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Project Details and Eligibility Requirements 2018 Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project SUPPORTING A HEALTHIER GULF OF MEXICO PROJECTDocument 2 of 7: DETAILS AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Thank you for your interest in the Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project. Working with the pelagic longline fishing community in the Gulf of Mexico, Deepwater Horizon the goal of this project is to help restore pelagic fish that were injured by the 2010 oil spill by reducing fishing mortality during a temporary, voluntary repose period each year. This project is VOLUNTARY, TEMPORARY and NON-REGULATORY. The project includes two separate, but complementary components: (1) a repose features of each. Have questions about the project? period and (2) use of alternative fishing gear. This document outlines the key Project Details Please contact the community liaison assigned to your region if you need Repose Period – 2018 assistance: For interested participants in Louisiana: If you submit a “Request for Quotation” form for this project and are selected, you Coastal Community Consulting, Inc. agree to participate in a repose period, during which you will refrain from fishing with pelagic longline (PLL) gear for six months — from January 1 through June 30, Phone: 504-393-0066 2018. Everyone who participates in the project must participate in the repose. Email: [email protected] For interested participants Other• Length details of contract: of the repose include: elsewhere in the Gulf or on the Atlantic Coast: This contract agreement will last for up to one year, with the potential to renew after the first year. Renewal may be subject to a separate Gary Graham • Compensation:Request for Quotation and selection process. You will receive compensation for participating in the repose Phone: 979-292-6120 if you choose to fish with alternative gear provided period regardless of whether you choose to fish with the alternative gear Email: [email protected] by NFWF, you will be compensated additionally and separately for that (more below). However, participation. toTo www.nfwf.org/pllview and download. the materials in either English or Vietnamese, please go Please see the project’s “Compensation and Auction Details” • Lengthdocument of forproject: more information. There is no set timeframe for this temporary project, but NFWF and NOAA anticipate it will run for five to 10 years. The full length of the restoration goals. project will depend on the level of participation required in order to meet the fish 2018 Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project Project Details and Eligibility Requirements | 1 • Removal of pelagic longline gear: Alternative Gear You will be required to remove or disable the pelagic Participants have the option to continue to fish during the repose period longline gear on your vessel and are subject greenstick gear, buoy gear and/or deep drop gear. or contractor to ensure no pelagic longline using up to two of three alternative gear types provided by the project: to inspection by a NFWF or NOAA employee • Vesseltrips are Monitoring taken during System: the repose period. For the 2018 repose, the project has included additional gear options in order to provide participants with more flexibility to explore fishing You must keep strategies that maximize harvest opportunity. You may select a single gear your Vessel Monitoring System units on at type or two different gear types, whichever you prefer. You may not select all •Completionall times duringof logbookthe reposedocumentation: period. three gear types. You must possess or obtain all necessary permits. Participants in the repose and alternative 2018GearOptions* gear project must complete all logbooks Greenstick BuoyGear** Drop Deep (HMS and Coastal SERO logbooks) in a Gear Gear timely manner. If notified by NOAA, vessel Target Species Yellowfin Tuna Swordfish Yellowfin Tuna Swordfish owners must complete a logbook within 48 hours of each day’s fishing activities for Allparticipantsmustpossessthetriplepackpermits multi-day trips, or before offloading for one- day trips, and submit the logbook within Additional None Directed Exempted Fishing None •Existingseven daysregulations: of offloading. Permitting Swordfish Permit *** Requirements Permit You are subject to all existing regulations under the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and any other * The type(s) of alternative gear chosen by applicants will not determine •IndividualBluefinQuota(IBQ)Allocation applicable law. their prioritization or selection to participate in the project. andTransfers: ** You may use buoy gear to target both species if you have all necessary As of January 1, 2018, permits. You are NOT required to use buoy gear to target both species. For you must have sufficient IBQ allocation instance, if you do not have a directed swordfish permit, you can still select to make a PLL set in the Gulf of Mexico. buoy gear to target tuna and apply for an EFP. At any time in the year, IBQ cannot be *** If you are interested in using buoy gear to fish for yellowfin tuna and transferred out of a vessel account or you are selected to participate in the project, you must apply to NOAA for an between vessels in a shareholder account Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP). NFWF cannot guarantee EFP approval. (including before the repose begins and after the repose period closes). Landing of bluefin tuna is not allowed by participating •Compensation: vessels from January 1 to June 30, 2018. Other details about using alternative gear include: Dead discards of bluefin tuna caught with You will be compensated for using alternative gear alternative gears will be counted against during the repose period, in addition to the compensation you will the participating vessel’s IBQ account. From receive for participating in the repose period. Please see the project’s July 1 to December 31, 2018, any bluefin •Installation“Compensation&Training: and Auction Details” document for more information. tuna landings or dead discards caught with Installation, tuning and training will pelagic longline will also be counted against be provided to you free of cost. NFWF and NOAA intend to offer •PLLthe participatingfishingoutside vessel’stherepose IBQ account.period: participants additional training opportunities on alternative gear •throughoutObservercoverage: the 2018 repose. As otherwise allowable, you can fish with When requested, you must take observers on pelagic longline gear for the other six board during alternative gear trips. The project aims to have observers months of the year, from July 1 through onboard all alternative gear trips taken throughout the repose. December 31, 2018. 2018 Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project Project Details and Eligibility Requirements | 2 •Alternativevessels: You may • The vessel must meet the choose to use a vessel better Eligibility Observer Program Vessel Safety suited for fishing with alternative In order to be eligible to participate in Checklist, and the alternative gear types in accordance with the the project, vessel owner participants vessel has suitable bunk space fishing gear authorizations of your must be actively fishing in the Gulf for both vessel crew as well as permits. Participants interested in of Mexico, having made at least one project observers. this option are subject to additional PLL set in the Gulf during the last two Vessels will be subject to inspection, terms and conditions, including: years (Jan. 1, 2015 – Dec. 31, 2016). Participants must also possess sufficient and, if these safety and disposition • The participant is responsible IBQ to make a PLL set in the Gulf and conditions are not met, any for applying to NOAA for an must possess all three limited access Participation Contract will become Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) permits necessary to engage in PLL null and void. in order to use an alternative fishing(1) in the Gulf: vessel. The participant will be responsible for providing NFWF a directed or incidental swordfish with proof of EFP approval. If (2) permit; selected, more information will a directed or incidental shark be provided. (3) permit; and, • The PLL vessel cannot be used an Atlantic Tuna Longline to fish for HMS species at any category permit. time or in any location, including the Gulf of Mexico during the In addition to the eligibility criteria repose period. outlined above, NOAA will also evaluate past enforcement history. Past or • The alternative vessel is subject outstanding violations may preclude to inspection as a requirement participation in the project; however, for participation. At least 1-week prior to vessel inspection. If minor violations that have been advance notice will be given resolved are not expected to have any bearing on eligibility. upon inspection, the alternative vessel does not meet the above All offerors will also be vetted through listed criteria, any offer of the General Services Administration’s participation will be null government-wide System for Award • Vessel Monitoring Systems and void. Management Exclusions. (VMS): Finally, to be eligible, the PLL vessel You will be required to (and alternative vessel if applicable) keep your VMS unit on at all times must meet basic safety and disposition during the repose whether using vessel; if your alternative vessel standards, including: your PLL vessel or an alternative • The vessel is capable of fishing in doesn’t already have a VMS, one the Gulf of Mexico. In other words, will be provided (service fees the vessel is not dry-docked, has not included). working engines and is seaworthy. • The vessel must possess a valid USCG Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Decal, and the vessel safety equipment must remain serviceable. 2018 Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project Project Details and Eligibility Requirements | 3.
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