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achieved by a commission comprised
of representatives of both Maryland and Virginia. That agreement lead to the
adoption of the Maryland and Virginia Potomac River Compact of 1958
(Compact)
which created the Potomac River Fisheries Commission and charged it with the
establishment and maintenance of a program to conserve and improve these
resources.
The adoption of the Maryland
and Virginia Potomac River Compact of 1958 and the establishment of the
Potomac River Fisheries Commission were in direct response to the historical
battles between the fishermen and the law enforcement during the late 1940’s and
most of the 1950’s.
The Maryland and Virginia
legislatures adopted the Compact, but enactment was delayed
because the Compact was petitioned to statewide referendum in Maryland.
Following its passage by the citizens of Maryland it was submitted to the United
States Congress for ratification. President John F. Kennedy signed the enabling
legislation in December 1962. The Potomac River Fisheries Commission held the
first meeting January 10, 1963.
Today, the Potomac River Fisheries
Commission (PRFC) regulates the fisheries of the main stem of the tidal Potomac
River from the Maryland/Washington D.C. boundary line (near the Woodrow Wilson
Bridge), to the mouth of the river at Point Lookout, MD and Smith Point, VA. The
PRFC regulates all recreational and commercial fishing, crabbing, oystering and
clamming in the main stem tidal Potomac River, and issues licenses for those
activities.
The Potomac River Fisheries
Commission coordinates regulations with the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources(DNR), the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and the Department of Game
and Inland Fisheries, (DGIF), and with the other Atlantic coastal states through the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
PRFC Website is partially funded by NOAA
Award # NA06NMF4740101 |
