Delaware Advisory Council on Tidal Finfisheries to meet Nov. 20 in Dover

DOVER – Delaware’s Advisory Council on Tidal Finfisheries will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20 in the DNREC Auditorium, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901.

The agenda includes discussion of recreational and commercial fishery options to comply with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s required 18 percent reduction in striped bass removals for 2020. For more information, including the meeting agenda, visit the Delaware Public Meeting Calendar at https://publicmeetings.delaware.gov/Meeting/63870

For more information on Delaware fisheries, please call DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife, Fisheries Section, at 302-739-9914.

Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareFishWildlife.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902


DNREC Secretary Garvin signs Emergency Order making changes in minimum size, limits and season dates for tautog

DOVER – 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 Emergency Secretary’s Order can be found at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders_Regulations.aspx.

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.

For more information about tautog season, call DNREC’s Fisheries Section at 302-739-9914 or visit www.dnrec.delaware.gov/fw/Fisheries.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 173