The Virginia Marine Resources Commission approved amendments pertaining to crab pot licensing requirements during its July 26 meeting at commission headquarters in Newport News.

The commission’s vote was a follow-up to its action in June when it adopted crab pot licensing changes under its emergency regulatory authority.

The changes conform to recent changes in the Code of Virginia in which anyone with a recreational five-crab pot license who outfits those pots with terrapin excluder devices will be charged $36. Those who don’t outfit those recreational crab pots with terrapin excluder devices, also called TEDs, will be charged $46. These licensing changes were in support of a staff recommendation, VMRC spokesperson Laurie Naismith said, and went into effect July 1.

The purpose of this amendment is to encourage terrapin conservation in the recreational crab pot fishery and comply with recent changes to state code, Naismith said.

In other business, she said the commissio...