What is Changing?
The daily retention limit for the BFT General category will drop from three large medium or giant BFT to one per vessel per day/trip.
How Long Will the Adjustment be Effective?
The daily retention limit of one large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day/trip will be in effect through the remainder of the June 1 through August 31 subquota period.
This adjusted limit will apply for the September 2019 General category fishery as well unless we publish a subsequent adjustment in the Federal Register.
Who is Affected?
This action applies to General category permitted vessels and to HMS Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. It is effective for all areas except for the Gulf of Mexico. Because it is a designated spawning ground, targeted BFT fishing is not allowed in the Gulf.
Regardless of the duration of a fishing trip, the daily retention limit applies upon landing. For example, whether a vessel fishing under the General category limit takes a two-day trip or makes two trips in one day, the daily limit of one fish may not be exceeded upon landing.
Why Is This Change Being Made?
We are taking this action after considering the:
We anticipate that General category participants in all areas and time periods will have opportunities to harvest the General category quota in 2019 through proactive inseason management.
Catch Reporting
Dealers are required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises our ability to timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustments, as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions.
Separate from the dealer reporting requirement, General category and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to report their catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead, within 24 hours of landing or the end of each trip by:
NOAA Fisheries will closely monitor General category catch rates associated with the various authorized gear types during the June through August period and actively adjust the daily retention limit as appropriate to enhance scientific data collection from, and ensure fishing opportunities in, all respective time period subquotas as well as ensure the available quota is not exceeded.
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