April 18, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — NOAA is discussing the fate of the vessels in sectors 7 and 9 with the New England Fishery Management Council this morning.
This has been the subject of a stand-off in which NOAA has demanded the illegal fishing is sector 9 due to Carlos Rafael be accounted for before vessels, including those formerly in the sector, will be allowed to lease quota or operate.
Meanwhile, players in New Bedford who have been hurt by the enforcement action have been trying everything possible to start fishing operations again without any final decision by NOAA.
In their presentation which will be given to the Council this morning, NOAA lays out their plan and invites comments.
Their Sector 9 proposal is to treat illegal catch in each fishing year as if it was known immediately after the end of the season. This would eliminate carryover of unused quota into the next season when illegal catch was involved.
Once the illegal catch was identified by year, and allocated, then the sector could repay that out of 2017 lease quota. After the repayment, the sector would be free to lease its remaining quotas.
NOAA anticipates that if they conduct rulemaking this would happen by ‘mid-summer’.
Regarding sector 7, all of whose current roster transferred from sector 9, NOAA says they will not be allowed to start fishing on May 1st.
Instead, sector 7 allocations will be made through separate rule making. This is because sector 7 is proposing substantive changes in their operational plans, including prohibiting any vessel owned by Carlos Rafael from fishing or leasing quota until it has ownership transferred.
NOAA will be holding meetings with the sectors to discuss the apportionment of overages.
This plan does not address the issue of whether these permits should have restrictions or even be allowed to be transferred. The argument between New Bedford and some of the other New England Ports is whether the permits that are sanctioned should remain in New Bedford, be sold to the highest bidder no matter where they may operate, or be deactivated and the representative quota returned proportionally to all remaining quota holders.
This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it it republished here with permission.