II. GILL NET CONSTRUCTION AND USE REQUIREMENTS (see Section IV. for exempted gear)
A fishing operation regardless of the number of vessels or persons involved, shall adhere to the gill net restrictions specified:

A. Management Unit A:

1. It is unlawful to use gill nets with a stretched mesh length other than 3 ¼ inches, AND unless the nets are set to fish the bottom of the water column and not to exceed a vertical height of 48 inches. Vertical height is defined as the distance between the top and bottom lines of the net.
2. It is unlawful to use gill nets with a stretched mesh length greater than 3 ¼ inches and less than 5 ½ inches.
3. It is unlawful to use gill nets with a stretched mesh length greater than 6 ½ inches.
4. It is unlawful to use gill nets with a stretched mesh length of 5 ½ inches through 6 ½ inches EXCEPT IN THE AREAS DESCRIBED IN SECTION I.C., AND unless the nets are set to fish the bottom of the water column and not to exceed a vertical height of 48 inches. Vertical height is defined as the distance between the top and bottom lines of the net.
5. It is unlawful to fail to actively fish gill net sets at least once each day, between sunrise and 12:01 P.M.

III. GILL NET YARDAGE RESTRICTIONS
A fishing operation, regardless of the number of vessels or persons involved, shall adhere to the gill net yardage restrictions specified:

A. It is unlawful to use more than 800 yards of gill net with a stretched mesh length of 3 ¼ inches in any combination per commercial fishing operation, including nets as described in Section IV.

B. It is unlawful to use more than 1,000 yards of gill net with a stretched mesh length of 5 ½ inches through 6 ½ inches.

IV. GEAR EXEMPTIONS AND RESTRICTIONS FOR RUN-AROUND, STRIKE, DROP, TRAMMEL, AND DRIFT GILL NETS:

A. Exempted gear definitions (including trammel gill nets):

1. Runaround, strike, drop, or trammel gill nets - gill nets that are set and then are immediately retrieved.
2. Drift gill nets - gill nets that are used to capture fish while being moved along by water currents and the net being actively fished and attended from deployment through retrieval.

B. It is unlawful to use drift gill nets in the Joint Fishing Waters portion of the Roanoke, Middle, Eastmost, Cashie, Chowan and Meherrin rivers and all other joint water tributaries of the Albemarle Sound Management Area as defined in N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Rule 15 NCAC 03R. 0201.

C. It is unlawful to use run-around, strike, drift, drop and trammel gill nets with a stretched mesh length other than 3 ¼ inches, EXCEPT, in the area of Management Unit A south of a line beginning at a point 35° 53.1720’ N – 75° 45.6160’ W on the mainland shore near Manns Harbor; running easterly along the south side of the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge (Hwy 64 Bypass), continuing easterly along the south side of the Washington Baum Bridge (Hwy 64) to a point ending at 35° 54.3820’ N – 75° 35.9240’ W on the Outer Banks shore, run-around, strike, drift, drop and trammel gill nets with a stretched mesh length of 3 ¼ inches through 4 inches may be used.

D. It is unlawful to use or possess more than 800 yards of run-around, strike, drift, drop and trammel gill net per commercial fishing operation.

V. SEA TURTLE AND ATLANTIC STURGEON INTERACTION REPORTING
It is unlawful to fail to report any sea turtle or sturgeon captured in anchored gill nets. Reports shall be made within 24 hours of the capture to the Division of Marine Fisheries at 252-726-7021 or 800-682-2632. Self- reported takes of sea turtles and sturgeon by fishermen fishing without an observer do not count toward the allowable takes in the Incidental Take Permits.