Fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean; Pelagic Fisheries; Vessel Identification Requirements

Resumo

NMFS proposes to revise vessel identification requirements for U.S. vessels based out of the U.S. West Coast that fish for highly migratory species. The new measures would allow these vessels to be marked in accordance with the international standards that were implemented by NMFS for vessels fishing on the high seas in the Area of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention Area) in early 2010. Currently, the domestic marking requirements for some U.S. West Coast vessels do not comport with these international standards. The new measures would require vessels that fish in the Convention Area to display their International Telecommunication Union Radio Call Sign (IRCS), or if an IRCS has not been assigned to the vessel, the vessel would be required to display its official number, preceded by the characters "USA-". The intent of the proposed action is to bring the existing vessel identification requirements into conformity with the binding vessel identification requirements adopted by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).