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At any given time, and depending on how they are counted, NMFS manages approximately 125,000 active commercial fishing permits and registrations, and another 1710,000 subsistence permits. (For more detail see NPS Leadership Council Subgroup July 2008.ppt.) Transaction volumes vary by type of permit. Permit renewal requirements vary, some permits are transferable, some fisheries are open for additional entries, which means new permit applications are possible, while other fisheries are managed under limited access privilege programs and don't have new permit applications. The current estimate for annual transaction volume (including new applications, renewals, and transfers) is 100,000. Initially perhaps twenty percent of those transactions will be submitted online, but over time the ratio of online to paper will probably reverse, eventually leading to eighty percent online transactions. There is potential for exponential growth in the number of permits if recreational fishers are required to obtain federal fishing permits.
Business Drivers
Fisheries are managed regionally, but, many participants in the fishing industry are national or multinational in scope. The National Permits System (NPS) Project is a high profile NMFS project aimed at harmonizing the different permit systems across the agency. From this system all regional permit offices will standardize the collection of fees, automate the issuance of commercial fishing permits, and share readily available data from a single national source. In addition, constituents will benefit from a uniform agency permitting process, automated and streamlined online access, and improved customer service.
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