp pot may not
have
(1) more than one bottom;
(2) a vertical height of more than 24
inches;
(3) more than four tunnel
eye openings, which individually do not exceed 15 inches in
perimeter;
(4) a bottom perimeter
exceeding 124 inches.
(c) The sides of a shrimp pot may only be
(1) at a right angle to the plane of the
bottom of the pot; or
(2) slanted
inward toward the center of the pot in a straight line from the bottom of the
pot to the top of the pot.
(d) A shrimp pot must be entirely covered
with net webbing or rigid mesh. At least two adjacent sides or 50 percent of
the vertical or near-vertical sides must be covered with net webbing or rigid
mesh that allows the passage of a seven-eighths inch diameter by a 12 inch long
wooden dowel, which upon insertion into the web, must drop completely through
by its own weight, without force.
(e) Shrimp pots may only be operated as
follows:
(1) the department will announce
annually, before the opening of the commercial shrimp pot fishery season, the
number of shrimp pots that may be operated from a vessel in the commercial
shrimp pot fishery for that season, not to exceed 100 shrimp pots per vessel;
in determining the annual pot limit, the department will consider the
(A) total number of registered
vessels;
(B) estimated catch per
unit of effort; and
(C) magnitude
of the guideline harvest level;
(2) a vessel operator may have only shrimp
pot gear registered to the vessel on board the vessel at any time;
(3) shrimp pot gear may be deployed or
retrieved only from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each day; the commissioner may
close, by emergency order, the fishing season in a district or portion of a
district and immediately reopen the season during which the time period allowed
to deploy and retrieve shrimp pot gear may be increased or decreased to achieve
the guideline harvest level;
(4)
shrimp pots may not be left in saltwater unattended for more than 14 days
unless all bait containers have been removed and all doors secured fully
open;
(5) a vessel operator may
not, at any time, have more than the legal limit of pot gear for the vessel,
established under (2) of this subsection, in the aggregate on board the vessel,
in the water in fishing condition, or in the water in non-fishing
condition.
