At its
Jan. 4, 2007 meeting, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries
Commission issued a Notice of Intent to modify several parts
of the rules for harvest of reef fish including daily take,
possession, and size limits.
The commission
also issued a Declaration of Emergency to institute most aspects
of these rules immediately.
The recreational
bag limit on grouper would be modified, so that no more than
one red grouper could be contained within the five grouper
bag limit. The captain and crew members of a charter vessel
or headboat shall not harvest or possess grouper of any species
while operating as a charter vessel or headboat as defined
in Federal Regulations 50 CFR Part 622.2- their bag limit
is zero for all of these species.
Commercial
red snapper regulation changes include several changes to
reflect requirements for Individual Fishing Quota regulations
in Federal waters off of Louisiana. These include a requirement
for a federal commercial vessel permit for Gulf reef fish,
in order to fish for, possess, or land Gulf red snapper, regardless
of where harvested or possessed. Also, a federal Gulf red
snapper IFQ vessel endorsement must have been issued to the
vessel and be on board. No person shall commercially harvest
or land red snapper without holding or being assigned federal
IFQ allocation at least equal to the pounds of red snapper
landed /docked at a shore side location or off loaded. On
the last fishing trip of the year a vessel may exceed by 10
% the remaining IFQ allocation. No person shall purchase,
sell, exchange, barter or attempt to purchase, sell, exchange,
or barter any red snapper in excess of any possession limit
for which federal commercial license, permit and appropriate
allocation were issued.
In addition
to the requirement for a federal dealer permit for Gulf reef
fish, for a dealer to receive Gulf red snapper from a commercial
fishing vessel he must have a federal Gulf red snapper IFQ
dealer endorsement. For a person aboard a vessel with a federal
Gulf red snapper IFQ vessel endorsement to sell to anyone
other than a permitted dealer, such person must also have
a federal Gulf red snapper IFQ dealer endorsement.
The owner
or operator of a vessel landing red snapper is responsible
for calling National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office
of Law Enforcement at least three hours, but no more than
12 hours, in advance of landing to report the time and location
of landing and the name of the IFQ dealer where the red snapper
are to be received. Failure to comply with this advance notice
of landing requirement will preclude authorization to complete
the required NMFS landing transaction report and, thus, will
preclude issuance of the required NMFS-issued transaction
approval code. Possession of commercial red snapper from the
time of transfer from a vessel through possession by a dealer
is prohibited unless the red snapper are accompanied by a
transaction approval code verifying a legal transaction of
the amount of red snapper in possession. No person shall offload
from a vessel or receive from a vessel commercially harvested
red snapper during the hours from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m., local
time. No person who is in charge of a commercial red snapper
fishing vessel shall offload red snapper from the vessel prior
to three hours after proper notification is made to NOAA Fisheries.
At-sea or dockside transfer of commercial red snapper from
one vessel to another vessel is prohibited.
The proposed
rule also provides that no person shall commercially harvest
red snapper from a vessel unless that vessel is equipped with
a fully operational and federally approved Vessel Monitoring
System (VMS) device. Approved devices are those devices approved
by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Fisheries and operating under the requirements mandated by
NOAA Fisheries. This provision of the proposed rule is not
scheduled to become effective until similar provisions become
effective in the federal waters off of Louisiana, and the
secretary of the Department is authorized to implement compatible
regulations in Louisiana state waters when requested by NOAA
Fisheries.
The proposed
rule modifies the current closed commercial season for the
harvest of gag, black and red grouper from Feb. 15 through
March 15 to Feb. 15 through March 14, to be compatible with
the time frame in Federal waters.
The proposed
rule also establishes a recreational closed season for the
harvest of gag, black and red grouper from Feb. 15 through
March 14.
Commercial
harvest of grouper species is limited to those persons possessing
a federal commercial vessel permit issued by the National
Marine Fisheries Service under the Federal Fishery Management
Plan for the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish resources, and are limited
to a commercial trip limit of 6,000 pounds gutted weight of
deep-water and shallow-water grouper combined per vessel,
during the open seasons for each of those species groups.
When the
commercial season for each species or species groups of grouper
is closed, the commercial trip limit for that species or species
group is zero. Effective with any commercial trip or possession
limit under this rule, no person shall commercially harvest,
possess, purchase, exchange, barter, trade, sell, or attempt
to purchase, exchange, barter, trade or sell the affected
species or species group, whether taken from within or without
Louisiana territorial waters in excess of such established
commercial trip or possession limit.
Wholesale
dealers are required to comply with the provisions of 56:306.5
and 56:306.6 when acquiring, purchasing, possessing and selling
reef fish. Wholesale dealers shall maintain approval codes
issued by NOAA Fisheries associated with all transactions
of red snapper on purchases and sales on records.
Public comments
on the Notice of Intent will be accepted prior to March 5
2007. Comments should be submitted to Harry Blanchet, Marine
Fisheries Division, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries,
P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000.
