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| Pink
Shrimp commercial fishing vessel off the coast of Washington State. |
January
10, 2008
Dear Coastal
Pink Shrimp Fisher:
This letter is
to provide you notice regarding changes to the NOAA Fisheries Vessel
Monitoring Program that will affect Washington coastal pink shrimp
license holders. The Pacific Fishery Management Council has expanded
the original vessel monitoring requirements to include the Open Access
commercial non-groundfish trawl fleet in order to monitor compliance
with groundfish conservation areas. Effective February 4th, 2008 all
non-groundfish trawl vessels - vessels that use trawl gear but are
not registered to limited entry groundfish permits - must have VMS
to fish in state or federal waters (0-200 nautical miles offshore).
For your convenience
I have enclosed two documents related to this requirement. The first
is a guide published by NOAA-Fisheries summarizing the VMS program
for Open Access. This guide will cover the basic information you’ll
need. The second is a copy of the final rule that specifies which
mobile transmitting units and satellite service providers have been
approved for use.
In reviewing the
information you will see a reimbursement program has been established.
The reimbursement application for this program is enclosed. I contacted
the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and was told that the
amount fishers may qualify for has not been determined yet. To qualify
the VMS unit will need to be installed and confirmed through NOAA-Fisheries
before submitting the reimbursement application with receipts. This
reimbursement program will be handled on a first-come, first-served
basis.
Information Sources
The name of each
document is followed by a link to the appropriate website. The Compliance
Guide includes phone numbers to contact for further information.
For a summary
of the VMS program, including frequently asked questions:
Compliance
Guide for the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Vessel Monitoring
Program
For a copy of
the final rule – this will provide all the information and legal
requirements in detail:
Pacific Coast
Groundfish Fishery; Vessel Monitoring System; Open Access Fishery
For the specifications
and models, and company contacts for approved mobile transmitting
units:
Vessel Monitoring
Systems; Approved Mobile Transmitting Units…Open Access Sector.
http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Publications/FR-Notices/2007/upload/72FR60826.pdf
For reimbursement
program information and application:
Summary of
VMS Information and National VMS Reimbursement Form
http://www.psmfc.org/home/index.php
The Pacific Coast
Groundfish Fishery management measures for 2008 are enclosed. Please
note that only select pages from the public notice have been included:
pages 1 and 15-16 cover an overview of the open access regulations,
and page 23 is the trip limit table.
For the complete
notice go to the NOAA Fisheries website at:
http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Groundfish-Halibut/Groundfish-Fishery-Management/Public-Notices/upload/NMFS_SEA_07_10_JAN2008Inseason.pdf
To receive
these public notices automatically by email send a request to:
westcoastgroundfish@noaa.gov.
Also enclosed are
summaries of Washington landings for the 2007 coastal pink shrimp fishery.
This information can be found on-line at www.wdfw.wa.gov, click on “Fishing/Shellfishing”
and scroll down the page to the Coastal Pink Shrimp Fishery link.
Please feel free
to call if you need any assistance or have any questions. My phone number
is (360) 249-1221.
Sincerely,
Lorna Wargo
Coastal Shellfish/Marine Fish Biologist
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