Northeast Groundfish Monitoring Program

The New England Fishery Management Council adopted Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan to revise the groundfish monitoring program.

The current goals of the groundfish monitoring program are to:

1. Improve catch accounting
2. Reduce the cost of monitoring
3. Incentivize reducing discards
4. Provide additional data streams for stock assessments
5. Enhance the safety of the monitoring program
6. Perform periodic review of the effectiveness of the monitoring program

 Amendment 23 maintains these existing goals, and revises the program to better address Goal #1 (improved catch accounting). The objectives associated with this goal are to:

• Determine total catch and effort, for each sector and the common pool, of target or regulated species.
• Achieve a coverage level sufficient to minimize the effects of potential monitoring bias to the extent possible while maintaining as much flexibility as possible to enhance fleet viability.

The measures chosen by the Council and related analyses are contained in the Amendment 23 Final Environmental Impact Statement. The implementing regulations are included in the final rule and are also available on the electronic Code of Federal Regulations website.

What does Amendment 23 do?

Amendment 23 makes the following changes to the groundfish sector monitoring program:

• Changes how the human at-sea monitoring coverage target is determined.
• Authorizes sectors to use two electronic monitoring options as an alternative to human at-sea monitoring. 
• Excludes trips fishing exclusively west of 71 degrees 30 minutes west longitude from the human at-sea monitoring requirement. 
  • All vessels must carry a Northeast Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) observer when assigned one by NOAA Fisheries.
• Requires the New England Fishery Management Council to review the monitoring program and exclusions from the human at-sea monitoring requirement after two years. 
• Eliminates the management uncertainty buffer for sector annual catch entitlements (ACE) when the monitoring coverage target is 100 percent, unless the Council decides to retain a buffer.
• Authorizes the Regional Administrator to revise sector reporting requirements to streamline reporting for the industry.

When do these changes take effect?

Amendment 23 was implemented during fishing year 2022.

The summary below focuses on the measures in Amendment 23 that affect the operations of vessels and dealers. Details on the other measures included in Amendment 23 are provided in the final rule.

What changes about the human at-sea monitoring coverage target?

The human at-sea monitoring coverage target is 90 percent of sector groundfish trips for fishing year 2023, through April 30, 2024. We have announced our preliminary determination that the ASM coverage target will increase to 100 percent for fishing year 2024.

• Amendment 23 replaces the previous method for determining the human at-sea monitoring coverage target with a fixed coverage target as a percentage of trips, dependent on federal funding. 
• Amendment 23 sets the coverage target at 100 percent of trips for 4 years (fishing years 2022-2025), when federal funding can support industry and agency costs. 
  • The human at-sea monitoring coverage target in the first 4 years may be less than 100 percent, and will be set at the maximum level for which there are sufficient federal funds to support all agency and industry costs. 
  • The human at-sea monitoring coverage target will default to 40 percent if federal funding cannot completely support all industry costs for a coverage target greater than 40 percent. 
  • In years with a 40-percent human at-sea monitoring coverage target, federal funding will be used to first pay NOAA Fisheries’ costs and then to support as much of industry’s costs as possible. 
  • When the coverage target is 40 percent, sectors will only be responsible for industry costs above the portion supported by federal funding. Sectors will not pay for monitoring when the coverage target is greater than 40 percent.
• Each year, we will determine how much federal funding is available for the groundfish sector monitoring program and then use that in conjunction with other available information (e.g., recent monitoring costs, estimate of the number of vessels choosing electronic monitoring) to calculate the at-sea monitoring coverage target between 40 and 100 percent for the coming fishing year. We will announce the at-sea monitoring coverage target each year at least 3 weeks before the annual sector enrollment deadline, if federal funding information is available.
• Starting in fishing year 2026, the coverage target will default to 40 percent unless replaced by a subsequent Council action. 
  • Amendment 23 also allows us to increase monitoring coverage in these years, when federal funding is available to pay industry costs.

Changes to How We Calculate Achieved Monitoring Coverage

We are revising the way we calculate achieved monitoring coverage for sectors to address the increased monitoring coverage targets in Amendment 23. The details of the calculations will be available to sector managers on the sector information management module (SIMM). There are four main changes from how we previously calculated achieved coverage.

1. For each sector, we will separately calculate the achieved human at-sea monitoring coverage from the achieved electronic monitoring coverage.                                                                                a. Achieved human at-sea monitoring coverage will include all observed trips taken on eligible groundfish trips taken by sector vessels that are not enrolled in an electronic monitoring program. Eligible groundfish trips exclude no effort trips (i.e., aborted, set only, transit) and trips that qualify for an at-sea monitoring exemption (i.e., FW55 ELM GNS, 7130).          b. Achieved electronic monitoring coverage will include all eligible groundfish trips taken by sector vessels enrolled in an electronic monitoring program, with the exception of trips that are assigned a waiver prior to departure as a result of technical failures.
2. All trips carrying a NEFOP observer, including NEFOP limited observers, will count towards a sector’s achieved human at-sea monitoring coverage for vessels enrolled in a human at-sea monitoring program. NEFOP and NEFOP limited observers will not count towards a sector’s achieved human at-sea monitoring coverage for vessels enrolled in an electronic monitoring program. 
3. All trips excluded from the human at-sea monitoring requirement will also be excluded from calculations of the achieved monitoring coverage. 
4. All set-only trips, transit trips, and aborted trips will be excluded from calculations of the achieved monitoring coverage. 

Exclusion from the At-Sea Monitoring Requirement

Beginning December 15, 2022, departing trips that will be fished in their entirety west of 71° 30’ W. Longitude will be excluded from the human at-sea monitoring requirement. Vessels are required to notify us of all trips through the pre-trip notification system (PTNS). Vessels on a trip granted these waivers must make a VMS declaration, submit a trip start hail, and follow the transiting requirements when east of 71° 30’ W. Longitude. 

Vessels using electronic monitoring are required to have their system turned on, and to comply with their vessel monitoring plan, on all trips, including trips fishing exclusively west 71° 30’ W. Longitude. 

How to Notify Us of a Trip that Will Fish Exclusively West of 71 Degrees 30 Minutes West Longitude

PTNS Requirement

Vessels intending to fish exclusively west of 71 degrees 30 minutes west longitude on a groundfish trip must select the "A23: FISHING WEST of 7130" option from the dropdown of the Exemption field in the PTNS. If vessels are unsure if they will fish exclusively west of the line on a given trip, they should select the NONE option in the PTNS Exemption field and communicate their plan with their assigned provider and/or the PTNS team if they later decide to fish exclusively west of the line. For any questions or adjustments to notifications, please contact the PTNS team at (855) 347-4371 or nefsc.ptns@noaa.gov. 

All vessels must carry a Northeast Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) observer when assigned one by NOAA Fisheries.

Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Requirement

Vessels must notify us of their intent to fish exclusively west of 71 degrees 30 minutes west longitude on a groundfish trip by submitting a Multispecies Trip Start Hail through their VMS unit prior to leaving port. On your VMS unit, open the VMS form, ‘Multispecies Trip Start Hail’, and select the ‘Sector Exemption/Option' D-1, which represents the declaration to fish exclusively west of 71 degrees 30 minutes west longitude. If you need assistance with your VMS, contact the VMS team at (978) 281-9213. If you have questions about this provision, contact the Sustainable Fisheries Division at (978) 281-9315.

Calculating Achieved Monitoring Coverage

We will continue to calculate the achieved human at-sea monitoring coverage for each sector to evaluate compliance with the groundfish sector monitoring program requirements. Consistent with the changes implemented by Amendment 23, we will exclude all sector trips excluded from the human at-sea monitoring requirement from the calculation. Additionally, vessels enrolled in the human at-sea monitoring program and on trips that carry either a NEFOP observer or a NEFOP limited observer will count towards a sector’s achieved monitoring coverage because those trips cannot carry a human at-sea monitor. We will calculate achieved electronic monitoring coverage for each sector separately from the achieved human at-sea monitoring coverage because vessels using electronic monitoring must have the system turned on for 100 percent of their groundfish trips. 

Electronic Monitoring

Amendment 23 authorizes sector vessels to use the audit model of electronic monitoring and the maximized retention model of electronic monitoring, in place of human at-sea monitoring, to satisfy the sector monitoring requirement. The Regional Administrator may approve or disapprove additional forms of electronic monitoring.

Each sector may choose the approved monitoring options (human at-sea monitoring, audit model, maximized retention model) it will use. A vessel may only use the audit model or maximized retention model to meet the sector monitoring requirement if that electronic monitoring model is included in the sector’s approved operations plan and the sector has contracted with an approved electronic monitoring provider. A vessel must opt into an electronic monitoring program for an entire fishing year, with two exceptions. 

1. A sector may allow a vessel a single opportunity to opt in or out of electronic monitoring at any time during a fishing year, if the sector operations plan includes both an approved at-sea monitoring and electronic monitoring plan. 
2. If a vessel changes to a gear type not covered in its vessel monitoring plan, the vessel may temporarily become an at-sea monitoring vessel until the vessel monitoring plan authorizing the use of the new gear type is approved. 

Vessels using electronic monitoring must have their electronic monitoring system operational and running on every sector groundfish trip, including trips that would be excluded from the human at-sea monitoring requirement. During each sector trip taken by a vessel enrolled in an electronic monitoring program, the electronic monitoring system records all fishing activity on board the vessel. Vessels using electronic monitoring must carry an observer when we select the trip for NEFOP coverage.

Audit Model

We previously approved the audit model and additional details of the audit model requirements are contained in the Fishing Years 2023-2024 Sector Operations Plan, Contract, and Environmental Assessment Requirements guide. Audit model vessel operators and crew measure groundfish discards under a camera prior to discarding, and other species are discarded in view of cameras at designated discard control points. The vessel operator estimates the total weight of groundfish discards on an electronic vessel trip report, and submits the video footage to the electronic monitoring service provider. The electronic monitoring service provider reviews trips selected for audit and develops an independent estimate of groundfish discards for the trip. The video data is compared to the electronic vessel trip report for catch accounting.

Maximized Retention

Maximized retention vessel operators and crew must adhere to the following catch handling requirements:  

• Retain and land all catch of allocated groundfish, including any catch below the minimum size and unmarketable fish.
• Discard unallocated groundfish stocks (i.e., windowpane flounder, ocean pout, wolffish, Atlantic halibut) at designated discard control points.
• Follow the possession limits for halibut and non-groundfish species.
• Participate in dockside monitoring.

Electronic monitoring data from the trip is reviewed by the electronic monitoring service provider to verify that the vessel operator and crew complied with the catch retention requirements. A human dockside monitor meets the vessel at port upon its return from each trip to observe the offload and collect information on the catch. The dealer must report landings of all fish by maximized retention vessels, including fish below the minimum size in the regulations. Requirements for the maximized retention model are contained in the Fishing Years 2023-2024 Sector Operations Plan, Contract, and Environmental Assessment Requirements guide.   

Dockside Monitoring Requirement for Dealers

We are also implementing requirements for Northeast multispecies dealers to facilitate dockside monitoring for maximized retention vessels. Federally permitted Northeast multispecies dealers must allow dockside monitors access to their premises, scales, and any fish received from vessels participating in the maximize retention electronic monitoring program. The primary dealer must retain all sublegal allocated groundfish to be weighed and sampled by the dockside monitor. 

Any federally permitted dealer may only possess undersized fish from federally permitted vessels if the fish is from a vessel using maximized retention electronic monitoring. Dealers must clearly mark all containers containing sublegal catch to facilitate tracking. Containers with fish below the minimum size need to clearly be marked as containing fish below the minimum size, the name of the fishing vessel the fish were offloaded from, and the date the fish were offloaded. This requirement provides a means for dealers who purchase fish from maximized retention electronic monitoring vessels to demonstrate compliance with the minimum size requirements by ensuring all small fish can be traced to the landing vessel. This marking requirement applies to any federally permitted dealer possessing fish below the minimum sizes in the regulations. Other entities without a federal dealer permit for Northeast multispecies who purchase from a federally permitted dealer, rather than purchasing or receiving from maximized retention electronic monitoring vessels, such as wholesalers and retailers, are not subject to the labeling requirement.

Dealers must provide dockside monitors with access to facilities equivalent to what is provided to the dealer’s staff, including:  A safe sampling station, with shelter from weather, for dockside monitors to conduct their duties and process catch; access to bathrooms; and access to facilities for washing equipment with fresh water. The intent of the dealer requirements is not to require dealers to create or provide facilities that do not already exist, but to ensure dockside monitors have access to facilities equivalent to what is available to the dealer’s staff.

Amendment 23 Timeline 

Questions?

Please contact us with any questions.

Mark Grant, Amendment 23 Lead, Plan Development Team Member

Claire Fitz-Gerald, Amendment 23 Support, Electronic Monitoring