Effective on November 2, 2009, at the request of the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA Fisheries Service’s Northeast Regional Administrator is adding three conditions to to the Gulf of Maine /Georges Bank Herring Midwater Trawl Authorization Letter for vessels fishing in Closed Area 1:
• 100 percent observer coverage
• Prohibition on slipped codends, and
• Requirement that all fish be pumped aboard to allow sampling by the observer.
Reports of groundfish bycatch in Area 1 over the past several years prompted the New England Fishery Management Council to request that NOAA Fisheries Service implement additional observer requirements for vessels that fish with midwater trawl gear, in order to obtain additional bycatch information. Access to other Northeast multispecies closed areas is not affected by these regulation changes.