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NOAA Fisheries is delaying the start date to begin assigning industry-funded monitoring (IFM) coverage in the herring fishery until later this year.
The training class for new portside samplers in the herring fishery was delayed due to the health mandates and travel restrictions in place this spring. This training will be rescheduled for later this year. Until this training occurs, IFM portside sampling coverage will not be available for midwater trawl herring vessels that are enrolled in an electronic monitoring exempted fishing permit (EFP). We do not intend to select herring vessels for IFM at-sea monitoring coverage until IFM portside sampling coverage is also available for EFP vessels. For this reason, we will not be selecting any herring vessels for IFM coverage until after the portside sampling training has been completed. Vessels are still required to adhere to all Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) requirements for the herring fishery. However, PTNS will continue to issue waivers for IFM coverage in the meantime, and herring vessels will not be responsible for paying sampling costs associated with IFM until later this year.
More Information
We will update industry participants as we know more about the timing of implementing IFM in the herring fishery. For more information on the herring IFM program, please see the following resources:
- IFM in the herring fishery, see our January 29 bulletin.
- Electronic monitoring EFP, see our March 30 email.
- Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery, see our March 31 bulletin.
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