Maryland Fishing News

WHAT: DNR will release the second batch of specially tagged striped bass, including Diamond Jim, for the 2009 Maryland Fishing Challenge. Event begins inland and will be followed by a fishing trip to catch and tag the stripers.

New York, New York - Yesterday at an Ocean Summit in New York City, the State of Maryland joined with the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia to announce a new Mid-Atlantic ocean partnership designed to address the region's priority ocean issues including offshore energy, climate change, water quality, and habitat protection. The states' governors, through the newly formed Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, will advocate in one voice to leverage greater state influence on the management of offshore areas and help guide federal and interstate actions and resources.

MARBURY, MARYLAND - The Northeast Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League® will visit the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, June 13 for the second of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division.

On June 1, 2009 at approximately 5:00 pm., the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) recovered the body of the missing waterman, Raymond Lee Gifford in Harris Creek, Bozman, Maryland. Gifford was last seen at 5:00 am when he left his residence to go crabbing.

WHAT: DNR will release the first batch of specially tagged striped bass, including Diamond Jim, for the 2009 Maryland Fishing Challenge. Event begins inland and will be followed by a fishing trip to catch and tag the stripers.

Kent County - On May 7, 2009 in Kent County District Court, John Franklin Riggs of Rockhall, Maryland and Stephen Lawrence Tyer of Rockhall, Maryland were found guilty commercial fishing violations.

Annapolis, Maryland -Yesterday, Governor Martin O'Malley signed into law a new Aquaculture Shellfish Leasing bill (Senate Bill 271/House Bill 312) that revamps leasing laws to make it easier for watermen and others to grow shellfish in the Bay. The bill, developed out of recommendations from the Oyster Advisory Commission, is another one of Governor O'Malley's Smart, Green and Growing initiatives from the 2009 Legislative Assembly.

WASHINGTON-Three more commercial fishermen were sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., for illegally harvesting and under-reporting their catch of striped bass, also known as rockfish, the Justice Department announced. The sentencings are part of the on-going prosecution of individuals and wholesalers who have participated in a black market to overfish and under-report rockfish catch from the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waterways, which is the largest spawning ground for striped bass on the East Coast.

Annapolis, Maryland - Bay grasses, a favorite home to the blue crab, increased 20 percent in 2008 in Maryland's portion of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The majority of the 7,221-acre increase resulted from a continued expansion on the Susquehanna Flats, home of the largest bay grass beds in the Chesapeake Bay. While the new number - 42,237 acres (up from 35,016 acres in 2007) - marks a significant increase, Maryland bay grass acreage remains far short of the 2010 restoration goal of 110,000 acres.

MARBURY, MARYLAND - The Northeast Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League® will visit the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, May 9 for the first of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division.