Charter fishing operators in the Gulf of Mexico will now have more time to install monitoring systems to help with fisheries management.

NOAA Fisheries published the extension for the Southeast Integrated Electricity Lease Reporting Program in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 2. Charter operators with federal charter licenses will now have until Tuesday, March 1, 2022 to install a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on their vessels.

In September 2021, federal officials set an implementation deadline of December 13.

According to an email sent last week from the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Board, NOAA Fisheries has extended the deadline to test a third VMS, giving more time for an ongoing trial to unfold and complete. ensure that boats have units installed before spring break. the season begins.

Authorities first announced the requirement in July 2020, and the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed a class action lawsuit in response a month later, claiming the warrant requires 24-hour surveillance without cause.

In a statement released last year, the non-profit law firm equated VMS systems with an ankle bracelet and questioned why the government should monitor ships and ship owners so thoroughly.

The 11-week delay in implementing the system will give a federal judge the opportunity to review the briefs filed by both parties to the trial. The fisheries lawyer for NCLA and NOAA accepted the expedited review.

“While we appreciate the decision of federal regulators to delay this rule, they still haven’t explained how the 24-hour monitoring of chartered vessels – which represent a trace amount of fishing in the Gulf – promotes conservation, of especially since boat captains are already reporting the number and types of fish caught in real time, ”NLCA legal adviser Sheng Li said.

The Gulf Council requested the requirement for the VMS to improve its monitoring of recreational catch limits as part of its fisheries management responsibilities. According to NOAA Fisheries, VMS units should help provide better information on the number of trips made by chartered vessels. It could potentially help to obtain more accurate stock assessments, as this would give managers better data regarding landings and charter locations.

The NCLA, which represents more than 1,300 charter operators, has asked federal officials for 90 days due to the ongoing litigation.

However, in the Federal Register announcement, NOAA Fisheries said it “anticipates an increase in rental trips to the Gulf during the spring vacation season of March 2022, but will not have the capacity. to effectively validate these trips if the VMS requirements are not implemented by March 1, 2022.

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