§ 679.134 - PCTC Program permits, catch monitoring, catch accounting, and recordkeeping and reporting.

§ 679.134 PCTC Program permits, catch monitoring, catch accounting, and recordkeeping and reporting.

(a) Permits. For permit information, please see § 679.4(q).

(b) Catch monitoring requirements for PCTC Program catcher vessels. The owner and operator of a catcher vessel must ensure the vessel complies with the observer coverage requirements described at § 679.51(a)(2) at all times the vessel is participating in a PCTC Program cooperative.

(c) Catch monitoring requirements for motherships receiving unsorted codends from a PCTC Program catcher vessel —

(1) Catch weighing. All catch, except halibut sorted on deck by vessels participating in the halibut deck sorting described at § 679.120, must be weighed on a NMFS-approved scale in compliance with the scale requirements at § 679.28(b). Each haul must be weighed separately and all catch must be made available for sampling by an observer.

(2) Additional catch monitoring requirements. Comply with catch monitoring requirements specified at § 679.93(c).

(d) Catch monitoring requirements for shoreside processors. All groundfish landed by catcher vessels described at § 679.51(a)(2) must be sorted, weighed on a scale approved by the State of Alaska as described at § 679.28(c), and be made available for sampling by an observer, NMFS staff, or any individual authorized by NMFS. Any of these persons must be allowed to test any scale used to weigh groundfish to determine its accuracy.

(e) Catch accounting —

(1) Pacific cod. All Pacific cod harvests by a vessel that is named on a PCTC Program CQ application and fishing under a CQ permit will be debited against the CQ for that cooperative during the fishing seasons as defined at § 679.130(a)(2).

(2) PCTC Program halibut and crab PSC. All halibut and crab PSC used by a vessel that is named on an Application PCTC Program CQ and fishing under a CQ permit will be debited against the CQ for that cooperative during the fishing seasons as defined at § 679.130(a)(2).

(3) Groundfish sideboard limits. All groundfish harvests in the BSAI and GOA that are subject to a sideboard limit for that groundfish species as described under § 679.133(b), except groundfish harvested by a vessel when participating in the Central GOA Rockfish Program, will be debited against the applicable sideboard limit.

(f) Recordkeeping and reporting. The owners and operators of catcher vessels and processors authorized as participants in the PCTC Program must comply with the applicable recordkeeping and reporting requirements of this section and must assign all catch to a PCTC Program cooperative as applicable at the time of catch or receipt of Pacific cod. All owners of catcher vessels and processors authorized as participants in the PCTC Program must ensure that their designated representatives or employees comply with all applicable recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

(1) Logbook —

(i) DFL. Operators of catcher vessels participating in the PCTC Program fishery must maintain a daily fishing logbook for trawl gear as described at § 679.5.

(ii) ELB. Operators of a catcher/processor designated on an LLP license with a BSAI Pacific cod trawl mothership endorsement or a mothership receiving CQ must use a combination of NMFS-approved catcher/processor trawl gear ELB and eLandings to record and report groundfish and PSC information as described at § 679.5 to record PCTC Program landings and production.

(2) eLandings. Managers of shoreside processors that receive Pacific cod in the PCTC Program must use eLandings or NMFS-approved software as described at § 679.5(e) to record PCTC Program landings and production.

(3) Production reports. Operators of a catcher/processor designated on an LLP license with a BSAI Pacific cod trawl mothership endorsement that receives and purchases landings of CQ must submit a production report as described at § 679.5(e)(10).

(4) Product transfer report (PTR), processors. Operators of a catcher/processor designated on an LLP license with a BSAI Pacific cod trawl mothership endorsement and managers of shoreside processors that receive and purchase landings of CQ must submit a PTR as described at § 679.5(g).

(5) Vessel monitoring system (VMS) requirements. Operators of catcher vessels assigned to a PCTC Program cooperative or that are subject to sideboard limits detailed at § 679.133 must use functioning VMS equipment as described at § 679.28(f) at all times when operating in a reporting area off Alaska during the A and B season.

(6) PCTC Program cost recovery fee submission (See § 679.135).

(7) Pacific cod Ex-vessel Volume and Value Report. A processor that receives and purchases landings of CQ must submit annually to NMFS a complete Pacific cod Ex-vessel Volume and Value Report, as described at § 679.5(u) for each reporting period for which the PCTC processor receives CQ.

[88 FR 53735, Aug. 8, 2023; 88 FR 57009, Aug. 22, 2023]