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Source: NCDENR, 4/20/22
The recreational cobia fishing season will open May 1 in North
Carolina waters, and the Division of Marine Fisheries is asking anglers for
help with data collection. The recreational cobia fishery is managed by the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), and its Cobia Fishery Management Plan
identifies several data needs, including collection of size, age, and maturity
information, as well as the collection of fin clips to help genetically
identify stock differences.
Recreational anglers can aid in the collection of this data by donating cobia carcasses to the Division’s Carcass Collection Program. The locations of freezers can be found on the Carcass Collection Program webpage.
Additionally, creel clerks will be collecting cobia fin clips when interviewing
recreational anglers. The information collected will be provided to ASMFC for
use in future stock assessments. During the open season, the minimum size limit will be 36 inches
fork length (measured from the tip of snout to the fork in the
tail), and the possession limit will be one fish per person per day. The vessel
limit while fishing aboard a private vessel will be one-fish per-person
per-day with a maximum of two fish per-vessel per-day if two or more people are
aboard a vessel, from May 1 through June 30. The private vessel limit will
decrease to one fish per-vessel per-day on July 1.
The possession limit for fishing aboard a for-hire vessel
will be: one fish per-person per-day, with a maximum of four fish per-vessel
per-day if four or more people are on board a vessel.
The recreational cobia season closes on Dec. 31, 2022. For more specific information on recreational cobia regulations,
see Proclamation FF-29-2022 on the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Proclamation Webpage. For more information, contact Division of Marine Fisheries
biologist Anne Markwith at 910-796-7292 or Anne.Markwith@ncdenr.gov . |