August 02, 2003
Saturday - 1:15 am

On August 28, 2003 new regulations will revise certain record keeping and reporting requirements for the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for fixed gear Pacific halibut and sablefish fisheries and the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program for the Pacific halibut fishery in Alaska.

"The changes will streamline the record keeping process for fishermen while it helps us more efficiently administer the program," said Jeff Passer, Special Agent in Charge for the Alaska Region of NOAA Fisheries. "It also clarifies the regulations and makes them more consistent."

The IFQ program has been in effect since 1995. It established transferable harvesting privileges among fishermen. Once the program was well in place, NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement met with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's IFQ Implementation Team and reviewed the impact of the regulations. The group agreed to changes in three main areas to reduce the industry's reporting burden without adversely affecting enforcement.

The new rules:

• Change Prior Notice of Landing notification requirement from six hours to three hours.
• Eliminate IFQ vessel clearances & IFQ primary ports and rewrite and enhance IFQ Departure Report requirements.
• Combine the groundfish Product Transfer Report with the IFQ Shipment Report (eliminating the IFQ Shipment Report form). All groundfish transfers reported by Federally Permitted Processors and all IFQ halibut, IFQ sablefish, and CDQ halibut shipments reported by Registered buyers will now be recorded on the Product Transfer Report.

The Product Transfer Report is available online [click here: Product Transfer Report (pdf)] and can be filled in on screen and then faxed or e-mailed.

Details of the new regulations can be found in the Federal Register notice, posted on Federal Register Notices.

Source of News Release:

National Marine Fisheries Service - Alaska Region
Web Site

 

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