March 17, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA:
NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comment on a proposal to modify a reporting requirement for sector vessels to improve the accuracy of reporting of the Eastern U.S./Canada Management Area. If approved, only sector vessels that have declared into the Eastern U.S./Canada Area would be required to submit daily catch reports. The proposal also will clarify that, for vessels declared only into the Western U.S./Canada Area, sectors must continue to submit weekly sector catch reports. We are also proposing a limited amount of carryover of unused 2013 catch allocation into the 2014 fishing year. Providing a nominal amount of carryover is an important safety consideration because, by allowing some carryover, vessels could elect to forego some portion of, or entire, late-season fishing trips for safety reasons, knowing that they could instead harvest a nominal portion of their unused catch allocation in the next fishing year.
For more on these proposals or to provide public comment please click here.