Except as otherwise provided by division rule, every licensee taking fish with commercial fishing gear, except a trotline of seventy hooks or less, in any of the waters mentioned in this chapter and Chapter 1531. of the Revised Code or division rule, shall keep accurate reports for each day's catch upon forms provided, and in the manner prescribed, by the chief of the division of wildlife. The reports shall be open for inspection by a wildlife officer at all reasonable hours.

Every commercial fishing licensee shall keep an accurate record of each day's catch as prescribed upon a daily report form. The report shall include at least the number of pounds of each kind of fish taken, the grid fished, the kind and amount of fishing gear lifted, the number of lifts, and any other data the biologists employed by the division of wildlife require in following the trend of the fisheries. The licensee shall report each day, under oath when requested to do so, those data to the chief.

The daily catch data shall be recorded accurately in a manner and on a form prescribed by the chief in division rule.

A licensee shall contact the chief or the chief's designee when the licensee is in transit to the licensee's trap nets to lift, move, pull, remove, clean, or maintain the trap nets for any reason and also shall contact the chief or the chief's designee when returning to land with a daily catch of fish from a trap net indicating the licensee's estimated time of arrival at a specific port and any other information required by the chief. The licensee shall contact the chief or the chief's designee by using a cellular telephone, radio, or other communication device in a manner prescribed by the chief.

No person shall fail to comply with any report procedure provided for in this section, other provisions of this section, or division rule adopted pursuant thereto.

Effective Date: 10-20-1994; 04-06-2007; 2007 SB77 10-10-2007.