Section 250-RICR-90-00-3.22 - Monkfish3.22.1RecreationalA. Minimum size: Seventeen inches (17") total length or eleven inches (11") tail length.B. Possession limit: Fifty (50) pounds tail weight, or one hundred sixty-six (166) pounds whole weight per person and per vessel per day. Whole weight is defined as the weight of monkfish that are gutted (i.e. stomach, liver, and other entrails removed) and have the head and tail attached.3.22.2CommercialA. Minimum size: Seventeen inches (17") total length or eleven inches (11") tail length.B. Fishing year: May 1 through April 30.C. Possession limit:1. Non-federally permitted Rhode Island licensed vessel: Four thousand nine hundred (4,900) pounds tail weight or fourteen thousand two hundred fifty-nine (14,259) pounds whole weight per vessel per week. Whole weight is defined as the weight of monkfish that are gutted (i.e. stomach, liver, and other entrails removed) and have the head and tail attached. In SAFIS landing monkfish in the "whole" is reported using the grade "gutted, head on, tail on."a. The possession of monkfish livers may not exceed the number of gutted-fish and tails combined.b. The possession of monkfish heads may not exceed the number of gutted-head-off-fish and tails combined.2. The possession limit may be modified on the basis of a Rhode Island State water monkfish quota as set by DEM, which shall be equal to three percent (3%) of the Federal Southern Management Area (SMA) Total Allowable Landings (TAL) as specified by NOAA Fisheries. When two percent (2%) of the SMA TAL has been harvested as determined by the DEM, the possession limit will decrease to fifty (50) pounds tail weight or one hundred sixty-six (166) pounds whole weight per vessel per day for the remainder of the fishing year.D. Vessels in possession of a Federal permit authorizing the harvest of monkfish may harvest monkfish in State waters if and only if they are operating during a previously and properly declared Day At Sea (DAS); in such instances, such vessels may harvest monkfish in the amount authorized to be possessed pursuant to Federal Regulations.250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-90-00-3.22
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