February 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
The final rule implementing the Industry-Funded Monitoring Omnibus Amendment recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council published today. This amendment allows industry-funded monitoring in any fishery managed by the Council to better assess catch and reduce uncertainty around catch estimates.
This amendment also establishes industry-funded monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery. Specifically, it establishes a 50-percent coverage target for at-sea monitoring coverage aboard vessels issued Category A or B herring permits, and allows herring midwater trawl vessels to purchase observer coverage to access Northeast Multispecies Closed Areas. Additionally, herring vessels have the option of using electronic monitoring and portside sampling, administered via an exempted fishing permit, instead of at-sea monitoring to meet the 50-percent coverage target. Coverage requirements may be waived on a trip-by-trip basis under certain circumstances.
Category A and B herring vessels will begin paying sampling costs associated with industry-funded monitoring as early as April 2020. We will soon be providing herring vessels with detailed instructions on how to comply with industry-funded monitoring requirements, including notification, coverage, and monitoring service provider requirements.
For more details, please see our fishery bulletin. You can also check out this useful fact sheet about the IFM Amendment.