April 16, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA:
In response to a recent court order, we are notifying all groundfish sector fishermen and the public that using carryover catch from fishing year 2012 in the current fishing year (2013) may now be subject to a pound-for-pound accountability payback if the overall annual catch limit (ACL) for a stock is exceeded. This is a fundamental change from current regulations that state that carryover catch in fishing year 2013 is not counted against a sector’s annual catch entitlement (ACE) or used to determine accountability measures if the overall ACL is exceeded.
This change in the current carryover measures results from a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued on April 4, 2014. The case is Conservation Law Foundation v. Pritzker et al. which challenged the Framework Adjustment 50 rule for 2013 carryover accounting. The Court determined that the Framework Adjustment 50 approach for accounting for carryover in the 2013 fishing year violates the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Based on this decision, the Court ordered NMFS to delete the 2013 carryover measures and implement new ones that incorporate accountability for any overages of the overall 2013 ACLs resulting from carryover catch. The court ruling can be found on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia web site: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013cv0821-29
Read the full release from NOAA