Business Context and Volume
NMFS requires the use of permits or registrations by participants in U.S. federally regulated fisheries. Permits to fish manages fishing in waters of the United States and international waters are authorized by under authority of various statutes and laws, primarily the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Public Law 94-265, as variously amended, most recently by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (P.L. 109-479)) (MSA) and the High Seas Fishery Management and Conservation Act. The most used permitting authority, the MSA, provides authority for issuance of permits for foreign fishing; or, under § 303(A) Limited Access Privilege Programs (LAPPs) or § 303(b) as a discretionary provision under authority of a Fishery Management Plan: for vessels, vessel operators, or processors.
Permits and licensing provide means to verify appropriate participation and allocation of resources. For example, foreign participation is limited in most U.S. fisheries. Permits are fundamental to limited access privilege programs (LAPP), also known as individual transferable quotaor individual fishing quota (IFQ), which are increasingly used as instruments to manage fisheries from the perspectives of optimum yield and economic viability. Permits facilitate collection of critical harvest, effort, and economic data and are fundamental to enforcing compliance with record-keeping and reporting laws and regulations. Permits are also critical for analytic purposes such as determining economic dependence on fisheries, studying fishery development and collapse, assessing status of stocks, and as the basis of allocation decisions.
Currently 6 vessels report electronically, could go up to 200 vessels, must transfer within 72 hours of landing, typically vessels land every few weeks, potential exists for daily reporting via VMS....
Business Drivers
With e-signature fishers would be more accepting of electronic reporting. Fishers have concerns about achieving compliance. Drivers for wanting e-reporting... better data, faster data, less corrections.... Magnusen-Stephens driver for reducing cycle time? More.... The more could include what business benefit they derive from the permit and what business risk they incur if they break NMFS rules. Is this the spot for cycle times?
The reporting and recordkeeping rules for Pacific Island fisheries (50 CFR §665.14) were modified in 2007 to give fishers the option to submit electronic logbook forms (electronic logbooks). This change followed a 2006 recommendation by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, "Regulatory Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans of the Western Pacific Region Authorizing the Optional Use of Electronic Logbook Forms." The objectives of allowing electronic logbook use include:
- Allowing fishers to record and submit their data electronically whenever possible
- Reducing the amount of time spent by fishers complying with federal reporting requirements
- Improving the accuracy of the data collected
- Reducing the amount of time spent by NOAA Fisheries Service processing the logbook data
Currently 6 vessels report logbooks electronically, but with clarification of e-signature requirements and e-logbook vendor certification (in process) this could go up to 200 vessels. Vessels are required to report (transfer data) within 72 hours of landing. Vessels typically land every few weeks. The potential exists for future daily reporting using VMS as a data transport mechanism.
Business Drivers
Timely information on fishing effort, catch and bycatch is required as an element of National Standard 1 (NS1). In these longline fisheries an electronic logbook program provides the best mechanism for acquiring timely information. Logbook record-keeping and reporting regulations require vessel operator signatures for accountability. An e-signature feature is required to make e-logbook reporting feasible and acceptable to the fishers.
Business Risk in the Permit Context
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