Commission approves interstate violator compact rules and simplifies pot‑marking

The commission voted to adopt six rules to implement the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact as applied to marine and estuarine resources, and separately adopted a simplification to pot‑marking requirements that reduces the required buoy identifiers to one of three existing options.

Catherine Bloom, the division's rulemaking coordinator, summarized the compact and said state law requires the Marine Fisheries Commission to adopt rules to carry it out; the compact provides reciprocal recognition of license suspensions and other enforcement mechanisms between participating states. The commission approved the compact rules by roll call.

On pot marking, the commission approved a final rule change that allows gear owners to use any one of three existing identifiers on their pot buoys (motorboat registration number, vessel documentation name, or owner last name/initials) rather than two identifiers. The rule narrows a prior, more complex requirement back to a simpler single‑identifier standard. The pot‑marking vote passed with one dissent (Commissioner Hopgood voted "no").

Division staff noted both rule sets are subject to the normal legislative review timeline where applicable and will have delayed effective dates where required by statute; the compact rules include a provision that offenses committed prior to July 1 would not count toward reciprocal recognition.

The votes were procedural and passed by roll call during the business meeting in Dare County; staff said implementation steps and effective dates will be communicated via news releases and rulebook supplements.