Sec.26-157b-1. Reports

Each holder of any commercial fishing license, landing license, pound net registration, or charter-party boat registration, each person licensed to take lobsters or fish for personal use only, and each person licensed to purchase marine species for resale shall, as provided in this section, report to the commissioner. These reports may include but are not limited to the number, weight and sex of finfish, squid, sea scallops, lobsters or crabs in the catch and landings by species and market size and grade; gear used and effort expended; area fished; port landed; disposition of catch; type and value of nets, boats, and other equipment used; number of persons employed; number, weight, market size, grade and price of marine species purchased and distributed, including conch, and the number of anglers fishing on board charter-party boats. These reports shall be made on forms provided by the commissioner or by other methods approved by the Commissioner. Said reports shall be completed in their entirety and submitted to the Marine Fisheries Division office of the department (P. O. Box 719, Old Lyme, CT 06371).

(a) Each licensed commercial shad fisherman shall submit a report of daily fishing activities no later than June 30 of the year covered by the report.

(b) Each person licensed to take blue crabs for commercial purposes shall submit a report of daily fishing activities no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report.

(c) Each person or firm issued a registration for a pound net or similar device shall submit a report of daily fishing activities no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report.

(d) Each person licensed to set, tend or assist in setting or tending gill nets, seines, trap nets, fish pots, fykes, scaps, scoops, weirs, eel pots or similar devices to take finfish, or licensed to take finfish for commercial purposes by hook and line or licensed to take horseshoe crabs by hand, shall complete a report of all fishing activities, daily or at the end of the fishing trip. Said reports shall be submitted no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report. Such reports shall be available on board any vessel at any time for inspection by authorized agents of the commissioner.

(e) Each person licensed to set, tend, or assist in setting or tending seines, traps, scaps, scoops, weirs or similar devices to take bait species for commercial purposes shall submit a report of daily fishing activities no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report.

(f) Each person licensed to take lobsters or fish for personal use only, by means of not more than ten lobster pots, by skin diving, scuba diving or by hand, and each person licensed to take menhaden for personal use, shall submit a report of daily fishing activities no later than January thirty-first of the year following the year covered by the report.

(g) Each person (resident or nonresident) licensed to take lobsters, squid, sea scallops, crabs (other than blue crabs) or finfish for personal use or for sale by means of more than ten lobster pots or similar devices, or by the use of otter trawls, balloon trawls, beam trawls or similar devices, and each person licensed to land lobsters, sea scallops, finfish, crabs, including blue crabs, or squid shall complete a report of all fishing activities, daily or at the end of the fishing trip. Said reports shall be submitted no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report. Such reports shall be available on board any vessel at any time for inspection by authorized agents of the commissioner.

(h) Each person or firm licensed to buy lobsters, finfish, squid, crabs, or sea scallops for resale from commercial fishermen licensed by the commissioner shall complete a report of individual purchase transactions of such species, including conch, and this report shall be submitted no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report.

(i) Each person or firm issued a charter boat or party boat registration shall submit a report of daily fishing activities no later than the tenth of the month following the month covered by the report.

(j) In addition to the provisions of subsections (a) to (i), inclusive, of this section for all species managed by quota, all holders of licenses or registrations issued under section 26-142a of the Connecticut General Statutes concerning the purchase for resale of finfish, lobsters, crabs, sea scallops or squid, or the taking of said resources, shall report weekly total landings in pounds and Connecticut port where landed. Weekly reports shall be submitted for the period commencing on Sunday and concluding on the following Saturday, and shall be submitted by a method approved by the commissioner no later than 4:30pm on the following Tuesday or 24 hours after the end of any fishing trip commencing prior to a Saturday and concluding after the following Monday.

(Effective May 19, 1995; Amended December 27, 2000; Amended March 31, 2003)