Apparently the “compromise” worked out between industry reps and the Gulf Council and mentioned in the previous post to this blog wasn’t good enough.

FB09-027 has arrived and it is a doozy.

NOAA Fisheries Service implemented an emergency
rule, effective May 18, 2009, through October 28, 2009,
to reduce the sea turtle bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico
bottom longline reef fish fishery. The emergency rule
prohibits bottom longlining for Gulf reef fish east of
85o30’W longitude (near Cape San Blas, Florida) in the
portion of the Exclusive Economic Zone shoreward of
the provided waypoints (see table). The boundary
generally follows the 50-fathom depth contour (see
map). Once the deepwater grouper and tilefish quotas
have been filled, the use of bottom longline gear to
harvest reef fish in water of all depths east of 85o30’W
longitude will be prohibited.

Full text of the bulletin is available here.

The bulletin came from SERO (Southeast Regional Office) and says “For additional information on this bulletin, please contact Cynthia Meyer”, but it doesn’t give a way to reach her.  The website is http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and the contact information in the email is all for Barbara Niswander, Division Secretary of the SERO office.  If you want to voice your opinion you may have to contact Ms. Niswander at  Barbara.Niswander@noaa.gov and ask for more details.

If you want to receive Fishery Bulletins via email as soon as they are published you can send an email to

SERO.Communications.Comments@noaa.gov

and request to be put on their list.

The NMFS is opening what they are terming a “Research Fishery” for LCS in the Atlantic and Gulf.  Don’t get too excited, they intend to issue “apporoximately 10″ of these permits, but if you qualify you may well want to apply.

NMFS Requests Applications for Participation in the Atlantic Highly
Migratory Species 2008 Shark Research Fishery
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requests applications for participation in the 2008 shark research fishery. The shark research pennits would authorize participation in the shark research fishery and the collection of sandbar and non-sandbar large coastal sharks (LCS) from Federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea for the purposes of scientific data collection subject to 100 percent observer coverage. Generally, these pennits will be valid through December 31,2008, unless otherwise specified, subject to the tenns and conditions of individual pemits. .

It seems all you have to do is toe the line, comply with what used to be a voluntary program (the USCG inspection stickers), and have not done anything in the past to have pissed anyone at NMFS off in any way…and they will consider giving you a permit to participate in this “Research Fishery”.  You will have to agree to full observer coverage and apparently anything else anyone involved with NMFS feels like putting in the rule book, but you may well be able to get a permit to engage in some sort of limited opening extremely restricted entry fishery.

Qualified applicants are those that:

• possess a valid directed or incidental shark permit;
• possess a valid United States Coast Guard (USCG) safety inspection decal;
• have not been charged criminally or civilly (i.e., issued a Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA) or Notice of Permit Sanction) for any HMS related violation;
• have complied with NMFS observer programs and are able to take a NMFS-approved observer; and,
• submit a completed application by July 15, 2008

No telling what other conditions they will impose based on language like this:

“NMFS will randomly select approximately 10 qualified applicants to participate in the 2008 shark research fishery based on the temporal and spatial needs of the research objectives, the available quota, and the availability of the qualified applicants.”

The line forms here:

The NMFS’s proposal is here: NMFS Request for Applications

Federal Register Notice is here.

And the Shark Research Fishery Application Form is available here.