ASSEMBLY, No. 2225

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

209th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED MARCH 20, 2000

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman JOHN S. WISNIEWSKI

District 19 (Middlesex)

SYNOPSIS

    Limits taking of menhaden in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

    As introduced.

An Act concerning the taking of menhaden and amending R.S.23:3-51.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. R.S.23:3-51 is amended to read as follows:

    23:3-51. a. A person intending to take menhaden with purse or shirred nets in any waters in the jurisdiction of this State, including the waters of the Atlantic ocean, within [3] three nautical miles of the coast line of this State, shall apply to the commissioner for a license therefor. The commissioner, upon the receipt of the application and payment [to him]of the fee provided in section 23:3-52 of this Title, may, [in his discretion,] issue to the applicant a license, to take menhaden with purse or shirred nets , except as prohibited in subsection b. of this section. The license shall be void after December 31 next succeeding its issuance.

    b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of this section or any other law, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, to the contrary, the commissioner shall not issue a license for the taking of menhaden and no person may take menhaden in Raritan or Sandy Hook bays by the means of purse or shirred nets except between sunrise and six hours after sunrise and beyond one nautical mile of any point along the shore in those bays, including a pier or a jetty.

(cf: P.L.1979, c.199, s.66)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would limit the taking of menhaden in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays by restricting the hours that menhaden could be taken and by altering the distance from the shore in which menhaden can be taken. This bill would provide that menhaden could not be taken with a purse or shirred net in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays except between sunrise and six hours after sunrise and beyond one nautical mile of any point along the shore in those bays, including piers and jetties.

    Currently, as provided for in regulation by the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife in the Department of Environmental Protection, commercial licenses are available for the use of purse or shirred nets for menhaden for bait in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays. The season is open year-round with fishing prohibited between sunset and sunrise, and the nets may be used in the bays, but not closer than 0.6 nautical miles from the shore, piers or jetties.