View Rule

On June 11, 2020, NMFS published the final rule (85 FR 35594) Vessel Movement, Monitoring, and Declaration Management for the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery to revise monitoring provisions. This revision increased the position transmission rate for vessels participating in the limited entry groundfish fishery, ("limited entry A” endorsed permit), any vessels using non-groundfish trawl gear (ridgeback prawn, California halibut, and sea cucumber trawl) in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and any vessels that use open access gear to take and retain or possess groundfish in the EEZ or land groundfish taken in the EEZ (salmon troll, prawn trap, Dungeness crab, halibut longline, California halibut line gear, and sheepshead trap). This action would address an omission in the June 11, 2020, rulemaking that inadvertently left out the exemption for the pink shrimp trawl fishery from the position transmission rate increase that was included in the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s recommendation for action.  In April 2016, the Council recommended that vessels in the pink shrimp trawl fishery be exempt from increasing position transmission rates from once every hour to once every 15 minutes.  This fishery is not subject to Rockfish Conservation Area restrictions, therefore additional monitoring for participating vessels is not necessary.  This rulemaking would add this exemption into the regulations as well as make other minor, non-substantive clarifications in the regulations that were implemented in the June 11, 2020, rule.