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North Carolina Marine Fisheries Proclamation FF-40-2020 and FF-39-2020 address the opening the Albemarle Sound Management area for recreation and commercial fishing for striped bass on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 12:01 a.m.

Both fisheries will close when the allocation is reached or at 11:59 p.m., Dec. 31, 2020.

In the recreation fishery, the creel limit is two striped bass “taken in any one day by hook-and-line or for recreational purposes . . .”

The commercial fishery Proclamation FF-39-2020 states “striped bass will be limited to 50% by weight, of the combined daily harvest not to exceed 5 fish per day, per Standard Commercial Fishing License holder. The daily harvest limit of five striped bass shall not be exceeded, regardless of where taken from Internal Waters,” unless “taken in conjunction with other finfish species.

Any operation with more than one Standard Commercial Fishing License holder can be in possession of two daily harvest limits. The license holder must accompany the harvest limit until the time of sale to a dealer with a 2020-21 striped bass dealer permit for the area. The license holder(s) must transport the finfish together with the striped bass.

For the commercial fishery, the proclamation states “it is unlawful to sell, offer for sale or purchase striped bass taken by hook-and-line.”

“The intent of this proclamation is to manage the commercial harvest of striped bass in the Albemarle Sound Management Area within the 137,500 pound annual harvest quota established by the November 2014 Revision to Amendment 1 of the North Carolina Estuarine Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan.”

And, “dealers with a Striped Bass Dealer Permit for Quota Monitoring shall contact the Division of Marine Fisheries Elizabeth City office 252-264-3911 and speak to Kimberly Hewitt to obtain harvest tags. Tags shall be picked up from a Division of Marine Fisheries office.”

READ MORE IN OUR ON THE WATER SECTION HERE.