Chesapeake Bay News

On February 7, the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) confiscated more than 1,100 pounds of illegally caught striped bass. The discovery came within a week of pulling more than 10 tons of illegally caught striped bass from four illegally anchored gill nets near Bloody Point Light, south of Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay.

NRP seized the latest 1,159 pounds from 1,200 yards of illegally anchored gillnet at the mouth of Eastern Bay, a mile south of the previously located Bloody Point gill nets. Officers also found 600 yards of illegally anchored gill net near Poplar Island that contained about 300 dead horseshoe crabs and a few live striped bass, which were released back into the Bay.

DNR and stakeholders, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Humane Society of the United States, Coastal Conservation Association, the Maryland Watermen’s Association, the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen’s Association and the Maryland Charter Boat Association, have come together to offer a reward of $10,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a person or persons responsible for setting these anchored gill nets in the vicinity of Bloody Point Light.  Funding for the reward will come from dedicated funding as well as contributions from these stakeholder groups, who are publicly denouncing these crimes.

Maryland’s commercial striped bass fishery is managed on a quota system, in cooperation with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission; the commercial gill net quota for February is 354,318 pounds.  When the illegally harvested striped bass confiscated by the NRP were deducted from the quota, DNR was forced to immediately shut down the fishery. The fishery will remain closed until DNR can determine the extent of illegal nets out on the Bay and the amount of striped bass caught in those nets.

Information on this crime may be called into the Natural Resources Police Catch-a-Poacher Hotline at 800-635-6124. Callers may remain anonymous.

MarylandNatural Resources Police (NRP) have confiscated more than 10 tons of illegally caught rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay near Bloody Point and Eastern Bay.

“The Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen’s Association is disheartened and outraged over the 10 tons of illegally caught rockfish in our own Chesapeake Bay”, MSSA’s President Vince Ringgold said.

Additional illegal nets have been found in the mouth of the Choptank but have revealed very few fish as they were captured not too long after being set.  The NRP is investigating all leads and will continue its efforts to find these illegal nets and the people responsible.

The Chesapeake Bay is the spawning ground and nursery for 75 percent of the migratory striped bass stock on the coast.  Maryland is under continued pressure from the Atlantic states to protect the spawning grounds of this coveted fish and to ensure a sustainable fishery. The rockfish, also known as striped bass, is Maryland’s state fish.

Governor Martin O’Malley has signed three new bills into law which will impose more serious penalties for fishing law violations in Maryland.

“This legislation, like so many other efforts we are working on in Maryland, reflects our steadfast resolve to protect and maintain our State’s vast and diverse fishery population,” said Governor O’Malley. “Poaching and other illegal fishing activity amounts to stealing the valuable natural resources that are critical to maintaining healthy rivers and bays. This legislation establishes much needed, more timely and consequential penalties that are necessary to prevent theft from and harm to the resources we hold in the public trust.”

House Bill 1355 will allow DNR to apply a reasonable commercial license suspension or revocation when someone is convicted of violating a commercial fishing law. Prior to enactment of this legislation, DNR could not suspend a commercial fishing license unless an individual incurred multiple convictions over two to five years. The bill does away with the need to first consider the frequency of convictions, as well as the need to first consider multiple convictions before a suspension or revocation can take place. This will provide a more serious consequence for fishing law violators, whose current penalty is generally a minimal fine, which in most cases is not a sufficient deterrent.

“As legislators, we continually hear about the need to reduce the decimation of the Bay,” said Delegate Steve Lafferty, who sponsored House Bill 1355. “This is an important step to reducing the illegal takings that are reducing our legal fisheries. I am more than pleased to work with the Department to address this problem.”

House Bill 1419 was borne from recommendations of the Task Force on Fisheries Management. The bill will increase the maximum allowable fine upon conviction from $500 to $1,000 for a first offense and from $1,000 to $2,000 for a second or subsequent violation of fisheries law. These fines have not been increased since their adoption in 1973. The bill also allows the DNR to impose restitution or other monetary penalties on a person convicted of violating certain fisheries laws and authorizes the DNR to establish a list of monetary and ecological values for aquatic species. Restitution paid will be used for replacement, habitat management, or enforcement programs for fish or protected species.

“Our task force knows that good fisheries management requires effective enforcement,” said Tom Lewis, Chairman of the Task Force on Fisheries Management. “We are pleased with DNR’s success in following through with our recommendations for additional legislation. These bills will help strengthen and rationalize the enforcement tools available for fisheries violations.”

Senate Bill 164 was also developed from recommendations of the Task Force on Fisheries Management. This legislation gives DNR consistent authority to suspend recreational fishing privileges across both tidal and non-tidal waters. A clearer, more consistent process will promote compliance with fishing regulations, give DNR greater enforcement tools and send a clear message to the public about the process of fishing license suspension.

“Violating the law is a crime and should be treated as such, whether the theft is bushels of oysters or blue crabs or a television or stereo,” said DNR Secretary John Griffin. “The enactment of these bills provides an additional measure of protection to our aquatic resources by discouraging violators who would intentionally abuse them.”

Governor O’Malley established the 17-member Task Force on Fisheries Management, comprised of scientists, recreational anglers, watermen, charter boat captains and conservationists, in November 2007. The Fisheries Management Reform Act (Senate Bill 1012) charged the Task Force with developing new strategies to better manage Maryland’s valuable fishery resources and develop recommendations for methods to improve, modernize, and streamline fishery management.

On Friday, April 9, 2009, the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) charged two Talbot County men with multiple criminal and natural resource violations as a result of an investigation of theft of fish from commercial fishing nets in the Wye River.

The investigation started March 9, when NRP received an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen reporting possible illegal fishing activity in the area of Pickering Creek Drive near Wye Island. NRP had also received a report from a commercial waterman that several of his fyke nets located in the Wye River had been cut and emptied.

A fyke net is a net used for the commercial harvest of fish. It consists of cylindrical or cone-shaped netting bags mounted on rings or other rigid structures. It has wings or leaders which guide the fish towards the entrance of the bags. Fyke nets are fixed on the bottom by anchors, ballast or stakes.

Officers responding to the Pickering Creek Drive location observed William Christopher Bradley, 21, of St. Michaels and Daniel Wesley Andrews, 30, of Wittman walking around a pickup truck that was parked at the location. The truck’s bed was full of bushel baskets containing white perch. Officers observed an all-terrain utility vehicle parked in an open barn next to the truck as they approached the two men. The bed of that vehicle was also loaded with bushel baskets of white perch. Bradley and Andrews are not commercial watermen.

During the incident, NRP seized as evidence 8,421 white perch measuring on average of four inches in length; five bushels of white perch measuring over eight inches in length; 27 sunfish; six alewife, a species of herring; four striped bass; three channel catfish; and four boxes of drift gill nets.

Bradley and Andrews were each charged by NRP with the following violations:

One count of possession of white perch measuring less than eight inches in length caught other than hook and line

One count of possession of channel catfish measuring less than 10 inches in length

One count of taking and or possessing striped bass during closed season

One count  of Failure to obtain a commercial tidal fishing license

5 counts removing fish from nets or gear of another

4 counts of failure to carry required equipment for commercial purposes as set fourth by the Federal Boat Act/Federal Boat Safety Act

One count of setting or fishing drift gill net with the a stretched mesh size less than three and one eighth inches during the period of January 1 through March 15

One count of failure to display a commercial tidal fishing license number on vessel or other equipment

5 counts of malicious destruction of property

5 counts of theft less than $500 in value

One count of theft scheme less than $500 in value

A court date of May 14,2009 has been scheduled for both men in Talbot County District Court.