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2008 SESSION
088269654Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 28.2-1000.2 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 28.2-1000.2. (Expires December
31, 2010) Annual closureMoratorium
of the Chesapeake Bay purse seine commercial fishery
for Atlantic menhaden.
A. For the purpose of this section:
"Chesapeake Bay" means the territorial waters of the Commonwealth lying west of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
"Purse seineCommercial
fishery for Atlantic menhaden" means those vessels
licensed pursuant to § 28.2-402 that
harvest menhaden for the purpose of manufacturing them into fertilizer,
fish meal, or oilany commercial
purpose.
B. Upon notification by the National Marine Fisheries Service
of the date on which the purse seinecommercial
fishery for Atlantic menhaden meets the annual menhaden harvest cap in the
Chesapeake Bay, the Secretary of Natural Resources shall promptly publish a
notice in the Virginia Register announcing the date of closure. The Secretary
of Natural Resources shall also notify the operators of the purse seine commercial
fishery for Atlantic menhaden by the most convenient and
expeditious means available. The date of closure shall be based on mandatory
daily catch reports submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service by the purse
seinecommercial fishery for Atlantic
menhaden.
C. The annual menhaden harvest cap for the purse seinecommercial
fishery for Atlantic menhaden shall be 109,020 metric
tons, subject to annual adjustment for underages or
overages reduced by 20 percent each year for five years as specified in subsection D. In no event,
however, shall the harvest of this fishery exceed 122,740 metric tons in any
one year Beginning on the date of
closure of the commercial fishery for Atlantic Menhaden for 2013, there shall be a moratorium on
the harvest of Atlantic menhaden for commercial purposes.
D. If the harvest of the purse seine fishery for
Atlantic menhaden does not exceed 109,020 metric tons in any year to which the harvest
cap applies, then the difference between the actual harvest and the harvest cap
shall be applied as a credit applicable to the allowable harvest for the purse
seine fishery for Atlantic menhaden for the following year. The credit may be
used only for the subsequent annual harvest and shall not be spread over
multiple years. Any annual harvest in excess of the harvest cap shall be
deducted from the harvest cap, as modified pursuant to this subsection and
subsection C for the subsequent annual harvest.
E. The 2007 harvest
cap for the purse seine fishery for Atlantic menhaden shall be adjusted for any
underage or overage, as specified in subsection D, from the actual 2006 harvest
of the purse seine fishery for Atlantic menhaden.
F. No person shall
take Atlantic menhaden by purse seine
for reduction purposes from the
Chesapeake Bay after the later of the date of closure implemented pursuant to
subsection B or the date that actual notice is provided of such closure
pursuant to subsection B. The 2009 menhaden
harvest cap for the commercial fishery for Atlantic menhaden shall be 87,216
metric tons; the 2010 menhaden harvest cap for the commercial fishery for
Atlantic menhaden shall be 65,412 metric tons; the 2011 menhaden harvest cap
for the commercial fishery for Atlantic menhaden shall be 43,608 metric tons;
and the 2012 menhaden harvest cap for the commercial fishery for Atlantic
menhaden shall be 21,804 metric tons.
E. Any person violating this provision shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.