Amendment 5 to the South Atlantic Shrimp Fishery Management Plan (FMP) established a limited access program for the rock shrimp fishery in federal waters south of the South Carolina/Georgia state line. In 2003, endorsements were issued to vessels with at least 15,000 pounds of rock shrimp landings in any one year during 1997-2000. A vessel must land at least 15,000 pounds of rock shrimp in at least one year during any four consecutive years or the endorsement cannot be renewed. The Rock Shrimp Advisory Panel suggested these landings requirements because they were concerned about the high number of latent permit holders, and felt the fishery could support no more than 150 vessels. The landing requirement was successful in eliminating some latent permits; however, maintaining the landing requirement could permanently and unnecessarily reduce the fleet size to an unsustainable level.
The landing requirement implemented through Shrimp Amendment 5 may cause the unnecessary exclusion of as many as 70 vessels that would not eligible to renew their rock shrimp endorsements.
Shrimp Amendment 5 required a limited access rock shrimp permit while the final rule implemented a limited access endorsement, which must be renewed with the open access rock shrimp permit. Confusion caused by this renewal process has lead to a number of endorsements that are currently non-renewable.
There is currently a great deal of confusion regarding the naming conventions used for the rock shrimp fishing authorization instruments.
There is a lack of data regarding costs and profitability associated with South Atlantic shrimp fisheries’ harvesting activities, and there exists no authority under the current FMP implementing an economic data collection program.
Proposed Amendment 7 Actions
Remove the 15,000-pound landing requirement to prevent an unnecessary reduction in the rock shrimp feet size.
Reinstate all endorsements lost due to not meeting the landing requirement of 15,000 pounds of rock shrimp in one of four consecutive calendar years, thus preventing a potential 34% reduction in fishery participation.
Reinstate all limited access endorsements for those vessel owners who renewed their open access permit in the year in which they failed to renew their limited access endorsement.
Rename the limited access endorsement the “Rock Shrimp Permit (South Atlantic EEZ), which would allow fishing throughout the South Atlantic EEZ; and rename the open access permit the “Rock Shrimp Permit (Carolinas Zone), which would allow fishing in the EEZ off North and South Carolina to reduce confusion.
Require all South Atlantic shrimp permit holders, on an annual basis, to provide economic data if selected.
