April 6, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) partially approved Framework Adjustment 4 to the Federal Herring Fishery Management Plan—the final rule published today, April 4th. The empty fish hold provision, which was recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council and provisionally adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in Amendment 3 to the Interstate FMP, was not approved. The justification for not approving this provision is provided in the following excerpts from the final rule. The final rule can be found at: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-07583.
NMFS could not approve the empty fish hold provision because “…there is insufficient support in the record to conclude that herring vessels are harvesting excess fish and discarding unsold fish at sea. The costs associated with a herring trip, including fuel, crew wages, and insurance, are substantial, so it is unlikely that vessel operators are making herring trips to harvest fish that will ultimately be discarded.”
In addition, NMFS determined “Framework 4’s proposed waiver provides no way of verifying the amount of fish reported relative to the amount of fish left in the hold. Therefore, NMFS does not believe that this measure contains a viable mechanism to verify whether harvested fish that are left in the hold were reported by the vessel.”
Ultimately, “Because the measure lacks a mechanism to verify or correct the amount of fish reported on the VTR, the measure is unlikely to improve catch monitoring in the herring fishery. In contrast, the compliance and enforcement costs associated with the measure may be high.”
As stated in Amendment 3, implementation of the empty fish hold provision is contingent on federal adoption. Since NMFS did not approve this provision, ASMFC will maintain status quo measures on this issue. Under status quo there is no requirement to empty vessel holds of fish prior to a fishing trip departure. Amendment 3 was updated to reflect this information and can be obtained at: http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file//57042f26Amendment3_RevisedApril2016.pdf.