The Law Library presents the complete text of the Fisheries off West Coast States - Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery - Vessel Monitoring System - Open Access Fishery (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regulation) (NOAA) (2018 Edition).

Updated as of May 29, 2018

NMFS issues this final rule to require all vessels fishing pursuant to the harvest guidelines, quotas, and other management measures governing the open access groundfish fishery, and all trawl vessels to provide declaration reports and to activate and use a vessel monitoring system (VMS) transceiver while fishing off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California. NMFS has implemented a series of large-scale geographically-defined closed areas intended to: minimize the bycatch of overfished groundfish species, minimize the bycatch of protected salmon species, and protect Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) from harm through contact with fishing gear. This action is intended to improve the monitoring of compliance with those closed areas through regular VMS transmissions of vessel locations for those vessels subject to groundfish closed area restrictions.

This ebook contains:

- The complete text of the Fisheries off West Coast States - Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery - Vessel Monitoring System - Open Access Fishery (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regulation) (NOAA) (2018 Edition)

- A dynamic table of content linking to each section

- A table of contents in introduction presenting a general overview of the structure