OCEAN CITY — Four local men were cited last week for catching and keeping rockfish in federal waters after getting stopped off the coast of Ocean City by Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP).
James W. Bunting, 44, of Georgetown, Del., Kirby Edward Short, 37, of Bishopville, and Cory Lednum, 18, and Douglas Mumford, 35, both of Selbyville, were each charged with two counts of harvesting striped bass from an area known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which begins three miles offshore where state waters end and extends out 200 miles.
Federal fisheries regulators closed all but a tiny segment of the EEZ to all striped bass fishing or possession. NRP officers on a saturation patrol along the three-mile boundary found the four fishermen’s boat well into the EEZ as it was returning into Maryland waters. The NRP escorted the vessel back to shore where citations were issued.
The fish were seized and donated to the Diakonia homeless shelter. The four fishermen are scheduled to appear in District Court in Snow Hill on Feb. 20. If found guilty, they could be fined a maximum of $250 for each fish.