(1) GENERAL RESTRICTIONS. No person may conduct commercial fishing operations unless he or she has first obtained the appropriate license or licenses required under ss. 29.523 and 29.533, Stats. A commercial fisher shall carry each license with him or her at all times while engaged in any part of commercial fishing and shall exhibit the license to the department or its wardens on demand. Each commercial fishing licensee must be a resident of the Wisconsin. Commercial fish helpers and crew members are not required to hold a license but a commercial fisher using helpers or crew members who do not hold a Wisconsin commercial fishing license shall submit to the department a list of all unlicensed helpers' or crew members' names and addresses along with the fisher's application for a license or before the helper or crew member begins to assist the licensee. Commercial fishers whose commercial fishing approvals or privileges have been suspended or revoked may not act as a helper or crew member for another licensee during the period of suspension or revocation. Note: Names and addresses of fish helpers and crew members may be submitted with the fisher's application for a license to the Department of Natural Resources, Mississippi River License application - CS/1, P.O. Box 7924, Madison, WI 53707-7924 or may be submitted along with a licensee's monthly catch report.
(a) All game fish that are not commercial fish and all fish that are listed in ch. NR 27 as endangered or threatened species that are taken with any net or setline shall be immediately returned to the water with as little injury as possible as soon as they appear in the operation. Seines may not be bagged in a manner that causes either game fish that are not commercial fish or fish that are listed in ch. NR 27 as endangered or threatened species to die while bagged in the net. The presence of dead game fish that are not commercial fish or dead fish that are listed in ch. NR 27 as endangered or threatened species in a seine bag shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this paragraph.(b) Each person required to hold a commercial fishing license shall be present at all times when any of his or her nets or setlines are set, placed, tended or operated. The licensee does not need to be present when fish are removed from a bagged seine or crib while the licensee transports commercial fish on the water or ice or is tending to the loading of commercial fish at a boat landing.(c) Measurement of mesh size is by stretch measure. Such measurements apply to net meshes when in use and no allowance will be made for the shrinkage due to any cause. (29.041, 29.516, 29.522) (cf) No person may mark or tag a net or setline with his or her license number or metal tag if the net or setline is already marked or tagged by another licensed commercial fisher, except that up to two commercial fishers may each place one of their net tags on the same net and may lift or operate this net when it is agreed to by both commercial fishers. Only one net flag with one number may be displayed on a net at any time and only the commercial fisher whose flag is attached to the net may set, place, tend, operate or lift the net.(cm) No person may set, place, tend or operate any net or setline that is marked or tagged with the license number or metal tag of another person, except for crew members acting under the direction of the licensee while the licensee is present.(d) There are no bag limits for any commercial species other than are expressly provided in this chapter. (29.041)(e) Improperly placed or tagged commercial fishing gear is a public nuisance and will be seized and held by the department subject to order of the court.(g) No licensed commercial fisher or any member of his or her crew or any person with the commercial fisher or crew may possess any game fish that are not commercial fish while operating commercial gear on the ice or in the open waters of the state or when traveling to or from the operation of the gear.(h) No person may possess or control commercial fishing gear not authorized for use in the Wisconsin-Minnesota boundary waters by this chapter while on the ice or the open waters of the state or while engaged in a fishing operation involving those waters.(i) All fishers required to be licensed under the provisions of ss. 29.523 and 29.533, Stats., shall complete and submit monthly reports on forms available from the department. All reports shall be submitted to the department by the 10th of the month following each month the commercial fisher is required to be licensed. Each monthly report shall be signed by the commercial fisher. Each commercial fisher shall report all fish sold or kept whether these fish were legally or illegally taken or obtained, the buyers name, address and phone number, and all other information requested on the report form.(k) Commercial fish taken by commercial gear pursuant to this chapter may be sold only by the licensed commercial fisher whose gear was used to take the fish. A commercial fisher may not sell fish taken under the authority of another fisher's license, unless he or she sells the other fisher's fish under the authority of a wholesale fish dealers license.(l) No person may remove roe from a commercial fish while on the water, ice, bank or shore. Commercial fish shall remain intact until the fish reaches the final processing facility or place of business of the commercial fisher.(p) The department or its agents may require any operator of any commercial fishing gear to cease the fishing operations when the department finds these operations are destructive to game fish or they will endanger any other species of wild animal. (29.041)(q) The department by its agents, employees or wardens may in the absence of the licensee, at any time, raise any commercial fishing gear with as little damage as may be for inspection. (23.11, 29.516)(r) The use or operation of all commercial gear except those authorized in this chapter is prohibited in the Wisconsin-Minnesota boundary waters with the exception of such nets as may be authorized by the department. The specifications for the nets operated under contract with the department must be agreed upon between the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota.