Fishery News from S.O.F.A.

We have a new classified ad and IFQ Brokeragesite online. You can list commercial boats, equipment, tackle and anything else related to the fishery that you want to sell in the classifieds section for a very low and reasonable charge. You can also list IFQ Shares and Allotment that you want to sell for no listing fee and a small percentage based transaction fee. We think you’ll find the site both easy to navigate and use. Transfers will be done in an uncomplicated and fast manner or at least as uncomplicated and fast as possible considering the Government is involved. Check out the site and please consider listing any shares or allotment you want to sell there or go visit the site if you are looking to purchase more shares or allotment to keep you fishing.

The reason we created the site was to hopefully help make sure that all the IFQ allotment gets used every year instead of having some left on the table because interested sellers and interested buyers weren’t able to find each other and make the transaction. We hope you all find it useful.

NMFS is sending out an email with a pdf attachment of reminders for the participants in the Gulf IFQ Program. We’ve converted it from the pdf to plain text and repost it here and on the IFQBrokers.com site.

Southeast Fishery Bulletin

National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Regional Office, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: December 21, 2009 IFQ Customer Service FB09-070 (866) 425-7627, FAX (727) 824-5308

SER-IFQ.Support@noaa.gov

Gulf of Mexico Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program Reminders

On August 31, 2009, a rule was published in the Federal Register establishing a grouper and tilefish IFQ program for commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf). This rule also made changes to the red snapper IFQ program to align that program with the grouper and tilefish IFQ program. On January 1, 2010, the administrative functions of both IFQ programs will be merged into one online IFQ system with an updated format (https://ifq.sero.nmfs.noaa.gov). Anyone holding a federal Gulf commercial reef fish vessel permit fishing for groupers, tilefishes, or red snapper must abide by the federal regulations for the IFQ program regardless of where in the Gulf the fish are harvested.

Shareholder and Vessel Accounts

In October, each commercial reef fish permit holder eligible for initial grouper and tilefish shares and allocation should have received a letter from NOAA Fisheries Service. Included in this letter (on page 4) was a User ID for their IFQ shareholder account in the online IFQ system. In mid-December, these same individuals should have received another letter with their personal identification number (PIN) for their account. If you did not receive either of these letters, please call IFQ Customer Service.

The User ID and PIN can be used to log in to the shareholder account at any time. However, no transfers or transactions can take place in the new accounts until January 1, 2010. If you currently have a red snapper IFQ account, the new PIN will only be valid for the new IFQ system. At first log in the shareholder must change the PIN and establish secret questions and answers for retrieving forgotten PINs. Instructions for using the online system can be found on the new IFQ homepage.

An IFQ vessel account will be required for a person aboard a vessel to commercially land IFQ species in the Gulf. A person who has established an IFQ shareholder account online will maintain a vessel account through that IFQ account for each vessel. User IDs and PINs for vessel accounts can be found on the Update Account page of the shareholder account. Allocation must be transferred from the shareholder account into a vessel account to be used for landing IFQ species. Allocation can only be transferred out of a vessel account into the shareholder account of the vessel owner.

Landing Notification

A fisherman must give 3-12 hours advanced notice of landing. Landing is defined as arriving at a dock, berth, seawall, or ramp. A landing notification can be made via the vessel monitoring system (VMS), by phone (1866- 425-7627), or online. Before a landing notification for the vessel is submitted, the vessel account associated with that vessel must have enough allocation for the IFQ species on board. To improve enforceability of the IFQ program, the estimated pounds (gutted weight) of each IFQ species on board must be included in the landing notification.

Pre-approval of Landing Locations

Beginning January 1, 2010, only pre-approved landing locations may be used to land IFQ species. To ensure review of a landing location by NOAA Fisheries Service Office for Law Enforcement by the end of a calendar- year quarter, the location should be submitted at least 45 days before the end of that calendar-year quarter. New landing locations can be submitted for review online through the shareholder account or by calling IFQ Customer Service. Pre-approved landing locations must be publicly accessible by land and water and have a street address. If a particular landing location has no street address on record, global positioning system (GPS) coordinates for an identifiable geographic location must be provided.

Offloading and Transport

IFQ species can only be offloaded between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., local time. Offloading is defined as removing IFQ species from the vessel. Before IFQ species are transported on land from the landing location (including trailering a vessel with IFQ species on board), the dealer or fisherman must accurately weigh the fish and connect electronically to the online IFQ system to complete a dealer landing transaction and obtain a transaction approval code. A copy of the dealer’s endorsement must accompany any IFQ species from the landing location through possession by a dealer.

Dealer Requirements

Anyone holding a federal reef fish dealer permit must abide by the federal regulations for the IFQ program when purchasing groupers, tilefishes, or red snapper regardless of where in the Gulf the fish are harvested. A dealer wishing to purchase IFQ species must have an IFQ dealer account and a dealer endorsement. The endorsement is free and can be printed from within the IFQ dealer account.

The dealer must initiate a landing transaction at the time of purchasing any IFQ species. The transaction must include the date, time, and location of the transaction, weight (in gutted pounds) and ex-vessel price per pound of IFQ species landed and sold, and information necessary to identify the fisherman, vessel, and dealer involved in the transaction. The fisherman must validate the landing transaction report by entering the PIN for the vessel account when the landing transaction is submitted.

The initial dealer must be able to produce transaction approval codes for any IFQ species in his possession until those fish are sold. Between purchase by the initial dealer and subsequent sale, any vehicle transporting IFQ species must also have a copy of the dealer endorsement and the transaction approval codes for any IFQ species on board.

A cost recovery fee of three percent must be withheld from the ex-vessel value paid to the fisherman. The cost recovery fee must be paid quarterly by the dealer through the dealer’s IFQ account using pay.gov. Cost recovery fees are due no later than 30 days after the end of the calendar-year quarter.

This bulletin provides only a summary of the information regarding the existing regulations. Any discrepancies between this bulletin and the regulations as published in the Federal Register will be resolved in favor of the Federal Register.

You can download this from us in text format or in pdf format. It is also available on the IFQBrokers.com site.

October 15, 2009. That’s the day that stone crabbers can pull their traps, cook and sell their first load of the season.

We wish them all a great season, lots of crabs, no octopus, good prices…all that kind of stuff.

Also, if anyone wants to drop a bag of claws off at my place, that’s okay too….

We got a package by registered mail today with a lot of information about the IFQ system as well as specific numbers on the shares that they are going to allot my own boat this year. Not surprisingly, the numbers they send are about 25% lower than what we came up with when we compared our landings against the formulas that NOAA distributed last year. I haven’t had time to go over them with a fine toothed comb but you can bet I will be doing that over the next few days.

If anyone wants to share what they feel about this issue at this point in the process, we’d be very interested to hear your comments.

Hmmm. This should make for some interesting discussions around the docks.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 22, 2009

1:18 PM

CONTACT: Food & Water Watch

Ben Bowman: (415) 293-9903

Erin Greenfield: (202) 683-2500

New Survey: Fishermen Oppose Controversial Management Plan

Gulf of Mexico Fishermen Vote Against IFQ Plan, Food & Water Watch Finds

WASHINGTON – June 22 – Today, Food & Water Watch released the results of a re-referendum on a controversial fishery management plan in the Gulf of Mexico. Designed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the plan is known as an Individual Fishing Quota, or IFQ, and aims to manage the grouper and tilefish fisheries of the Gulf by dividing the amount of fish caught among fishermen, based on the amount they have caught in the past—essentially privatizing the resource. The re-referendum sent questionnaires to reef fish permitholders who were excluded from the earlier vote on the plan. One hundred seventy-two fishermen responded to the questionnaire. An overwhelming majority—nearly 90 percent—would not have approved the plan had they been included in the initial vote.

Read the rest of this entry »

The commercial fishery for deepwater grouper in theGulf of Mexico is closed, effective 12:01 a.m. (localtime) June 27, 2009, through December 31, 2009.

Read the full bulletin (pdf format) here: FB09-037

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted in favor of a compromise agreement Friday (April 17)  morning put together in recent days by Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, and the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Bottom Longline Fishing fleet aimed at reducing the interactions between threatened loggerhead sea turtles and commercial fishing gear.  With this tentative agreement, the fishermen will be able to continue fishing, but areas of the Gulf where the majority of the interactions have taken place will now be off-limits to the longline fleet which would be cut about in half by the agreement.

“A more extensive closure would have resulted in permanent damage to the commercial fleet.  Our industry is already looking at an emergency closure this summer, and we would not have been able to sustain another blow like that. We need partners that will help find lasting solutions,” said Bobby Spaeth, Executive Director of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association. “Both Ocean Conservancy and Oceana were willing to work with us to help solve this problem.  When the opportunity to partner with groups that do not often see eye-to-eye comes along and it works this well, it makes a powerful point in itself.”

As currently proposed, the rules would limit longlining to fishermen who caught a yearly average of 40,000 pounds of grouper and other reef fish between 1999 and 2007.

Fifty-seven boats, based mostly in Pinellas County, meet that standard.

From June through August every year, longlining would be banished from water shallower than 215 feet deep.

The council will meet again in June to take a final vote on the permanent rules.

We’ll bring you information about the details of the plan as they are made available, as well as information about public comment periods, etc.

The Federal Judge in New England is not letting up on the NMFS one bit. In another ruling characterized by the Gloucester Daily Times as a “clear slap” at NMFS, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Harrington extended a previous ruling by two weeks using language that makes it clear he is not very happy with the attitude of the NMFS. something that all Southeastern fishermen can easily relate to.

The full Gloucester Daily Times story is available from the main menu of the S.O.F.A. website at “Fishery News >> News From New England” or is at this link.