Fisheries Off West Coast States; Highly Migratory Fisheries; California Swordfish Drift Gillnet Fishery; Vessel Monitoring System and Pre-Trip Notification Requirement

Résumé

NMFS is issuing a proposed rule to require use of a NMFS- approved vessel monitoring system (VMS) and institute a 48-hour pre- trip call-in notification requirement for West Coast Large-mesh Swordfish Drift Gillnet (DGN) vessel owners. The DGN fishery operates under authority of the Federal Fishery Management Plan for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP). The VMS requirement is a mandatory term and condition in the 2013 Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 biological opinion (Opinion) that authorizes the DGN fishery to take certain threatened and endangered species incidental to fishing operations. Installing and operating VMS on vessels in this fishery would provide NMFS and law enforcement personnel the ability to monitor the fishery for compliance with time/ area closures, facilitate the deployment of agents to inspect vessels for compliance with conservation measures, and more closely examine and compare the distribution of observed and unobserved fishing effort in the fishery. The pre-trip notification would assist NMFS with timely and efficient placement of NMFS observers onboard DGN vessels.