PROCLAMATION
RE: TRAWLING - ATLANTIC OCEAN
Preston P. Pate, Jr. Director, Division of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that effective at 12:01 A.M., Thursday July 14, 2005, 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 2005 are 55 minutes from July 14 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. 113-170.4; 113-170.5; 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-16-04 dated August 11, 2004.
July 12, 2005
8:00
A.M.
SH-9-2005
/sab