Current through Register No. 40, October 3, 2024
(a) No person shall take, land,
possess, or transfer possession of Atlantic menhaden (Brevortia tyrannus) while
on or leaving the waters under the jurisdiction of the state except in
accordance with the licensing and permit requirements of this
section.
(b) For the purpose of
this section, "non-directed gear" means a pound net, anchored or stake gillnet,
drift gill net, fishing weir, fyke net, trammel net, or floating fish
trap.
(c) For the purpose of this
section, "small-scale gear" means a cast net, trap other than a floating fish
trap, pot, haul seine as defined in Fis 602.05, hook and line, and hand
line.
(d) For purposes of this
section, "land" means to transfer or attempt to transfer the catch of fish from
any vessel to any other vessel or onto any land, pier, wharf, dock, or other
artificial structure.
(e) For the
purpose of this section, a "menhaden dealer" is:
(1) Any person or business who:
a. Is a New Hampshire licensed wholesale
marine species dealer, pursuant to RSA 211:49-aa or RSA 211:49-c; and
b. As first point of contact, purchases,
ships, cosigns, transfers, transports, barters, accepts, or packs Atlantic
menhaden directly from a commercial harvester for resale; or
(2) Any person or business who:
a. Has applied for and received a New
Hampshire commercial saltwater license, pursuant to RSA 211:49-a or RSA 211:49-b;
b. Has notified the
department in writing of an intent to sell Atlantic menhaden taken under the
license as a New Hampshire menhaden dealer; and
c. Harvests, and then sells, ships, consigns,
transfers, or barters their own catch of Atlantic menhaden to any other person
or business.
(f) Any person who possesses a recreational
saltwater license pursuant to RSA 214:9, XVI, may take, land and possess any
quantity of Atlantic menhaden by rod and reel with hook and line or hand line
for personal use as bait for angling purposes, and not for the purpose of
sale.
(g) Any person who possesses
a lobster license pursuant to RSA 211:18 may possess any quantity of Atlantic
menhaden while in the normal conduct of tending lobster and crab
pots.
(h) A holder of a commercial
saltwater license engaged in the take of Atlantic menhaden for the purpose of
sale shall be subject to the following requirements and restrictions:
(1) The licensee shall obtain a harvest
permit in accordance with Fis 609.01;
(2) The licensee shall report all harvest
information to the department in accordance with Fis 608.02;
(3) No licensee shall transfer any portion of
a catch of Atlantic menhaden while at sea;
(4) No licensee shall receive Atlantic
menhaden from a harvester vessel while at sea;
(5) No licensee shall sell, ship, cosign,
transfer or barter their own catch of Atlantic menhaden to any person other
than an end user or another menhaden dealer;
(6) A licensee must report any entanglement
of gear used to take Atlantic menhaden with other gear types or marine mammals
or any release of Atlantic menhaden from a purse seine to Fish and Game
Department dispatch at 271-3361 within 12 hours of the interaction;
(7) Fishing gear used in the taking of
Atlantic menhaden may only be fished between sunrise and one hour after sunset;
and
(8) No licensee shall land
Atlantic menhaden between January 1 and May 14 except those using non-directed
or small-scale gear. Licensees using non-directed or small-scale gear may take,
land and possess a maximum of 6,000 pounds per day of Atlantic
menhaden.
(i) No
licensee shall deploy a gill net seeking the take of Atlantic menhaden in state
waters except in accordance with the following restrictions:
(1) The waters of the Great Bay estuarine
system inland of the Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth, Little Harbor and its
tributaries inland of its most seaward jetty, Rye Harbor and its tributaries
inland of its most seaward jetty, and inland of the Hampton Harbor Bridge shall
be subject to the restrictions contained in Fis 602.06(e);
(2) Each gill net shall have a high flier
buoy or an A-2 or larger orange Gloucester buoy, marked with the name of the
licensee, at each end of the net;
(3) Each gill net shall at all times have an
identification tag with the licensee's name attached to the head rope at the
junction with the vertical line at one end of the net;
(4) No gill net shall have a mesh size larger
than 4 inches;
(5) No gill net
shall be longer than 300 feet, or have a depth of more than 20 feet;
(6) No more than 2 gill nets shall be
deployed by a licensee at any one time in state waters;
(7) The 2 gill nets of a licensee shall be
either fished separately or tied together so long as the total length of the
nets tied together does not exceed 600 feet;
(8) Each sink gill net shall be deployed at a
location that is within the unaided eyesight of the licensee. Unaided eyesight
means unaided by devices such as binoculars or spotting scope;
(9) A sink gillnet shall only be weighted
with a lead line for a foot rope, and an anchor or weight at only one end of
the gill net;
(10) A surface gill
net shall have a headrope sufficiently buoyant to remain exposed at the water's
surface while fishing, and must be fished with one line attached to the vessel
at all times; and
(11) All gill
nets shall be in compliance with the weak link requirements in Fis 602.09(b)(6).
(j) No
licensee shall deploy a purse seine seeking the take of Atlantic menhaden in
state waters except in accordance with the following restrictions:
(1) For the purpose of this section, the
vessel that the purse seine net is deployed from shall be the "primary purse
seine vessel";
(2) For the purpose
of this section, the vessel that draws the purse seine net around a school of
Atlantic menhaden and returns control of the deployed net back to the primary
purse seine vessel shall be the "assisting vessel";
(3) No purse seine shall be larger than 600
feet wide and 48 feet deep;
(4) Any
purse seine deployed must be pursed and retrieved by hand without the aid of
hydraulic, electrical, gas or diesel powered devices;
(5) No purse seine shall be set or retrieved
in the waters landward of 72 COLREGS demarcation line, landward of the Rye
harbor approach channel as defined in RSA 211:19-a, III or landward of the
outer most jetty at the Hampton harbor entrance;
(6) No purse seine shall be set or retrieved
from a vessel that is more than 50 feet in length;
(7) No more than one additional vessel shall
assist another vessel with the take of Atlantic menhaden with a purse seine,
nor shall the assisting vessel be more than 50 feet in length;
(8) No purse seine shall be set or retrieved
on the days of Saturday or Sunday;
(9) Atlantic menhaden shall not be removed
from a purse seine with a power assisted pumping device;
(10) All marine species other than Atlantic
menhaden shall be released immediately from a purse seine; and
(11) The primary purse seine vessel shall be
responsible for reporting all information required under Fis 608.02, including
any Atlantic menhaden landed by the assisting vessel.
(k) Except as provided in this section, no
holder of a commercial saltwater license or wholesale marine species license
shall take, land, or possess Atlantic menhaden for the purpose of sale while on
or leaving the waters under the jurisdiction of the state whenever the
executive director has projected that 92 percent of the annual state quota
established by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has been
taken.
(l) A closure date shall be
announced via notice by the executive director at least 2 days prior to the
closure being enacted.
(m) Until
the state's Atlantic menhaden quota has been taken and a closure date
announced, any menhaden dealer shall electronically report all menhaden landing
transactions daily, providing the following information consistent with the
minimum data requirements of the Standard Atlantic Fisheries Information System
(SAFIS):
(1) Name of dealer, or properly
licensed person;
(2) The dealer's
wholesale marine species or commercial saltwater license number;
(3) Week of reporting period;
(4) Commercial harvester's trip start
date;
(5) Vessel name;
(6) State of vessel registration and number
or coast guard number;
(7)
Commercial harvester's first name, last name, date of birth, and license
number;
(8) Number of trips for
commercial harvester per day;
(9)
Species purchased;
(10) Pounds of
species purchased;
(11) Disposition
of species purchased;
(12)
Ex-vessel value or price of purchased species;
(13) Port, county and state where species
were landed;
(14) Date species
unloaded from commercial harvester's vessel;
(15) Grade and market size of purchased
species;
(16) Gear used to harvest
species; and
(17) Dated signature
of the dealer, signed subject to the penalties for unsworn false statements
under RSA 641:3.
(n)
Once the state Atlantic menhaden quota has been taken and a closure date
announced, all menhaden dealers shall electronically report all Atlantic
menhaden landing transactions on a weekly basis with the information defined in
paragraph (k) above. The reporting week shall be Sunday through
Saturday.
(o) Notwithstanding the
above restrictions and requirements, any holder of a commercial salt water
license or harvest permit may take, land and possess up to a maximum of 6,000
pounds per day of Atlantic menhaden during a closure period provided that:
(1) The fish have been taken by non-directed
or small-scale gears; and
(2) No
licensee shall land Atlantic menhaden more than once per calendar
day.
(p) Five hundred
thousand pounds of the state Atlantic menhaden quota shall be set aside
annually for fish harvested within the jurisdiction of New Hampshire for the
intent of sale. Any remaining set aside will be applied to the overall state
Atlantic menhaden quota on October 1.
#10375, EXEMPT, eff 7-17-13
