The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Department of Commerce (all federally managed fisheries)
- Level
- Sector regulator
- Authority
- 16 U.S.C. 1855(c)(1)
- Issued
- 2020-03-27 Mar. 27, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-03-24
- End
- 2020-09-23 (extended by 85 Fed. Reg. 59199 to Mar. 26, 2021, then by 86 Fed. Reg. 16307 to Mar. 26, 2022) (read as 2020-09-23)
- In force
- Mar. 24, 2020 to Sept. 23, 2020
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Travel and quarantineWorkplace rulesSupply chain
- Addressees
- NMFS regional administrators and science center directors
- fishing vessels, motherships, first receivers and processing facilities subject to mandatory observer coverage
- observer providers and observers
- Functions reached
- DR fishing vessels and routes (vessels legally barred from fishing without observers unless waived)
- SC observer providers (federally contracted observer companies stood down or waived)
- PK first receivers and processing facilities (shoreside observer placements)
- WF observers and crews (quarantine, travel and training restrictions recited)
- CB seafood supply chain
- Collection
- Federal lands, science agencies and courts AGY-FED-LANDS-SCIENCE-COURTS
Operative words
SUMMARY: NMFS issues this temporary rule ('emergency action') to provide it with authority to waive observer coverage [and some training and other program requirements]... NMFS is taking this action to address public health concerns [related to COVID-19 for] fishermen, observers, and other persons involved with such monitoring programs, while safeguarding the ability [of fisheries to continue operating]... DATES: Effective March 24, 2020 through September 23, 2020.... Many fisheries across the Nation are subject to mandatory observer coverage requirements that prohibit a vessel from fishing unless it carries one or more observers or at-sea monitors.... Such waivers will be communicated in writing or electronic format. At any time, if the circumstances for a waiver are no longer applicable, NMFS will [rescind] that waiver.
Enforcement
16 U.S.C. 1857-1859 (prohibited acts; civil penalties and permit sanctions); fishing without required observer coverage remains prohibited except where NMFS waives coverage under this rule
Notes
The rule recites that observer regulations 'prohibit a vessel from fishing unless it carries one or more observers or at-sea monitors' and that travel restrictions and public-health measures prevented deployment; the waiver authority is what kept the fleet legally able to sail. The regional waivers themselves (e.g., Northeast and Alaska bulletins of March-July 2020) were issued under this rule and are not separately saved.
Retrieval noteFederal Register text read on govinfo; 85 Fed. Reg. 17285-17287.