DNREC Secretary Garvin signs Emergency Order
making changes in minimum size, limits and season dates for tautog
DOVER (June 28, 2018) – DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin today signed an Emergency Order making changes in Delaware’s tautog fishing regulations that go into effect July 1. The changes were adopted through an emergency regulation due to insufficient time to adopt the regulations through the standard regulatory process without significantly impacting Delaware’s tautog fisheries.
The regulations increase the tautog minimum size limit to 16 inches, adjust the open seasons to July 1 through Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 through May 15, and reduce the possession limit to four tautog per day during the new open seasons. The adjusted seasons allow Delaware’s commercial and recreational fishermen earlier access to tautog fishing than the previous July 17 reopening of the fishery and provide 48 additional tautog-fishing days annually.
The new regulations established by the emergency order bring Delaware into compliance with Amendment 1 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan for tautog.
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Secretary’s Emergency Order
June 28, 2018
Secretary’s Order No. 2018-F-0035
RE: Pursuant to 29 Del.C. §10119, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is adopting amendments to Tidal Finfish Regulation 7 DE Admin. Code 3512: Tautog; Size Limits, Creel Limits and Seasons by Emergency Order of the DNREC Secretary, without prior notice or public hearing to ensure that Delaware’s tautog fishing resource avoids unnecessary hardship, benefits from a sustainable harvest strategy, and remains competitive with similar fishing resources in Maryland and Virginia.
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