MARYLAND- New striped bass fishing regulations are now in effect in Maryland, changing how commercial license holders manage quota and transfer permits in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean fisheries.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced updates designed to provide commercial fishermen with more flexibility while maintaining the overall harvest limits unchanged.
One major change increases the allocation cap in the Chesapeake Bay commercial striped bass fishery from 1.5% to 2%. The cap limits the amount of the total annual quota that any one license holder can temporarily control.
Under the updated rule, a commercial tidal fish license holder can now hold an additional 0.5% of the total striped bass quota through temporary transfers. The adjustment follows feedback from the Striped Bass Industry Advisory Workgroup, which pointed to challenges caused by permit consolidation and limits that prevented some transfers.
The second change modifies how permits, quota shares, and allocations can be transferred between individuals in both the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean striped bass fisheries.
Previously, differences between the commercial fishing license year, which runs from September to August, and the striped bass permit year, which runs from January to December, created situations where a permit could be held by someone without an active commercial license. In those cases, the permit and its quota could not be used or transferred.
The updated rules now allow permanent license holders to transfer striped bass permits, shares, or allocation even if they have temporarily transferred their commercial license to someone else. The change also allows individuals whose temporary license has expired, but who still hold an active striped bass permit, to transfer that permit or its allocation to a currently licensed fisherman.
The Department said these updates will help ensure more of the annual striped bass quota can be harvested before the end of the season, improving efficiency for commercial operations.
According to the agency, the total annual striped bass quota remains unchanged and is set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
The changes apply to commercially licensed individuals who hold striped bass permits in Maryland.