Notice2025-21895
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
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Published
December 4, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region (GARFO), NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. The EFP would allow federally permitted fishing vessels to fish outside fishery regulations in support of exempted fishing activities proposed by the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed EFPs.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 231 (Thursday, December 4, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 231 (Thursday, December 4, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55849-55852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-21895]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XF289]
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act
Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for
Exempted Fishing Permits
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region (GARFO), NMFS, has made a
preliminary
[[Page 55850]]
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application
contains all of the required information and warrants further
consideration. The EFP would allow federally permitted fishing vessels
to fish outside fishery regulations in support of exempted fishing
activities proposed by the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
(NEFSC). Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for
proposed EFPs.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 19, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#86e8ebe0f5a8e1e7f4a8e3e0f6c6e8e9e7e7a8e1e9f0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6d03000b1e430a0c1f43080b1d2d03020c0c430a021b">[email protected]</span></a>. Include in the subject line ``NEFSC On-demand
EFP''. All comments received are a part of the public record and may be
posted for public viewing without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information,
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter
``anonymous'' as the signature if you wish to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Ford, Fishery Management
Specialist, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fcbf948e958f88959299d2ba938e98bc92939d9dd29b938a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="86c5eef4eff5f2efe8e3a8c0e9f4e2c6e8e9e7e7a8e1e9f0">[email protected]</span></a>, (978) 281-9185.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NOAA NEFSC submitted a complete
application for an EFP to conduct commercial fishing activities that
the regulations would otherwise restrict, to continue trials of on-
demand fishing gear that use one or no surface buoys and to test the
ability of gear marking systems to consistently locate gear. This EFP
would exempt the participating vessels from the following Federal
regulations:
Table 1--Requested Exemptions
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CFR citation Regulation Need for exemption
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50 CFR 697.21(b)....................... Gear marking requirements................ For trial of trap/pot gear
with no more than one
surface marking on trawls
of more than three traps,
and trial of trap/pot gear
with no surface marking on
trawls of three or fewer
traps.
50 CFR 648.84(b)....................... Gear marking requirements................ For trial of gillnet gear
with no more than one
surface marking.
50 CFR 648.264(a)(5)................... Gear marking requirements................ For trial of red crab trap/
pot gear with no more than
one surface marking on
trawls.
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Table 2--Project Summary
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Project title....................................... Development and trials of on-demand fishing systems in
fixed gear fisheries.
Project start....................................... 01/01/2026.
Project end......................................... 12/31/2026.
Project objectives.................................. To expand the trials of on-demand fishing systems with
additional participants and fisheries to ensure testing
has been conducted adequately across the breadth of
regional commercial fishing conditions, with the aim of
sustaining the fixed gear fishing industry, while
reducing the entanglement risk to the critically
endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Project location.................................... Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, Southern New England, and Mid-
Atlantic, including but not limited to Statistical Areas:
512, 513, 514, 515, 521, 522, 561, 562, 525, 526, 537,
538, 539, 621, 626.
Number of vessels................................... Trap/pot: Up to 180, including up to 5 using grappling;
Gillnet: Up to 20.
Number of trips..................................... Trap/pot: Up to 15,000 trips (180 vessels making an
average of 1.5 trips/week); Gillnet: Up to 1,600 trips
(20 vessels making an average of 1.5 trips/week).
Trip duration (days)................................ Variable based on fishery, target species, and fishing
location, but within the range of standard commercial
fishing trips and consistent with FMP regulations.
Gear type(s)........................................ Lobster traps, deep-sea red crab pots, fish pots, and
anchored-fixed gillnets.
Number of tows or sets.............................. Trap/pot: Effort capped at 1,800 total modified trap/pot
trawls actively fished, including grappled trawls.
Gillnet: Effort capped at 200 modified gillnet strings.
Per vessel effort will vary by season, fishing operation,
and the number of active participants, but will not
exceed 20 modified trawls and/or strings. In Atlantic
Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) Restricted
Areas, vessels will be allowed to modify up to 20 lobster
trawls, with a cap of 600 total trawls actively fished
across the Restricted Areas.
Duration of tows or sets............................ Trap/pot: Variable, but expected to be 14 days or less.
Will not exceed 30 days, as required by regulation;
Gillnet: Typical commercial soak times.
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Project Narrative
This project is a continuation and broadening of the development of
on-demand (also known as ropeless) fishing systems aimed at reducing
the entanglement risk to protected species, mainly the North Atlantic
right whale, in trap/pot and gillnet fisheries. The NEFSC's existing
EFP (DA24-004) authorizes on-demand gear trials on up to 180 lobster
trap/pot vessels and up to 20 total gillnet, red crab trap, and black
sea bass pot vessels. The EFP will expire on December 31, 2025. This
project would allow up to 180 total trap/pot vessels and up to 20
gillnet vessels to replace up to 20 of their existing trawls/strings
(up to 2,000 total trawls/strings) with modified trawls/strings,
including in the ALWTRP Restricted Areas. Modified gear would replace
one or both traditional end lines with acoustic on-demand systems and
other alternatives to persistent buoy lines (including, but not limited
to, spooled systems, buoy and stowed-rope systems, lift-bag systems,
and grappling).
The ultimate goal of this project is to enable the continuation of
some of the region's most valuable and historically significant
fisheries while also meeting the requirements set forth by the ALWTRP
and section 118(f) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, specifically
reducing the level of serious injury and mortality of North Atlantic
right, humpback, and fin whales in commercial fisheries. To achieve
this, the project includes objectives to test the efficacy of fully on-
demand trawls/strings and the adequacy of gear marking systems that use
data hubs and visualization platforms to share on-demand gear
locations. The research focus for this project includes:
<bullet> Gear performance evaluation in varied environmental
conditions among varied vessel and gear characteristics to
[[Page 55851]]
inform safety decisions, refine reliability and user experience,
compare timing across operations and fishing modalities, and determine
alternative (digital) gear location marking accuracy;
<bullet> Data analysis focused on durability, manufacturer-specific
performance, and criteria that could be used to later approve gear
technologies;
<bullet> Continued evaluation of the reliability of new innovative
gears as they come on the market by working with manufacturers and
fishermen to pilot test gears;
<bullet> Expansion of experimental fishing in Restricted Areas in
ways that make sense with a focus on safety (protected species and
fishermen) and equity (fishermen and manufacturers) to assess the
feasibility and efficiency of fishing fully on-demand trawls; and
<bullet> Expansion of communication efforts to the broader fishing
community, managers, and partners.
To ensure that on-demand fishing and gear marking technologies are
adequately tested across the breadth of regional commercial fishing
conditions, the NEFSC requests the flexibility to test on-demand gear
across the geographic range of the Federal American lobster and Jonah
crab fishery, including testing fully on-demand gear (no persistent
vertical lines) in ALWTRP Restricted Areas. It also requests the
opportunity to trial on-demand gillnet and other trap/pot gear across
the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, Southern New England, and the Mid-
Atlantic. To cover a greater area and target areas where data is
needed, NEFSC has requested the flexibility to have greater than 200
participants during the permit period (with only 200 fishing at one
time). It would provide requested modifications to the active
participants, general locations, and technologies to be tested one
month in advance. Priority would be given to participants who are
seasonally excluded from fishing in certain areas and/or in offshore
fisheries with limited entanglement mitigation options.
This permit would only exempt vessels from the specified Federal
regulations in Federal waters. It would not exempt the vessels from any
requirements imposed by any state, the Endangered Species Act, the
Marine Mammal Protection Act, or any other applicable laws. The
applicant would be responsible for obtaining all required state
authorizations. Other than gear markings, all trap/pot trawls and
gillnet strings would be consistent with the regulations of the
management area where the vessel is fishing and would be fished in
accordance with the participating vessels' standard operations (number
and length of trips, soak times, trap limits, etc.).
The use of on-demand lobster trap gear in the ALWTRP Restricted
Areas is limited to gear without any persistent vertical lines. The EFP
would allow vessels to modify up to 20 trawls each, but would cap
effort to 600 total trawls in the ALWTRP Restricted Areas. If necessary
due to a high level of interest and limited capacity, the NEFSC may
require a demonstrated history of fishing within ALWTRP Restricted
Areas as a condition for participation in on-demand trials in those
areas.
In recognition of industry's interest in grappling as a low-cost
alternative to acoustic on-demand systems, this project would also
allow up to 5 vessels to retrieve up to 20 trawls via grappling; this
would be a subset of the 180 total trap/pot vessels and the 1,800
modified trap/pot trawls effort cap. This would enable the NEFSC to
collect data on the viability of grappling at a commercial scale.
Although no grappling trials have occurred to date, four vessels/
operators have expressed interest in participating in the study. Unlike
what is authorized under the existing EFP, no grappling would be
allowed in the ALWTRP Restricted Areas.
In the first phase of participation, staff from the NEFSC and the
gear manufacturers would provide training to ensure that the system is
working as intended and that all participants have sufficient
experience with the gear before borrowing from the gear cache library.
In the second phase, participating vessels would rig an on-demand
system to one end of a standard trawl or string and fish it as a hybrid
(with one traditional surface marking) for at least 10 hauls per
system. In phase three, participants would fish the gear as part of
normal fishing operations, including fishing fully on-demand gear and
fully on-demand trap trawls in the ALWTRP Restricted Areas. In some
cases, a scientific observer may be on board, and/or GoPro Systems (or
equivalent) may record gear retrievals. The NEFSC would provide
standardized data collection sheets to all participants, but
individually-identifiable data would only be made public with the
express permission of the vessel owner.
The NEFSC also plans to include targeted geolocation studies in
areas with limited trawling and/or dredging to test new location-
marking systems on the seafloor and automated location-marking when
gear is set and retrieved. This EFP would support efforts to improve
gear-marking and gear-conflict avoidance technologies, including
testing the amount of effort to mark sub-surface gear location in the
Trap Tracker app (vs. surface location where the gear is deployed) and
other sub-surface gear marking technologies. This EFP would also
continue to test the EarthRanger platform that displays gear locations
from various gear-marking technologies. The NEFSC would demonstrate and
encourage adoption of these technologies with non-participant vessels.
The NEFSC proposes the following best practices and risk reduction
measures:
<bullet> All vessels would report all right whale sightings to NMFS
via <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#315f541f43461f424443475448715f5e50501f565e47"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5f313a712d28712c2a2d293a261f31303e3e71383029">[email protected]</span></a> or NOAA (866-755-6622) or the U.S. Coast
Guard (Channel 16) and record sightings on data sheets;
<bullet> All vessels would retrieve on-demand vertical lines as
quickly as possible to minimize time in the water column;
<bullet> All vessels would adhere to current approach regulations--
a 500-yard (1,500-foot) buffer zone created by a surfacing right
whale--and must depart immediately at a safe and slow speed, in
accordance with current regulations. Hauling any lobster gear would
immediately cease (by removal) to accommodate the regulation and be
reinitiated only after it is reasonable to assume the whale has left
the area;
<bullet> All vessels would provide mandatory, weekly gear loss
reports;
<bullet> All vessels would operate within a 10-knot (18.52 km per
hour) speed limit when transiting ALWTRP Restricted Areas or when
whales are observed;
<bullet> For fully on-demand gear without traditional surface
markings, participants would use the Trap Tracker or an equivalent
technology for retrieval and set positioning details, which would be
available to Federal, state, and corresponding enforcement personnel,
as well as other fishermen;
<bullet> For fully on-demand gear without traditional surface
markings, on-demand vertical lines would be marked with unique yellow/
black/orange marks above the regional markings, in addition to ALWTRP
regulations (per agreement with the NMFS Atlantic Large Whale Take
Reduction Team Coordinator);
<bullet> When fishing in ALWTRP Restricted Areas, vessels would
check real-time right whale sightings information (such as Right Whale
Sightings Advisories and Whale ALERT) before setting any gear and avoid
areas of high right whale abundance, and all vessels would be
recommended to follow this process when setting gear outside the ALWTRP
Restricted Areas;
<bullet> Enforcement would be provided with and trained on the Trap
Tracker
[[Page 55852]]
app (for seeing subsea-marked gear) prior to the start of the trials;
<bullet> A unique flag would be flown by each vessel for
enforcement recognition; and
<bullet> The NEFSC would continue to provide monthly updates on any
gear conflicts to GARFO's Sustainable Fisheries Division.
Vessels fishing fully on-demand lobster trap trawls in ALWTRP
Restricted Areas would be required to follow additional practices:
<bullet> All participants would carry a NEFSC scientist on a subset
of trips to collect additional data and oversee trial performance;
<bullet> Stowed hauling lines in on-demand units would contain
unique colored identification marks consisting of orange marks above
each regional ALWTRP marking;
<bullet> No floating groundline would be used on research trawls,
including where otherwise legally allowed between the first trap and
anchor or on-demand unit;
<bullet> If any large whale species comes within 500 yards of a
participating vessel during hauling, fishing would immediately cease,
by either removal or resetting, and be reinitiated only after it was
reasonable to assume the whale(s) has left the area;
Participants would be provided with information on species
identification as well as protocols to report live, dead, or entangled
sightings of all large whale species. All whale sightings would be
recorded on data sheets.
If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: December 1, 2025.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-21895 Filed 12-3-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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