Charter Fisherman's Association - For-hire Data Collection

Charter Fishermans Association

Modifications to Gulf of Mexico For-hire Data Collection Program

Lessons learned during SEFHIER's development, implementation, and corrections have put us down a much more educated and experienced path. Working with the Gulf Council to get a validated data collection program up and running for the for-hire fleet a non electronic monitoring option has been selected. Going forward we will see "no fishing reports" and more dock side intercepts to counter the loss in validation with vessel monitoring.

There has been the most discussion on how the agency will collect economic data. Ideas from random selection of permit holders getting an annual economic report to fill out, to random sampling of each report that is declared, etc. There is a lot of support from the industry about going in the direction everything is headed and while there is not a defined path there is still things to work on.

In this document the CFA has been advocating that whatever is done it is done with charter and headboat together, same permit... same program. In Action 1 and 2 we would like to see these combined and have alternative 2 be our preferred alternative. By reporting every trip it keeps the requirement to report before off loading fish. This is very helpful in validation analysis. In Action 3 the CFA has been advocating for Alternative 2 Option A, which requires reporting for all trips that conducts commerce. By doing so it helps finds the economic output of the entire industry. In Action 4, none of the alternatives consider the will of the industry. The Gulf Council is continuing to work towards finding a solution for reporting every trip, and go more with a portion of the participating vessels be surveyed instead.

Summary of Actions in the Document

Action 1: Establish Frequency and Mechanism of Data Reporting for For-hire vessels

Alt 1: No Action

Alt 2: Require a report for every trip

Alt 3: Require a report for every trip within 24 hours of the end of the trip

Action 2: Establish Frequency and Mechanism of Data Reporting for SRS Headboats

Alt 1: No Action

Alt 2: Require a report for every trip

Alt 3: Require a report for every trip within 24 hours of the end of the trip

Action 3: Trip Notification and Effort Reporting Requirements

Alt 1: No Action

Alt 2: Require a report for any trip that will engage in fishing or for-hire activity

Option A: Charter Vessels

Option B: Headboats

Alt 3: Require a report for any trip that will engage in fishing activity

Option A: Charter Vessels

Option B: Headboats

Action 4: Establish Reporting of Economic Data for For-hire Vessels

Alt 1: No Action

Alt 2: Require a report for every trip

Alt 3: Require a report for every trip within 24 hours of the end of the trip

For more than two decades a lot of the industry pushed and fought for the opportunity to provide their data. There was a large growing group of for-hire fishermen and women that were tired of being part of an equation and have a small sample of data extrapolated out as a representative number of our harvest.

After much work and effort the CFA and likeminded fishermen and women made a big push for the SouthEast For-Hire Integrated Electronic Reporting (SEFHIER). This was a first of its kind For-hire reporting program. During the implementation there were mistakes made, there was unforeseen becoming very seen, and there was a legitimate focused effort from the Gulf Council to fix the issues that became founded.

There was a lawsuit filed with the complaint containing concerns of a 4th Amendment violation as well as some procedural actions on the back end by the agency. The Plaintiff ended up winning the procedural portion, and the Court found it to be a "possible" violation of the 4th Amendment. This was a big let down for all of those that supported and worked with the agency to get it implemented and fix the issues that became known.

The SEFHIER Program laid the groundwork for the next iteration of for-hire data collection. It puts our industry in a much better position after being it for over a year it gave our industry and the agency a vast amount of knowledge of the needs of Gulf fishermen.