Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

annually) to meet the FMP’s overfishing control rule, and based on the best availablescientific information.(3) The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, in consultation with Council advisorybodies, will calculate a TAC for consideration by May 30 each year for Councilconsideration. The TAC will apply to MHI deep-7 bottomfish species. Once the TAC isreached, all fishing for deep-7 bottomfish species will cease.(4) Once the recreational bottomfish fishery is managed under a TAC, the recreational catchlimits will be removed.Amendment 14 to Hawaii’s Bottomfish FMP became effective April 1, 2008 (73 FR 18450),with the permit and reporting requirements effective as of August 18, 2008 (73 FR 41296).Amendment 14 implemented the following requirements for vessel-based bottomfish fishing inthe MHI:(1) Federal bottomfish permits are required for vessel owners and fishermen to conductvessel-based non-commercial fishing for any bottomfish management unit species(BMUS), not just deep-7 species, in Federal waters around the MHI (except customers ofcharter fishing trips).(2) Operators of non-commercial fishing vessels are required to submit daily Federallogbooks that document bottomfish fishing effort and catch for each fishing trip, andvessel owners share the responsibility for submitting the logbooks in a timely manner.The data from these logbooks will be the basis for calculating non-commercial fishingeffort and harvest of BMUS, bycatch, and interactions with protected species.(3) A closed season was implemented between May and August of 2008. During this closure,fishing for deep-7 species was prohibited in Federal waters. Fishing for bottomfishspecies other than deep-7 species was not prohibited during the closed season.(4) An annual total allowable catch (TAC) management system was established for the MHIcommercial bottomfish fishery. The TAC will be determined each fishing year using thebest available scientific information, commercial and non-commercial fishing data, andother information, and will consider the associated risk of overfishing. NMFS willpublish in the Federal Register by August 31 the TAC for the upcoming fishing year, andwill use other means to notify permit holders of the TAC. When the TAC is projected tobe reached, NMFS will publish notification in the Federal Register and use other meansto notify permit holders that the fishery will be closed on a specified date, providing aminimum of 14 days advance notice of the closure. The TAC for the 2007-08 fishing year(October 2007 through April 2008) was set at 178,000lbs (80,740 kg) of Deep 7 species.Progress toward the TAC is determined by the catch reported by holders of Hawaiicommercial marine license (CML). When the TAC is projected to be reached, thecommercial and non-commercial fisheries for deep-7 bottomfish are closed. There is noprohibition on fishing for other bottomfish species throughout the year. NMFS intends torepeal the Federal non-commercial bag limits once the data collected from the non-102