August 25, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries announces two changes in regulations that apply to Federal fishing permit holders.

First, we have eliminated the requirement for vessel owners to submit “did not fish” reports for the months or weeks when their vessel was not fishing.

Second, we have removed some of the restrictions for upgrading vessels listed on Federal fishing permits:

• We have eliminated the one-time vessel upgrade restriction, but kept in place the 10% limit on length increases and 20% limit on horsepower increases.
• We have removed gross and net tonnages from the vessel specifications considered when determining whether a vessel upgrade is allowed.

Both of these provisions become effective tomorrow, August 26. For more information, read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register, or the permit holder bulletin, both available online.