NOTICE OF AGENCY EMERGENCY RULE-MAKING

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Chapter 36 Herring Regulations

36.01 Herring Management Plan

D. Catch Restrictions

(3) Effort Restrictions

(a) Management Area 1A, Sub-ACL Trimester 2 (June 1 – September 30)

Atlantic herring may only be landed from Management Area 1A on days that have been designated landing days by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). All vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port will be limited to fishing for herring on three days, beginning at 6 pm on Saturday and ending at 6 pm on Tuesday. All vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port will be limited to landing herring on two days, beginning at 6 pm on Sunday night and ending at 6 pm on Tuesday.

i. For the purpose of this subsection, the following terms shall be defined as follows:
“Landing”: to come to shore, float, or a dock, and offload herring.
“At-Sea Transfer”: to transfer herring from a harvester vessel to a carrier vessel
“Harvester vessel”: a purse seine vessel that is required to report the catch it has aboard (along with effort data under a gear code other than CAR) as the harvesting vessel on its Federal Vessel Trip Report.
“Carrier vessel”: a vessel that has received herring from another vessel and will not report that catch as its own on its Federal Vessel Trip Report.
“Purse seine vessel”: a vessel currently rigged and capable of harvesting fish with an encircling net with floats on the top edge, weights and a purse line on the bottom edge, and associated gear to set, purse and haul such a net, which may include a hydraulically-driven block, roller gear, and/or skiff.

ii. Harvester vessels:

All harvester vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port are subject to a weekly landing limit of no more than 600,000 lbs (15 trucks). All harvester vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port are limited to making at-sea transfers to only one carrier vessel per week. All harvester vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port are limited to making one landing per 24-hour period (6 pm to 6 pm).

All harvester vessels shall send an email hail to DMR (herring.dmr@maine.gov) three hours prior to landing that includes the following information:
• Total catch retained (including all catch transferred to any vessel who will not report it as their own catch)
• Total amount of herring on board
• Date, time and location (dealer, city, state) of offload
• Estimated catch to be received, by weight, to each dealer (by dealer name and landings number)
• VTR number

iii. Carrier Vessels:

All carrier vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port are limited to receiving at-sea transfers from one vessel per week. All carrier vessels landing herring caught in Management Area 1A in any Maine port are limited to making one landing per 24 hour period (6 pm to 6 pm). Carrier vessels may not operate as a harvester vessel on the same trip when operating as a carrier vessel.

All carrier vessels shall send an email hail to DMR (herring.dmr@maine.gov) three hours prior to landing that includes the following information:
• Total amount of herring aboard
• Harvester vessel name from whom carrier received catch
• Date, time and location (dealer, city, state) of offload at port
• Estimated amount to be received by weight to each dealer (by dealer name and landings number)
• VTR number (and any VTR numbers for harvester vessels from whom carrier has received at-sea transfer)