April 23, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today we published a notice in the Federal Register correcting the list of industry-funded monitoring (IFM) service providers that we approved to provide IFM services for the Atlantic herring fishery during IFM years 2020 and 2021 (April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2022). When we first announced our approval of these providers, we accidentally left “industry-funded observer” off the list of services that East West Technical Services LLC was approved to provide. The notice corrects this error. The notice also contains contact information for each approved IFM service provider, as well as a complete list of the services that each company was approved to provide. For more information on IFM in the Northeast visit our website.
Exempted Fishing Permit Reminder
As an additional reminder, if you own a midwater trawl vessel issued a Category A or B herring permit and would like to be considered for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) to use electronic monitoring (EM) and portside sampling, instead of at-sea monitoring, to satisfy IFM requirements, please contact Maria Fenton at (978) 281-9196 no later than April 27, 2020.
Notifying NOAA Fisheries that you would like to participate in the EFP by April 27, 2020, will help us ensure we have sufficient information for you to participate, including ensuring that the Pre-Trip Notification System works properly for your vessel. Additionally, your notification will alert the EM service provider of your interest in the EFP, which will facilitate arranging system upgrades and your coverage in advance of IFM coverage beginning as early as June 2020. For more information about the proposed EFP, please read the Federal Register notice describing the project.