Delaware Black Sea Bass Rules Now Apply in State and Federal Waters
Delaware has updated its recreational black sea bass fishing regulations for 2026–2027, lowering the minimum size from 13 to 12.5 inches, opening the season earlier on May 1st, and eliminating an early October closure. The daily limit remains 15 fish. Federal regulators have now aligned with the state, meaning the same rules apply in both state and federal waters. Officials say the changes reflect a strong and growing black sea bass population, with higher catch limits approved for the next two years. The revised state regulations apply specifically to Delaware waters, which extend to three miles offshore. Most of Delaware’s recreational black sea bass catch occurs in federal waters, which extend from three to 200 miles offshore. The action today by NOAA Fisheries aligning the state regulations with federal waters means Delaware anglers are bound by the revised state black sea bass regulations whether fishing in state or federal waters when the recreational season opens tomorrow, May 1st.
A black sea bass. As of May 1, DNREC’s revised recreational fishing state regulations for the species apply whether an angler is fishing in state or federal waters. /Delaware DNREC graphic: Duane Raver Jr.
Additional Information from DNREC:
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control revised 2026-2027 recreational fishing state regulations earlier this month for black sea bass to reflect a greater abundance of the species for anglers to catch.
Ater some uncertainty from the federal government, NOAA Fisheries has now taken regulatory action so that the same new regulations for Delaware will apply to recreational fishing for black sea bass, whether an angler is fishing in state or federal waters.
The revised state regulations
, which go into effect when the season opens May 1, also will keep Delaware in compliance with the black sea bass fishery management plan of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
The 2026 and 2027 changes for Delaware recreational anglers will reduce the minimum size for black sea bass from 13 to 12.5 inches, open the black sea bass season sooner (May 1, compared to two weeks later in previous years) and eliminate an in-season closure from Oct. 1 through Oct. 9. The recreational daily black sea bass possession limit remains at 15.
The state’s regulatory revisions followed an MAFMC-ASMFC meeting last August to review the 2025 management track assessment. The review determined that black sea bass were not overfished as a species and that spawning stock biomass for black sea bass was estimated to be almost three times higher than the target of the fishery management plan.
MAFMC and ASMFC went on to approve a recreational harvest limit (RHL) of 8.14 million pounds for both 2026 and 2027, denoting a 30% increase over the 2025 RHL. The RHL increase led MAFMC and ASMFC to revise recreational regulations for the entire management unit, raising the black sea bass recreational harvest by 20% for 2026 and 2027. The Southern Region of the management unit, which includes Delaware, was limited by ASMFC to a 16.5% harvest increase.