NOAA
Fisheries is looking for comments from the public, especially shrimpers, on a
proposal that set the costs and payment responsibilities for the electronic
logbook program for the shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Mexico .
The
Electronic Logbook program is a way NOAA uses to collect information on the
amount and location of shrimp fishing in the Gulf.
It has
been in place since 2007.
Shrimp
boats are chosen by random to take part in the program, and until now NOAA
Fisheries paid for the Electronic Logbook units on approximately 500 shrimp
boats.
The
current contract will expire on December 31st and there is no
funding to renew the contract so now NOAA is considering sharing the cost with
shrimpers.
The
proposal would require Gulf shrimp vessel permit holders to pay for the costs
of installing and maintaining the Electronic Logbook units and the cost of data
transmission through a wireless provider.
NOAA
Fisheries would pay for software development, data storage, and for analyzing
the information.
The
preliminary cost estimate for vessel owners is $60/month for data transmission;
however, vessel owners could qualify for group discounts.
The one
time cost of installing the Electronic Logbook is about $200.
If you would like to comment on the
proposal, NOAA Fisheries will take comments
until November 6th.
Comments can be submitted
electronically at the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at regulations.gov.
http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments http://live.oysterradio.com/
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