From Multispecies fishery bulletin, March 2010.
A sector is a group of vessel permit holders who voluntarily agree to fishing measures and procedures in exchange for a share of the total catch allocated to the industry.
NOAA fisheries service does not consider groundfish sectors to be Limited access Privilege Programs (LaPPs) because [1] sector vessels are not issued a federal permit nor a permanent allocation and [2] a vessel owner can choose to join a sector or not, and can change his/her decision from one year to the next, and fish in another sector or in the common pool, based on what he/she considers the best opportunity at that point in time.