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NOAA Fisheries intends to begin selecting vessels with Category A or B herring permits for industry-funded monitoring (IFM) coverage on April 1, 2021, unless ongoing health mandates and travel restrictions cause a further delay. Beginning IFM coverage at the start of the 2021 IFM year (April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022) will provide us time to resume the onsite and field-based activities necessary to train observers, and develop applications to successfully implement this program. Also beginning April 1, 2021, midwater trawl vessel owners will have the option of purchasing additional observer coverage to satisfy the requirement of carrying an observer to access Groundfish Closed Areas.
In the meantime, vessels are still required to adhere to all Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) requirements for the herring fishery. For complete information on notification and reporting requirements, please see the Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery webpage.
Some herring vessels have the option of being issued an exempted fishing permit (EFP) to use electronic monitoring and portside sampling instead of at-sea monitoring coverage to satisfy IFM requirements in 2021. We will work with the herring fleet by the end of 2020 to determine who is interested in being issued an EFP.
There are currently four companies approved to provide IFM services to herring vessels. Additionally, the agency has contracted Saltwater, Inc. to supply electronic monitoring services for vessels issued an EFP. Outreach will continue through 2020 in support of the program to ensure that the industry understands its requirements.
More Information
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.
- Approved IFM service providers, see our IFM in the Northeast webpage.
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