PROCLAMATION
RE: TRAWLING - ATLANTIC OCEAN
Preston P. Pate, Jr. Director, Division of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that effective at 12:01 A.M., Saturday, June 29, 2002, the following restrictions will apply to trawling in the Atlantic Ocean:
I. ACTIVITY:
Shrimp trawls may be used without
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in the area described in
Section II. below provided that the
vessel has in possession and is in compliance with a
valid NC Division of Marine Fisheries
issued Permit for Wavier of TEDs.
II. DESCRIBED
AREA:
RICH
INLET TO BROWN'S INLET: Offshore waters between Rich Inlet (34E 17.6 N
latitude) and Brown's Inlet (34E 35.7 N latitude), the inner boundary of which is the U.S.
Coast Guard 1972 COLREGS demarcation line, and the seaward boundary of which is
one nautical mile east of that line.
III. PERMIT
REQUIREMENT:
Vessels
participating in the trawl fishery within the area described above must possess
a Permit for Waiver of TEDs issued by the North Carolina Division of Marine
Fisheries, Wilmington, N.C., or be equipped with certified National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) TEDs. Trawls
are required to be equipped with TEDs to trawl in the ocean in all other areas.
IV. TOW
TIMES:
Trawling
in this area is restricted to the following tow times, measured as the time
from trawl doors entering the water to trawl doors being removed from the
water. Tow times for 2002 are 55
minutes from June 29 through October 31, and 75 minutes from November 1 through
November 30. Upon each removal of the
doors from the water, the contents of the net must be emptied.
V. GENERAL
INFORMATION:
a) This
proclamation is issued under the authority of G.S. 113-182; 113-189; 113-221;
143B-289.52 and N. C. Marine Fisheries Rules 15A NCAC 3H .0103, 3I .0107 and
.0112, and 3L .0101.
b)
It is unlawful to violate provisions of
any proclamation issued by the Fisheries Director
under his delegated authority per
15A NCAC 3H .0103.
c) This
proclamation is intended to protect sea turtles while allowing the use of
trawls with limited tow times. Sea
turtles that may be taken incidentally in this fishery must be handled and
resuscitated in accordance with Federal (NMFS) regulations. Copies of these regulations may be obtained
from the Division of Marine Fisheries or National Marine Fisheries Service.
d) The use of trawls with restricted tow times as authorized by this proclamation will be monitored by the Division of Marine Fisheries and National Marine Fisheries Service.
e) Permits for Wavier of TEDs are authorized for the described area only. These permits do not allow the use of trawls without TEDs in the Atlantic Ocean as required by NMFS in any other area.
f) Permits for Wavier of TEDs are available from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, 127 Cardinal Drive Ext., Wilmington, NC 28405 or any N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries License Office. In obtaining a permit, the permittee agrees to take Federal and state observers aboard when requested.
g) No person may use a shrimp trawl
without an operational Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) properly installed in the
tailbag of the net. Operational BRDs are described in SH-3-01.
h) This
proclamation supersedes Proclamation SH-15-01 dated August 22, 2001.
June 26, 2002
11:30 A.M.
SH-6-2002
/sab