Delaware § 917 - Areas restricted for using certain fishing equipment.

§ 917. Areas restricted for using certain fishing equipment.

(a) No person shall fish with any fixed fishing equipment in tidal waters located outside the mouths of tributaries known as the Salem River, Christina River, Delaware City Canal and Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and more specifically described as circular areas, each with a 1/2 nautical mile radius from a point of origin at the midpoint of the mouth of each said tributary.

(b) No person shall fish with any fixed fishing equipment in tidal waters located outside the mouths of tributaries known as the Smyrna River, Leipsic River, Mahon River, Little River, Mispillion River and Roosevelt Inlet, and more specifically described as sectors, each with a 1/2 nautical mile radius from a point of origin at the midpoint of the mouth of each said tributary and between a northern angle of 45 degrees northeast and a southern angle of 45 degrees southeast.

(c) No person shall fish with any fixed fishing equipment in tidal water located outside the entrance channel to the Murderkill River and more specifically described as a sector with a 1/2 nautical mile radius from a point located at the established day marker approximately 1 mile east of the mouth of the Murderkill River, and between a northern angle of 45 degrees northeast and a southern angle of 45 degrees southeast.

(d) No person shall fish with any type of net that obstructs navigation or fish with any net that extends more than 1/3 the distance, measured perpendicular, from shore to opposite shore in any river, channel, stream, canal, ditch or any tributary located in this State.

(e) No person shall fish with any type of net, within 300 feet of any constructed dam or spillway on a tidal water river, stream, canal, ditch or tributary located in this State.

(f) No person shall fish with any type of fixed, anchored or stake nets within 150 feet of any other person’s legally fixed, anchored or staked net.

(g) No person shall fish with any type of net except a bait seine, a cast net, a dip net, a lift net, a minnow trap or a push net in Delaware’s territorial sea within a 1 nautical mile radius from a point of origin at the midpoint of the mouth of the Indian River Inlet or in Delaware’s internal waters within a 1/2 nautical mile radius from a point of origin at the midpoint of the mouth of the Indian River Inlet.

(h) No person shall fish with any type of fishing equipment except a hook and line over another person’s leased shellfish grounds as provided in Chapter 19 of this title unless said person has permission from the lease holder to fish with other types of legal fishing equipment.

(i) No person shall fish with any type of net except a bait seine, a cast net, a dip net, a lift net, a minnow trap or push net within 1/2 nautical mile of the mean high-water line of the shore of Delaware’s territorial sea or within 1/2 nautical mile of the mean high-water line of the shore of Delaware Bay from Cape Henlopen Point to the northern boundary of the Beach Plum Island Nature Preserve, where it intersects with the shoreline of the Delaware Bay, between May 1 and November 30, inclusive, of each year.

(j) No person shall fish with any gill net equal to or less than 200 feet which is anchored, staked or fixed in any way within 1/2 nautical mile of the mean high-water line of the shore of Delaware’s territorial sea or within 1/2 nautical mile of the mean high-water line of the shore of Delaware Bay from the northern boundary of the Beach Plum Island Nature Preserve, where it intersects with the shoreline of the Delaware Bay, to the Murderkill River between May 1 and June 30, inclusive, of each year unless said person has been issued a valid commercial food fishing license by the Department.

(k) Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, a person may fish in the Nanticoke River with a drift net that extends more than 1/3 the distance measured perpendicular from shore to opposite shore provided the drift net does not obstruct navigation.

64 Del. Laws, c. 251, §  1;  65 Del. Laws, c. 106, §  1;  65 Del. Laws, c. 193, §  6;  70 Del. Laws, c. 186, §  1;  71 Del. Laws, c. 437, §§  1, 2;  72 Del. Laws, c. 363, §§  1, 2;  76 Del. Laws, c. 255, §  1;